Retail Contract Job Trends in England

Retailing
UK > England

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Retail in contract job vacancies in England. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Retail over the 6 months leading up to 10 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 79 113 74
Rank change year-on-year +34 -39 +13
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,435 679 922
As % of all contract jobs in England 3.15% 2.44% 2.78%
As % of the General category 5.68% 3.80% 4.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 838 359 508
10th Percentile £319 £300 £300
25th Percentile £450 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £505
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% +3.96% -5.83%
75th Percentile £675 £638 £628
90th Percentile £750 £725 £725
UK median daily rate £550 £513 £500
% change year-on-year +7.32% +2.50% -7.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 110 41 61
10th Percentile £12.76 - £12.15
25th Percentile £13.51 £15.25 £12.50
Median hourly rate £18.75 £16.30 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +15.03% - -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £25.15 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £38.00 £24.25
UK median hourly rate £17.50 £16.30 £16.30
% change year-on-year +7.36% - -17.72%

All General Skills
England

Retail falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 25,248 17,847 19,125
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 55.43% 64.13% 57.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,043 11,377 12,327
10th Percentile £313 £278 £300
25th Percentile £419 £402 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £538
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -4.65% -2.27%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £660
90th Percentile £750 £750 £775
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,997 956 1,233
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.25 £14.45
25th Percentile £18.00 £16.48 £18.00
Median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year +29.22% -34.02% +36.24%
75th Percentile £63.10 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £81.05 £74.38 £70.39
UK median hourly rate £32.00 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +27.24% -34.02% +27.07%

Retail
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Retail relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Retail job vacancy trend in England

Retail
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Retail.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Retail

Retail
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Retail in England over the 6 months to 10 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Retail in England

Retail
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Retail.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Retail

Retail
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Retail in England over the 6 months to 10 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Retail in England

Retail
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Retail within the England region over the 6 months to 10 August 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London +43 828 £555 +0.91% 950
North of England -18 183 £550 +10.00% 358
South East +4 179 £525 -5.41% 340
Midlands +19 130 £538 +24.85% 265
North West +1 116 £550 +10.00% 197
East Midlands +21 71 £500 +21.21% 116
East of England +20 65 £550 +4.76% 112
West Midlands -10 59 £606 +34.72% 149
Yorkshire -34 55 £500 -4.76% 131
South West -39 37 £350 -1.48% 133
North East -36 12 £155 -64.89% 33
Retail
UK

