VPN Job Trends

Virtual Private Network (VPN)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring VPN skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 188 192 204
Rank change year-on-year +4 +12 +37
Permanent jobs citing VPN 884 712 1,279
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.18% 1.65% 1.51%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 8.69% 12.33% 11.27%
Number of salaries quoted 665 552 1,095
10th Percentile £27,850 £29,000 £26,250
25th Percentile £31,250 £35,000 £31,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £50,000 £46,500
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% +7.53% -7.00%
75th Percentile £65,897 £66,250 £61,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £77,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £38,000 £45,000 £40,000
% change year-on-year -15.56% +12.50% -5.88%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

VPN falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 10,175 5,775 11,345
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 13.64% 13.39% 13.39%
Number of salaries quoted 4,041 3,694 9,244
10th Percentile £26,250 £29,000 £26,250
25th Percentile £29,000 £36,313 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,000 £53,000 £48,500
Median % change year-on-year -22.64% +9.28% -7.62%
75th Percentile £65,000 £71,250 £63,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £87,500 £79,175
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £48,507 £43,500
% change year-on-year -27.85% +11.51% -3.33%

VPN
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing VPN relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

VPN job vacancy trend in the UK

VPN
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing VPN.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing VPN

VPN
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing VPN over the 6 months to 16 March 2026.

Salary histogram for VPN in the UK

VPN
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing VPN within the UK over the 6 months to 16 March 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +13 833 £42,500 -15.00% 234
UK excluding London -36 529 £38,000 -15.56% 200
London +82 303 £60,000 -7.69% 63
Work from Home +33 252 £45,000 - 73
South East +39 179 £42,500 -22.73% 68
North of England -27 134 £32,000 -20.99% 45
Midlands 0 93 £35,000 -17.65% 32
North West -2 65 £30,000 -25.00% 19
West Midlands +14 64 £42,500 -5.56% 21
South West -51 56 £42,500 -15.00% 23
East of England -33 53 £40,000 +25.00% 28
Yorkshire -44 52 £32,500 -27.54% 18
East Midlands -37 29 £32,500 -18.75% 11
North East -21 17 £45,000 +28.57% 8
Scotland -25 10 £40,000 - 3
Wales -24 4 £45,000 +60.71% 5
Northern Ireland -35 1 - - 2

