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 1 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 134 85 97
Rank change year-on-year -49 +12 -19
Contract jobs citing Retail 657 760 871
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.00% 2.87% 2.28%
As % of the General category 3.34% 4.59% 3.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 397 397 511
10th Percentile £228 £273 £263
25th Percentile £400 £413 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £520
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +0.96% -0.95%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £638
90th Percentile £735 £768 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -6.98%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 11 41
10th Percentile £12.95 £16.25 £11.00
25th Percentile £16.17 £18.13 £11.75
Median hourly rate £16.34 £32.50 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -49.74% +66.67% -1.56%
75th Percentile £19.50 £37.00 £20.75
90th Percentile £23.50 £48.75 £23.00
UK median hourly rate £16.34 £32.50 £19.50
% change year-on-year -49.74% +66.67% -1.56%

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 19,653 16,563 22,493
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 59.75% 62.52% 58.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,508 9,974 14,915
10th Percentile £289 £297 £265
25th Percentile £402 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £530
% change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,212 534 1,442
10th Percentile £14.03 £15.62 £13.25
25th Percentile £16.50 £19.43 £15.12
Median hourly rate £22.54 £30.00 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -24.88% +15.38% -
75th Percentile £47.13 £57.50 £55.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.96 £67.50
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £28.60 £26.00
% change year-on-year -21.33% +10.00% +4.00%

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 1 February 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 1 February 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 1 February 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 -39 353 £550 - 316
South East -26 91 £518 -5.77% 289
North of England -54 75 £500 +11.11% 184
Midlands -50 68 £479 -4.25% 171
East Midlands -6 45 £495 -1.00% 87
Yorkshire -40 41 £506 +26.56% 65
East of England -20 37 £529 -3.86% 91
North West -28 32 £525 +16.67% 108
West Midlands -52 22 £275 -47.62% 84
South West -20 15 £183 -56.55% 80
North East -17 3 £213 -64.58% 12
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 28 (4.26%) Confluence
2 16 (2.44%) CMS
3 15 (2.28%) SharePoint
4 9 (1.37%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (1.22%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.76%) Jupyter
7 4 (0.61%) Camunda
7 4 (0.61%) WordPress
8 3 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
9 2 (0.30%) Apache Spark
9 2 (0.30%) SAS
10 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
10 1 (0.15%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 21 (3.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (1.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 10 (1.52%) Microsoft Project
2 10 (1.52%) MS Visio
3 9 (1.37%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.46%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.30%) Trello
6 1 (0.15%) Adobe After Effects
6 1 (0.15%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.15%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.15%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 21 (3.20%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.83%) Shopify
3 11 (1.67%) SAP Retail
4 10 (1.52%) Dynamics CRM
5 6 (0.91%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 6 (0.91%) Payment Gateway
6 5 (0.76%) Oracle Retail
6 5 (0.76%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.61%) Dynamics AX
7 4 (0.61%) Finacle
7 4 (0.61%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.46%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.46%) SAP MDG
8 3 (0.46%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.30%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.30%) NetSuite
9 2 (0.30%) SAP GTS
9 2 (0.30%) SAP MM
10 1 (0.15%) Endur
10 1 (0.15%) Oracle Payroll
Cloud Services
1 80 (12.18%) Azure
2 42 (6.39%) Power Platform
3 39 (5.94%) AWS
4 32 (4.87%) GCP
5 21 (3.20%) Azure DevOps
5 21 (3.20%) Dynamics 365
6 16 (2.44%) GitHub
6 16 (2.44%) Microsoft 365
7 15 (2.28%) Snowflake
8 13 (1.98%) Figma
8 13 (1.98%) SaaS
9 11 (1.67%) GitHub Actions
9 11 (1.67%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
10 8 (1.22%) dbt
10 8 (1.22%) Entra ID
10 8 (1.22%) Vertex AI
11 7 (1.07%) BigCommerce
11 7 (1.07%) Serverless
11 7 (1.07%) SuccessFactors
12 6 (0.91%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 21 (3.20%) RFID
2 18 (2.74%) NFC
2 18 (2.74%) Wireless
3 10 (1.52%) VPN
4 8 (1.22%) Firewall