Retail
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 43 (3.00%) Confluence
2 18 (1.25%) CMS
3 13 (0.91%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 10 (0.70%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (0.63%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.28%) SAS
6 4 (0.28%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.14%) Anypoint
7 2 (0.14%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.14%) CICS
8 1 (0.070%) Apache
8 1 (0.070%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.070%) Mule
Applications
1 54 (3.76%) Microsoft Excel
2 35 (2.44%) Microsoft Office
3 24 (1.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 16 (1.11%) Microsoft Project
5 13 (0.91%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 11 (0.77%) Chatbot
7 9 (0.63%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.56%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.42%) InDesign
9 6 (0.42%) MS Visio
9 6 (0.42%) Spreadsheet
10 4 (0.28%) Notion
11 3 (0.21%) CPLEX
12 1 (0.070%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.070%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 38 (2.65%) SAP S/4HANA
2 27 (1.88%) Shopify
3 11 (0.77%) Dynamics CRM
4 9 (0.63%) Oracle Retail
5 8 (0.56%) Magento
6 6 (0.42%) Salesforce CRM
6 6 (0.42%) SAP CRM
7 5 (0.35%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.35%) SAP MDG
7 5 (0.35%) SAP Retail
8 4 (0.28%) Payment Gateway
8 4 (0.28%) SAP SD
9 3 (0.21%) OpenText VIM for SAP
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Payables
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Receivables
9 3 (0.21%) SAP ERP
9 3 (0.21%) SAP IBP
10 2 (0.14%) Finacle
10 2 (0.14%) IBM Planning Analytics
10 2 (0.14%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 179 (12.47%) Azure
2 136 (9.48%) AWS
3 69 (4.81%) Power Platform
4 64 (4.46%) GCP
5 47 (3.28%) Snowflake
6 42 (2.93%) GitHub
7 33 (2.30%) Azure DevOps
8 30 (2.09%) Entra ID
9 26 (1.81%) GitHub Actions
10 24 (1.67%) Dynamics 365
11 17 (1.18%) Figma
11 17 (1.18%) SaaS
12 15 (1.05%) Azure Data Factory
12 15 (1.05%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
13 13 (0.91%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 13 (0.91%) Microsoft 365
14 11 (0.77%) Salesforce Service Cloud
14 11 (0.77%) Serverless
15 10 (0.70%) dbt
15 10 (0.70%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 21 (1.46%) WAN
2 19 (1.32%) Firewall
3 16 (1.11%) VPN
3 16 (1.11%) Wireless
4 14 (0.98%) ATM
4 14 (0.98%) Network Security
5 13 (0.91%) LAN
6 11 (0.77%) Wi-Fi
7 8 (0.56%) BGP
7 8 (0.56%) IPsec
7 8 (0.56%) OSPF
7 8 (0.56%) SD-WAN
8 7 (0.49%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 7 (0.49%) RFID
8 7 (0.49%) VLAN
9 6 (0.42%) Cisco Firepower
9 6 (0.42%) VSAN
10 5 (0.35%) Cisco ASA
10 5 (0.35%) Cisco Nexus
10 5 (0.35%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (4.74%) Power BI
2 30 (2.09%) BigQuery
3 28 (1.95%) Data Warehouse
4 23 (1.60%) Data Lake
5 18 (1.25%) NoSQL
6 16 (1.11%) MongoDB
7 15 (1.05%) Metadata
7 15 (1.05%) MySQL
8 14 (0.98%) SQL Server
8 14 (0.98%) Tableau
9 12 (0.84%) Power Query
9 12 (0.84%) Relational Database
10 10 (0.70%) Amazon Redshift
10 10 (0.70%) PostgreSQL
10 10 (0.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 8 (0.56%) Redis
12 7 (0.49%) Couchbase
13 6 (0.42%) Looker
13 6 (0.42%) SAP HANA
13 6 (0.42%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 73 (5.09%) JIRA
2 25 (1.74%) Git
3 18 (1.25%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.56%) Subversion
5 7 (0.49%) Claude Code
6 4 (0.28%) Cypress.io
6 4 (0.28%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.28%) JMeter
6 4 (0.28%) Maven
7 3 (0.21%) GitLab
7 3 (0.21%) Hudson
8 2 (0.14%) git-flow
8 2 (0.14%) MLflow
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Forms
8 2 (0.14%) Postman
8 2 (0.14%) Selenium
8 2 (0.14%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.14%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.14%) webpack
9 1 (0.070%) Toad
General
1 399 (27.80%) Social Skills
2 339 (23.62%) Finance
3 152 (10.59%) Analytical Skills
4 116 (8.08%) Banking
5 103 (7.18%) Marketing
6 89 (6.20%) Manufacturing
7 61 (4.25%) Organisational Skills
8 55 (3.83%) Retail Banking
9 43 (3.00%) Investment Banking
10 39 (2.72%) Corporate Banking
11 32 (2.23%) Influencing Skills
12 28 (1.95%) Advertising
12 28 (1.95%) Legal
12 28 (1.95%) Telecoms
13 23 (1.60%) Public Sector
14 22 (1.53%) Presentation Skills
15 21 (1.46%) Documentation Skills
16 19 (1.32%) French Language
17 18 (1.25%) Spanish Language
18 13 (0.91%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 249 (17.35%) Architect
2 198 (13.80%) Analyst
3 168 (11.71%) Senior
4 140 (9.76%) Solutions Architect
5 120 (8.36%) Project Manager
6 102 (7.11%) Lead
7 101 (7.04%) Business Analyst
8 75 (5.23%) Developer
9 50 (3.48%) Senior Manager
10 45 (3.14%) Consultant
11 44 (3.07%) Designer
11 44 (3.07%) Product Manager
12 36 (2.51%) Supply Chain Architect
13 35 (2.44%) Enterprise Architect
14 34 (2.37%) Programme Manager
14 34 (2.37%) Senior Developer
15 33 (2.30%) Technical Manager
16 32 (2.23%) Data Architect
17 26 (1.81%) 2nd Line Support
17 26 (1.81%) Data Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 62 (4.32%) REST