VPN
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 178 (20.14%) Microsoft Exchange
2 174 (19.68%) SharePoint
3 19 (2.15%) IIS
4 11 (1.24%) Confluence
5 7 (0.79%) Apache
6 4 (0.45%) nginx
7 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2007
7 1 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2010
7 1 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2013
7 1 (0.11%) Tomcat
Applications
1 70 (7.92%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (2.60%) MS Visio
3 6 (0.68%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (0.34%) SOLIDWORKS
6 2 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.11%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.57%) Dynamics CRM
1 5 (0.57%) Dynamics NAV
1 5 (0.57%) SAP ERP
2 4 (0.45%) Sage X3
3 3 (0.34%) Alphatax
4 2 (0.23%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.11%) Carpe Diem
5 1 (0.11%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 459 (51.92%) Azure
2 440 (49.77%) Microsoft 365
3 238 (26.92%) Entra ID
4 149 (16.86%) AWS
5 70 (7.92%) OneDrive
6 53 (6.00%) IaaS
7 48 (5.43%) GCP
8 47 (5.32%) SaaS
9 44 (4.98%) PaaS
10 36 (4.07%) Datadog
11 35 (3.96%) Azure Monitor
12 31 (3.51%) Google Workspace
13 27 (3.05%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 26 (2.94%) GitHub
15 22 (2.49%) AWS Direct Connect
15 22 (2.49%) GitHub Actions
16 21 (2.38%) Azure Sentinel
17 20 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
17 20 (2.26%) Virtual Private Cloud
18 19 (2.15%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 561 (63.46%) Firewall
2 350 (39.59%) DNS
3 322 (36.43%) WAN
4 295 (33.37%) DHCP
5 252 (28.51%) VLAN
6 248 (28.05%) LAN
7 199 (22.51%) TCP/IP
8 180 (20.36%) Wi-Fi
9 113 (12.78%) Network Security
10 107 (12.10%) BGP
10 107 (12.10%) Wireless
11 103 (11.65%) SD-WAN
12 98 (11.09%) VoIP
13 82 (9.28%) OSPF
14 55 (6.22%) MPLS
15 46 (5.20%) Cisco ASA
16 37 (4.19%) SAN
17 35 (3.96%) Cisco ISE
17 35 (3.96%) EIGRP
17 35 (3.96%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 62 (7.01%) SQL Server
2 22 (2.49%) MySQL
3 13 (1.47%) PostgreSQL
4 10 (1.13%) Electronic Patient Records
5 7 (0.79%) Power BI
6 6 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
6 6 (0.68%) Azure SQL Database
7 5 (0.57%) SAP BW
8 4 (0.45%) NoSQL
8 4 (0.45%) Relational Database
8 4 (0.45%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.34%) Apache Cassandra
10 1 (0.11%) Data Lake
10 1 (0.11%) Metadata
10 1 (0.11%) MongoDB
10 1 (0.11%) Neo4j
Development Applications
1 28 (3.17%) JIRA
2 13 (1.47%) Chocolatey
3 10 (1.13%) Git
4 7 (0.79%) GitLab
5 5 (0.57%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (0.45%) Jenkins
7 3 (0.34%) Snyk
8 2 (0.23%) Rational Rhapsody
9 1 (0.11%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.11%) Jaeger
9 1 (0.11%) MLflow
9 1 (0.11%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 359 (40.61%) Social Skills
2 128 (14.48%) Finance
3 106 (11.99%) Analytical Skills
4 47 (5.32%) Telecoms
5 39 (4.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 39 (4.41%) Organisational Skills
6 36 (4.07%) Manufacturing
7 35 (3.96%) Retail
8 34 (3.85%) Banking
8 34 (3.85%) Legal
9 30 (3.39%) Marketing
10 26 (2.94%) Documentation Skills
11 21 (2.38%) Law
12 17 (1.92%) Public Sector
13 10 (1.13%) Health Technology
13 10 (1.13%) Retail Banking
14 7 (0.79%) Advertising
14 7 (0.79%) Billing
14 7 (0.79%) Electronics
15 6 (0.68%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 223 (25.23%) IT Support
2 192 (21.72%) Support Engineer
3 177 (20.02%) IT Engineer
4 155 (17.53%) Senior
5 137 (15.50%) Network Engineer
6 126 (14.25%) 2nd Line Support
7 120 (13.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 118 (13.35%) IT Support Engineer
9 86 (9.73%) Analyst
10 66 (7.47%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 61 (6.90%) Support Analyst
12 58 (6.56%) Cloud Engineer
13 55 (6.22%) Senior Network Engineer
14 54 (6.11%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
15 53 (6.00%) Support Technician
16 45 (5.09%) Azure Engineer
17 41 (4.64%) IT Analyst
18 36 (4.07%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
19 35 (3.96%) Consultant
19 35 (3.96%) IT Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (1.70%) OAuth
2 13 (1.47%) SAML
3 12 (1.36%) ADO
3 12 (1.36%) YAML
4 11 (1.24%) JSON
5 10 (1.13%) 802.1X
5 10 (1.13%) FHIR
6 9 (1.02%) REST
7 6 (0.68%) RESTful
8 5 (0.57%) .NET
8 5 (0.57%) ARM Templates
8 5 (0.57%) FreeSWITCH
9 4 (0.45%) OpenTelemetry
9 4 (0.45%) Web Services
10 3 (0.34%) Apache NiFi
10 3 (0.34%) Middleware
10 3 (0.34%) OAuth2
10 3 (0.34%) RabbitMQ
11 2 (0.23%) LDAP
11 2 (0.23%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 123 (13.91%) Driving Licence
2 97 (10.97%) Data Centre
