Virtual Private Network (VPN)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for VPN skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited VPN over the 6 months to 12 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
12 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 147 199 257
Rank change year-on-year +52 +58 -16
Contract jobs citing VPN 705 786 975
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.64% 1.35% 1.11%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.88% 10.91% 10.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 432 482 683
10th Percentile £200 £160 £173
25th Percentile £281 £239 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £438 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.72% -5.26% +11.76%
75th Percentile £578 £580 £581
90th Percentile £776 £688 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £443 £400
% change year-on-year -3.95% +10.63% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 18 30
10th Percentile £12.75 £14.45 £15.96
25th Percentile £13.87 £17.03 £17.70
Median hourly rate £16.86 £21.08 £21.26
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% -0.85% +18.08%
75th Percentile £22.55 £62.00 £29.88
90th Percentile £24.80 £67.06 £54.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £14.27 £21.08 £20.00
% change year-on-year -32.29% +5.38% +8.11%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

VPN is in the Communications and Computer Networking category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 5,474 7,207 9,571
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 12.73% 12.39% 10.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,273 4,657 6,246
10th Percentile £205 £235 £231
25th Percentile £350 £400 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £517 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.16% +3.30% +11.11%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £610
90th Percentile £700 £720 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £450
% change year-on-year - +5.56% +12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 418 472 362
10th Percentile £13.50 £9.80 £15.03
25th Percentile £16.44 £10.63 £17.00
Median hourly rate £40.00 £18.50 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +116.22% -32.73% -
75th Percentile £63.75 £60.00 £50.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £65.54
UK excluding London median hourly rate £46.14 £18.47 £21.50
% change year-on-year +149.85% -14.12% -10.42%

VPN
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing VPN as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for VPN in the UK

VPN
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing VPN.

Daily rate trend for VPN in the UK

VPN
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing VPN over the 6 months to 12 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for VPN in the UK

VPN
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing VPN.

Hourly rate trend for VPN in the UK

VPN
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing VPN over the 6 months to 12 May 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for VPN in the UK

VPN
Top 16 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing VPN within the UK over the 6 months to 12 May 2024. 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +63 642 £430 -4.44% 293
UK excluding London +66 449 £425 -3.95% 215
London +13 208 £400 -11.11% 87
Work from Home +27 184 £500 - 159
South East +35 121 £420 -16.00% 46
Midlands +37 112 £375 -25.00% 53
North of England +47 99 £602 +85.23% 56
West Midlands +31 91 £375 -27.88% 26
North West +54 75 £800 +146.15% 29
South West +12 47 £425 -12.82% 29
East of England +2 35 £463 -19.57% 19
Scotland +40 26 £240 +50.00% 14
Yorkshire +18 23 £300 -14.29% 19
East Midlands +24 20 £338 -3.57% 27
Wales +26 11 £575 +31.43% 2
North East +14 1 £600 +174.29% 8