2 37 (2.58%) React
3 30 (2.09%) Middleware
4 28 (1.95%) Kafka
4 28 (1.95%) Spring
5 23 (1.60%) Node.js
6 21 (1.46%) VML
7 20 (1.39%) Django
7 20 (1.39%) Spring Boot
8 18 (1.25%) RESTful
9 16 (1.11%) MACH
10 15 (1.05%) HTML
11 14 (0.98%) CSS
11 14 (0.98%) Next.js
11 14 (0.98%) OAuth
11 14 (0.98%) SOAP
12 13 (0.91%) Jakarta EE
13 10 (0.70%) .NET
14 9 (0.63%) OAuth2
15 8 (0.56%) GraphQL
Miscellaneous
1 77 (5.37%) Product Ownership
2 64 (4.46%) FMCG
3 52 (3.62%) EPoS
3 52 (3.62%) Onboarding
4 42 (2.93%) Cloud Native
5 31 (2.16%) Legacy Systems
6 29 (2.02%) Data Centre
7 24 (1.67%) Mobile App
8 23 (1.60%) Driving Licence
9 22 (1.53%) Data Structures
10 21 (1.46%) Greenfield Project
10 21 (1.46%) Marketing Technology
10 21 (1.46%) Operational Technology
10 21 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
11 17 (1.18%) Smartphone
12 16 (1.11%) IoT
12 16 (1.11%) Management Information System
13 14 (0.98%) Distributed Systems
14 13 (0.91%) AI Agents
14 13 (0.91%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 55 (3.83%) Windows
2 22 (1.53%) Linux
3 11 (0.77%) Android
3 11 (0.77%) Unix
4 8 (0.56%) Apple iOS
5 7 (0.49%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.42%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (0.35%) Windows 10
7 5 (0.35%) Windows Server
8 3 (0.21%) zOS
9 2 (0.14%) Debian
10 1 (0.070%) SUSE
10 1 (0.070%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.070%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 364 (25.37%) Stakeholder Management
2 331 (23.07%) Agile
3 218 (15.19%) E-Commerce
4 192 (13.38%) Problem-Solving
5 176 (12.26%) Migration
6 172 (11.99%) Roadmaps
7 157 (10.94%) Analytics
8 153 (10.66%) AI
9 141 (9.83%) Logistics
10 130 (9.06%) Customer Experience
11 122 (8.50%) Continuous Improvement
11 122 (8.50%) Decision-Making
12 119 (8.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 112 (7.80%) CI/CD
14 109 (7.60%) CRM
14 109 (7.60%) Project Management
15 106 (7.39%) ERP
16 98 (6.83%) Business Intelligence
16 98 (6.83%) DevOps
17 97 (6.76%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 116 (8.08%) SQL
2 100 (6.97%) Python
3 51 (3.55%) Java
4 32 (2.23%) TypeScript
5 27 (1.88%) JavaScript
6 12 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 10 (0.70%) C#
7 10 (0.70%) PowerShell
8 8 (0.56%) R
9 7 (0.49%) ABAP
9 7 (0.49%) Bash
10 6 (0.42%) Apex Code
10 6 (0.42%) Bicep
10 6 (0.42%) PL/SQL
10 6 (0.42%) Scala
10 6 (0.42%) SOQL
11 5 (0.35%) Groovy
12 4 (0.28%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.28%) SOSL
13 3 (0.21%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 63 (4.39%) Degree
2 39 (2.72%) Security Cleared
3 21 (1.46%) PMP
4 20 (1.39%) SC Cleared
5 11 (0.77%) DBS Check
5 11 (0.77%) PMI Certification
6 8 (0.56%) CISSP
7 6 (0.42%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (0.42%) Cisco Certification
7 6 (0.42%) CISM
7 6 (0.42%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (0.42%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.35%) CCNP
8 5 (0.35%) CCSE
8 5 (0.35%) CCSM
8 5 (0.35%) CSPO
9 4 (0.28%) Azure Certification
9 4 (0.28%) City & Guilds
9 4 (0.28%) PhD
9 4 (0.28%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 65 (4.53%) QA
2 54 (3.76%) Data Quality
3 38 (2.65%) GDPR
4 27 (1.88%) PMO
5 22 (1.53%) Accessibility
6 16 (1.11%) PCI DSS
7 13 (0.91%) SLA
8 8 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 7 (0.49%) NIST
10 4 (0.28%) GRC
10 4 (0.28%) WCAG
11 3 (0.21%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.21%) GAAP
11 3 (0.21%) IFRS
11 3 (0.21%) PSD2
12 2 (0.14%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.14%) ISO 8583
12 2 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.070%) GxP
13 1 (0.070%) IASME
System Software
1 36 (2.51%) Docker
2 32 (2.23%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
4 8 (0.56%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (0.49%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (0.35%) Firmware
6 5 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.21%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.070%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 48 (3.34%) Terraform
2 36 (2.51%) Kubernetes
3 11 (0.77%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 10 (0.70%) Ansible
5 8 (0.56%) Microsoft Intune
5 8 (0.56%) Single Sign-On
6 6 (0.42%) FortiGate
7 4 (0.28%) SCCM
8 3 (0.21%) Bosun
9 2 (0.14%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.14%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.14%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.14%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.14%) logstash
9 2 (0.14%) MOM
9 2 (0.14%) PingFederate
9 2 (0.14%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.070%) CSIRT
10 1 (0.070%) Kubeflow
10 1 (0.070%) vMotion
Vendors
1 126 (8.78%) Microsoft
2 103 (7.18%) SAP
3 71 (4.95%) Oracle
4 69 (4.81%) Databricks
5 62 (4.32%) Salesforce
6 47 (3.28%) Google
7 35 (2.44%) Adobe
8 24 (1.67%) Zscaler
9 16 (1.11%) ServiceNow
9 16 (1.11%) Workday
10 15 (1.05%) Cisco
10 15 (1.05%) MuleSoft
11 14 (0.98%) IFS
12 13 (0.91%) Fortinet
12 13 (0.91%) Palo Alto
12 13 (0.91%) VMware
13 11 (0.77%) Braze
14 10 (0.70%) Apple
14 10 (0.70%) IBM
14 10 (0.70%) New Relic