3 70 (7.92%) Onboarding
4 34 (3.85%) Hybrid Cloud
5 33 (3.73%) Security Posture
6 29 (3.28%) Cloud Native
6 29 (3.28%) Management Information System
7 26 (2.94%) PKI
8 23 (2.60%) Self-Motivation
9 22 (2.49%) Enterprise Software
10 21 (2.38%) NHS
11 18 (2.04%) Replication
12 15 (1.70%) Cyber Threat
12 15 (1.70%) Mobile App
12 15 (1.70%) Video Conferencing
13 14 (1.58%) iPad
13 14 (1.58%) Linux Command Line
13 14 (1.58%) Web Conferencing
14 13 (1.47%) iPhone
15 11 (1.24%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 486 (54.98%) Windows
2 254 (28.73%) Windows Server
3 152 (17.19%) Windows 10
4 118 (13.35%) Linux
5 53 (6.00%) Mac OS
6 47 (5.32%) Apple iOS
7 26 (2.94%) Android
8 25 (2.83%) Windows Server 2016
9 22 (2.49%) VMS
10 21 (2.38%) Windows Server 2019
11 12 (1.36%) Unix
12 9 (1.02%) Debian
12 9 (1.02%) Ubuntu
13 8 (0.90%) Windows Server 2012
14 4 (0.45%) Mac OS X
15 3 (0.34%) CentOS
15 3 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 1 (0.11%) OpenBSD
16 1 (0.11%) OpenWrt
16 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 255 (28.85%) Problem-Solving
2 182 (20.59%) ITIL
3 161 (18.21%) Customer Service
4 154 (17.42%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 151 (17.08%) Disaster Recovery
6 136 (15.38%) Cybersecurity
7 101 (11.43%) Continuous Improvement
8 98 (11.09%) ITSM
9 92 (10.41%) Service Delivery
10 84 (9.50%) Migration
11 77 (8.71%) Incident Response
11 77 (8.71%) Infrastructure as Code
12 72 (8.14%) Root Cause Analysis
13 62 (7.01%) Zero Trust
14 61 (6.90%) Cloud Security
15 60 (6.79%) Mentoring
16 57 (6.45%) CI/CD
17 55 (6.22%) Computer Science
17 55 (6.22%) High Availability
18 52 (5.88%) Time Management
Programming Languages
1 138 (15.61%) PowerShell
2 108 (12.22%) Python
3 63 (7.13%) SQL
4 34 (3.85%) Bash
5 16 (1.81%) Bicep
6 14 (1.58%) Kusto Query Language
7 13 (1.47%) Go
8 11 (1.24%) Java
8 11 (1.24%) JavaScript
9 7 (0.79%) PHP
10 5 (0.57%) ABAP
10 5 (0.57%) Google Apps Script
11 4 (0.45%) Delphi
11 4 (0.45%) Pascal
12 2 (0.23%) C
12 2 (0.23%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.11%) C#
13 1 (0.11%) C++
13 1 (0.11%) VB
13 1 (0.11%) VBA
Qualifications
1 134 (15.16%) Cisco Certification
2 129 (14.59%) Degree
3 109 (12.33%) CCNP
4 87 (9.84%) Security Cleared
5 63 (7.13%) SC Cleared
6 62 (7.01%) CCNA
7 60 (6.79%) Azure Certification
8 55 (6.22%) Microsoft Certification
9 44 (4.98%) Computer Science Degree
10 34 (3.85%) DV Cleared
11 29 (3.28%) DBS Check
12 27 (3.05%) CCIE
13 24 (2.71%) AWS Certification
13 24 (2.71%) Network+ Certification
14 21 (2.38%) BPSS Clearance
15 18 (2.04%) A+ Certification
16 15 (1.70%) CompTIA Security+
17 13 (1.47%) CISSP
18 10 (1.13%) ITIL Certification
19 8 (0.90%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 78 (8.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 71 (8.03%) Cyber Essentials
3 55 (6.22%) GDPR
4 54 (6.11%) SLA
5 36 (4.07%) NIST
6 24 (2.71%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 23 (2.60%) SOC 2
8 20 (2.26%) PCI DSS
9 16 (1.81%) PMO
10 14 (1.58%) HL7
11 7 (0.79%) Accessibility
11 7 (0.79%) QA
12 5 (0.57%) GRC
13 4 (0.45%) DICOM
14 3 (0.34%) HIPAA
14 3 (0.34%) NCSC
15 1 (0.11%) ISO 9001
15 1 (0.11%) NIST 800
15 1 (0.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 433 (48.98%) Active Directory
2 129 (14.59%) Hyper-V
3 113 (12.78%) VMware Infrastructure
4 31 (3.51%) Virtual Machines
5 24 (2.71%) Docker
6 15 (1.70%) Virtual Desktop
6 15 (1.70%) VMware ESXi
6 15 (1.70%) vSphere
7 14 (1.58%) ProxySG
8 11 (1.24%) Firmware
8 11 (1.24%) VMware NSX
9 5 (0.57%) BitLocker
10 4 (0.45%) KVM
11 3 (0.34%) Virtual Servers
12 2 (0.23%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 2 (0.23%) EMC RecoverPoint
12 2 (0.23%) iptables
12 2 (0.23%) Samba
12 2 (0.23%) Terminal Services
13 1 (0.11%) NFS
Systems Management
1 193 (21.83%) Microsoft Intune
2 84 (9.50%) Terraform
3 65 (7.35%) Ansible
4 38 (4.30%) Kubernetes
5 37 (4.19%) SCCM
6 26 (2.94%) FortiGate
7 24 (2.71%) Single Sign-On
8 18 (2.04%) Grafana
8 18 (2.04%) Jamf Pro
9 13 (1.47%) Prometheus
10 12 (1.36%) Proxmox
11 9 (1.02%) Backup Exec
12 8 (0.90%) Check_MK
12 8 (0.90%) Endace
13 7 (0.79%) Nagios
13 7 (0.79%) SCOM
14 6 (0.68%) Argo
14 6 (0.68%) Autotask
14 6 (0.68%) VxRail
14 6 (0.68%) WSUS
Vendors
1 498 (56.33%) Microsoft
2 206 (23.30%) Cisco
3 176 (19.91%) VMware
4 76 (8.60%) Fortinet
5 75 (8.48%) Meraki
6 71 (8.03%) Palo Alto
7 67 (7.58%) SolarWinds
8 60 (6.79%) ServiceNow
9 52 (5.88%) CheckPoint
10 46 (5.20%) Google
11 38 (4.30%) Apple
12 36 (4.07%) Zscaler
13 31 (3.51%) F5
14 27 (3.05%) Juniper
15 25 (2.83%) Citrix
16 24 (2.71%) Dynatrace
17 23 (2.60%) Infoblox
17 23 (2.60%) Veeam
18 19 (2.15%) Dell
18 19 (2.15%) Splunk