VPN
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 55 (7.80%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (4.54%) SharePoint
3 16 (2.27%) Confluence
4 12 (1.70%) Apache
4 12 (1.70%) Apache Airflow
5 7 (0.99%) IIS
6 5 (0.71%) Skype for Business
7 4 (0.57%) CMS
7 4 (0.57%) MQSeries
8 3 (0.43%) nginx
8 3 (0.43%) WordPress
9 1 (0.14%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
Applications
1 77 (10.92%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.71%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.57%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (0.43%) Oracle EBS
2 2 (0.28%) Dynamics NAV
2 2 (0.28%) Eikon
3 1 (0.14%) Sage X3
3 1 (0.14%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 159 (22.55%) Azure
2 112 (15.89%) AWS
3 88 (12.48%) Microsoft 365
4 44 (6.24%) GCP
5 34 (4.82%) Entra ID
6 32 (4.54%) PaaS
7 26 (3.69%) IaaS
8 18 (2.55%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 16 (2.27%) GitHub
10 15 (2.13%) Cloud Computing
10 15 (2.13%) OneDrive
11 13 (1.84%) SaaS
12 12 (1.70%) Amazon EC2
12 12 (1.70%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 10 (1.42%) AWS CloudFormation
13 10 (1.42%) Azure DevOps
14 8 (1.13%) Amazon S3
14 8 (1.13%) Kong
15 7 (0.99%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 7 (0.99%) Cloudflare
Communications & Networking
1 362 (51.35%) Firewall
2 224 (31.77%) WAN
3 158 (22.41%) LAN
4 137 (19.43%) BGP
5 134 (19.01%) DNS
6 123 (17.45%) MPLS
7 103 (14.61%) IPsec
8 97 (13.76%) Wireless
9 92 (13.05%) Network Security
9 92 (13.05%) OSPF
10 81 (11.49%) TCP/IP
11 71 (10.07%) DHCP
12 64 (9.08%) Wi-Fi
13 62 (8.79%) VLAN
14 50 (7.09%) Junos
15 48 (6.81%) SD-WAN
16 46 (6.52%) Cisco ASA
17 43 (6.10%) Cisco Nexus
18 34 (4.82%) WLAN
19 32 (4.54%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (1.70%) Elasticsearch
2 11 (1.56%) Amazon RDS
2 11 (1.56%) MongoDB
2 11 (1.56%) NoSQL
2 11 (1.56%) PostgreSQL
2 11 (1.56%) SQL Server
3 9 (1.28%) MySQL
4 5 (0.71%) Azure SQL Database
5 4 (0.57%) Amazon QuickSight
5 4 (0.57%) MariaDB
5 4 (0.57%) RDBMS
5 4 (0.57%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.43%) Amazon Aurora
6 3 (0.43%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.28%) Power BI
8 1 (0.14%) BusinessObjects
8 1 (0.14%) Redis
Development Applications
1 40 (5.67%) JIRA
2 23 (3.26%) Git
2 23 (3.26%) GitLab
3 12 (1.70%) Robot Framework
3 12 (1.70%) TestRail
4 11 (1.56%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 8 (1.13%) CircleCI
5 8 (1.13%) Travis CI
6 7 (0.99%) Sonatype Nexus
7 5 (0.71%) Bitbucket
7 5 (0.71%) Spinnaker
8 4 (0.57%) Cypress.io
8 4 (0.57%) Snyk
9 3 (0.43%) Postman
9 3 (0.43%) Visual Studio
10 2 (0.28%) Visual Studio Code
11 1 (0.14%) MSI
11 1 (0.14%) Subversion
General
1 174 (24.68%) Social Skills
2 80 (11.35%) Finance
3 72 (10.21%) Analytical Skills
4 57 (8.09%) Public Sector
5 37 (5.25%) Telecoms
6 24 (3.40%) Banking
7 19 (2.70%) Legal
8 15 (2.13%) Investment Banking
9 13 (1.84%) Manufacturing
9 13 (1.84%) Organisational Skills
10 12 (1.70%) Documentation Skills
11 11 (1.56%) Retail
12 10 (1.42%) Electronics
12 10 (1.42%) Marketing
13 9 (1.28%) Financial Institution
14 8 (1.13%) Mandarin Language
14 8 (1.13%) Presentation Skills
15 5 (0.71%) Automotive
15 5 (0.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 4 (0.57%) Law
Job Titles
1 181 (25.67%) Network Engineer
2 104 (14.75%) Architect
3 73 (10.35%) Support Engineer
4 57 (8.09%) Lead
5 46 (6.52%) Technical Architect
6 41 (5.82%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 40 (5.67%) Senior
8 37 (5.25%) Analyst
9 36 (5.11%) Network Architect
10 35 (4.96%) 3rd Line Support
10 35 (4.96%) Lead Architect
10 35 (4.96%) Technical Leader
11 34 (4.82%) Desktop Support
12 33 (4.68%) Desktop Engineer
12 33 (4.68%) IT Support
13 32 (4.54%) Network Support
14 28 (3.97%) WAN Engineer
15 27 (3.83%) Cisco Engineer
15 27 (3.83%) IT Engineer
16 26 (3.69%) Cisco Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (6.24%) Node.js
2 25 (3.55%) JSON
3 21 (2.98%) LDAP
4 18 (2.55%) HTML
4 18 (2.55%) NETCONF
5 17 (2.41%) CSS
5 17 (2.41%) React
5 17 (2.41%) YANG
6 15 (2.13%) XML
7 14 (1.99%) .NET
7 14 (1.99%) YAML
8 13 (1.84%) Elastic Stack
8 13 (1.84%) XMPP
9 12 (1.70%) REST
9 12 (1.70%) RESTCONF
9 12 (1.70%) SOAP
9 12 (1.70%) Web Services
10 11 (1.56%) SAML
11 6 (0.85%) OAuth
11 6 (0.85%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 79 (11.21%) PKI
2 59 (8.37%) Public Cloud
3 49 (6.95%) Data Centre
4 27 (3.83%) Video Conferencing
5 19 (2.70%) Clustering
6 15 (2.13%) Product Ownership
6 15 (2.13%) Self-Motivation
7 13 (1.84%) BYOD
8 11 (1.56%) Cloud Native
8 11 (1.56%) Hybrid Cloud
8 11 (1.56%) iPad
9 9 (1.28%) Data Protection Act
9 9 (1.28%) Hedge funds
9 9 (1.28%) NHS
9 9 (1.28%) Onboarding
10 8 (1.13%) Analytical Mindset
10 8 (1.13%) Blackberry
10 8 (1.13%) Data Structures
10 8 (1.13%) Driving Licence
10 8 (1.13%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 265 (37.59%) Windows
2 122 (17.30%) Windows Server
3 96 (13.62%) Windows 10
4 69 (9.79%) Linux
5 55 (7.80%) Android
6 54 (7.66%) Windows 7
7 53 (7.52%) Apple iOS
8 28 (3.97%) Mac OS
9 20 (2.84%) Windows Server 2019
10 16 (2.27%) Unix
11 13 (1.84%) Windows Server 2012
12 11 (1.56%) Windows Server 2016
13 6 (0.85%) Ubuntu
14 5 (0.71%) VMS
15 4 (0.57%) Windows Server 2003
16 3 (0.43%) Mac OS X
16 3 (0.43%) Windows Server 2008
16 3 (0.43%) Windows XP
17 2 (0.28%) CentOS
17 2 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 122 (17.30%) Problem-Solving
2 106 (15.04%) Agile
3 104 (14.75%) CI/CD
4 100 (14.18%) DevOps
5 94 (13.33%) Customer Service
6 82 (11.63%) Load Balancing
7 67 (9.50%) ITIL
8 63 (8.94%) Migration
8 63 (8.94%) Mobile Device Management
9 58 (8.23%) Zero Trust
10 54 (7.66%) Project Management
10 54 (7.66%) Risk Management
11 53 (7.52%) Network Design
11 53 (7.52%) Security Architecture
12 50 (7.09%) Project Delivery
13 49 (6.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 45 (6.38%) High Availability
14 45 (6.38%) Infrastructure as Code
15 43 (6.10%) Technical Leadership
16 42 (5.96%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 67 (9.50%) PowerShell
2 64 (9.08%) Python
3 32 (4.54%) SQL
4 24 (3.40%) Java
5 15 (2.13%) Bash
5 15 (2.13%) TypeScript
6 10 (1.42%) C#
7 7 (0.99%) PHP
8 5 (0.71%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.57%) Go
10 3 (0.43%) Bicep
10 3 (0.43%) Perl
10 3 (0.43%) Ruby
11 2 (0.28%) ActionScript
12 1 (0.14%) C
12 1 (0.14%) C++
12 1 (0.14%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 206 (29.22%) Security Cleared
2 119 (16.88%) SC Cleared
3 106 (15.04%) Cisco Certification
4 74 (10.50%) CCNP
5 62 (8.79%) Degree
6 45 (6.38%) CCNA
7 31 (4.40%) CCIE
8 20 (2.84%) Microsoft Certification
9 19 (2.70%) DV Cleared
10 17 (2.41%) Computer Science Degree
11 13 (1.84%) BPSS Clearance
12 12 (1.70%) AWS Certification
12 12 (1.70%) JNCIA
12 12 (1.70%) MCSE
13 11 (1.56%) A+ Certification
14 9 (1.28%) CCIE Data Center
15 7 (0.99%) MCSA
16 6 (0.85%) CCSA
17 5 (0.71%) CISSP
17 5 (0.71%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 50 (7.09%) SLA
2 26 (3.69%) QA
3 10 (1.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (1.13%) PCI DSS
5 4 (0.57%) HIPAA
5 4 (0.57%) NCSC
5 4 (0.57%) NIST
6 3 (0.43%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (0.43%) GDPR
7 2 (0.28%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.14%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.14%) GRC
8 1 (0.14%) SOC 2
System Software
1 139 (19.72%) Active Directory
2 76 (10.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 40 (5.67%) Hyper-V
4 39 (5.53%) Docker
5 24 (3.40%) Virtual Machines
6 15 (2.13%) Terminal Services
6 15 (2.13%) vSphere
7 14 (1.99%) Firmware
7 14 (1.99%) VMware NSX
8 13 (1.84%) VMware ESXi
9 12 (1.70%) BitLocker
10 9 (1.28%) Virtual Servers
11 8 (1.13%) Microsoft App-V
11 8 (1.13%) Virtual Desktop
12 5 (0.71%) VMware Workstation
13 4 (0.57%) NFS
13 4 (0.57%) Samba
14 2 (0.28%) Squid
15 1 (0.14%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 53 (7.52%) SCCM
2 48 (6.81%) Terraform
3 44 (6.24%) Ansible
4 35 (4.96%) Kubernetes
5 29 (4.11%) FortiGate
6 26 (3.69%) Microsoft Intune
7 19 (2.70%) Grafana
8 17 (2.41%) Prometheus
9 13 (1.84%) Puppet
10 8 (1.13%) Docker Swarm
10 8 (1.13%) Failover Clustering
10 8 (1.13%) Jamf Pro
10 8 (1.13%) Kibana
10 8 (1.13%) logstash
10 8 (1.13%) Progress Chef
10 8 (1.13%) Single Sign-On
10 8 (1.13%) vCenter Server
11 7 (0.99%) Nagios
12 6 (0.85%) Autotask
12 6 (0.85%) Istio
Vendors
1 238 (33.76%) Cisco
2 180 (25.53%) Microsoft
3 139 (19.72%) Juniper
4 96 (13.62%) VMware
5 75 (10.64%) Palo Alto
6 52 (7.38%) F5
7 51 (7.23%) Fortinet
8 45 (6.38%) CheckPoint
9 44 (6.24%) Citrix
10 34 (4.82%) ServiceNow
11 24 (3.40%) Apple
12 23 (3.26%) Zscaler
13 22 (3.12%) SolarWinds
14 20 (2.84%) Google
14 20 (2.84%) Infoblox
14 20 (2.84%) Splunk
15 19 (2.70%) Blue Coat
16 17 (2.41%) Aruba
17 15 (2.13%) HP
18 13 (1.84%) Meraki