5 7 (1.07%) WAN
6 6 (0.91%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (0.61%) BGP
7 4 (0.61%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (0.61%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.61%) OSPF
7 4 (0.61%) VoIP
8 3 (0.46%) LAN
9 2 (0.30%) MPLS
9 2 (0.30%) SAN
9 2 (0.30%) WLAN
10 1 (0.15%) FTP
10 1 (0.15%) HTTPS
10 1 (0.15%) SMS
10 1 (0.15%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (5.18%) Power BI
2 20 (3.04%) BigQuery
2 20 (3.04%) Data Warehouse
3 15 (2.28%) Metadata
3 15 (2.28%) SQL Server
4 12 (1.83%) Tableau
5 8 (1.22%) Data Lake
5 8 (1.22%) MySQL
6 7 (1.07%) Data Vault
7 5 (0.76%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (0.76%) Snowflake Schema
8 4 (0.61%) Delta Lake
8 4 (0.61%) MongoDB
8 4 (0.61%) Redis
8 4 (0.61%) Relational Database
8 4 (0.61%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 3 (0.46%) Amazon Redshift
9 3 (0.46%) Oracle OLAP
9 3 (0.46%) Power Query
9 3 (0.46%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 66 (10.05%) JIRA
2 12 (1.83%) Jenkins
3 8 (1.22%) GitLab
4 6 (0.91%) Git
5 5 (0.76%) ERwin
5 5 (0.76%) Selenium
6 4 (0.61%) Storybook
7 3 (0.46%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.30%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.30%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.30%) JMeter
8 2 (0.30%) JUnit
8 2 (0.30%) MLflow
8 2 (0.30%) Mockito
8 2 (0.30%) Postman
8 2 (0.30%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.30%) SoapUI
8 2 (0.30%) Xcode
8 2 (0.30%) Zephyr
9 1 (0.15%) SonarQube
General
1 235 (35.77%) Social Skills
2 135 (20.55%) Finance
3 77 (11.72%) Analytical Skills
4 53 (8.07%) Banking
5 52 (7.91%) Marketing
6 41 (6.24%) Organisational Skills
7 34 (5.18%) Public Sector
8 33 (5.02%) Manufacturing
9 23 (3.50%) Influencing Skills
10 21 (3.20%) Retail Banking
11 20 (3.04%) Corporate Banking
12 18 (2.74%) Documentation Skills
12 18 (2.74%) Presentation Skills
13 17 (2.59%) Investment Banking
14 15 (2.28%) Legal
15 13 (1.98%) Telecoms
16 11 (1.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 6 (0.91%) Publishing
18 4 (0.61%) Automotive
18 4 (0.61%) Law
Job Titles
1 130 (19.79%) Analyst
2 79 (12.02%) Project Manager
3 69 (10.50%) Architect
3 69 (10.50%) Senior
4 62 (9.44%) Business Analyst
5 58 (8.83%) Lead
6 31 (4.72%) Senior Manager
6 31 (4.72%) Solutions Architect
7 29 (4.41%) Consultant
8 21 (3.20%) Product Manager
9 18 (2.74%) Programme Manager
9 18 (2.74%) Technical Manager
10 15 (2.28%) Developer
10 15 (2.28%) Senior Project Manager
11 14 (2.13%) Support Analyst
12 13 (1.98%) E-Commerce Manager
12 13 (1.98%) Help Desk Analyst
13 12 (1.83%) Data Engineer
13 12 (1.83%) SAP Consultant
13 12 (1.83%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (2.89%) React
1 19 (2.89%) VML
2 15 (2.28%) Node.js
3 11 (1.67%) PySpark
3 11 (1.67%) REST
4 9 (1.37%) HTML
5 8 (1.22%) .NET
5 8 (1.22%) AngularJS
5 8 (1.22%) Spring
5 8 (1.22%) Spring Boot
6 7 (1.07%) OpenTelemetry
6 7 (1.07%) scikit-learn
7 6 (0.91%) LangChain
7 6 (0.91%) Middleware
8 5 (0.76%) CSS
8 5 (0.76%) Kafka
8 5 (0.76%) Matplotlib
8 5 (0.76%) RESTful
8 5 (0.76%) XGBoost
8 5 (0.76%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 35 (5.33%) Product Ownership
2 24 (3.65%) Self-Motivation
3 21 (3.20%) Legacy Systems
4 19 (2.89%) Onboarding
5 18 (2.74%) FMCG
5 18 (2.74%) IoT
6 17 (2.59%) Management Information System
7 15 (2.28%) Cloud Native
7 15 (2.28%) Data Structures
7 15 (2.28%) EPoS
8 13 (1.98%) Data Centre
9 10 (1.52%) Mobile App
10 9 (1.37%) Analytical Mindset
10 9 (1.37%) Driving Licence
11 7 (1.07%) Social Media
12 6 (0.91%) Algorithms
12 6 (0.91%) CMDB
12 6 (0.91%) Reference Data
12 6 (0.91%) Replication
13 5 (0.76%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 33 (5.02%) Windows
2 12 (1.83%) Linux
3 8 (1.22%) Mac OS
4 6 (0.91%) Android
5 5 (0.76%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.46%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.30%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.15%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.15%) VMS
8 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 161 (24.51%) Agile
2 158 (24.05%) Stakeholder Management
3 109 (16.59%) Problem-Solving
4 84 (12.79%) Project Management
5 81 (12.33%) E-Commerce
6 77 (11.72%) Analytics
7 67 (10.20%) Migration
8 66 (10.05%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 61 (9.28%) Roadmaps
10 59 (8.98%) Workshop Facilitation
11 55 (8.37%) Continuous Improvement
12 52 (7.91%) Scrum
13 48 (7.31%) AI
13 48 (7.31%) Project Delivery
14 47 (7.15%) Business Intelligence
14 47 (7.15%) Data Modelling
15 46 (7.00%) DevOps
16 42 (6.39%) CRM
17 41 (6.24%) Decision-Making
18 40 (6.09%) Customer Experience
Programming Languages
1 61 (9.28%) SQL
2 52 (7.91%) Python
3 17 (2.59%) Java
4 13 (1.98%) JavaScript
5 12 (1.83%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.67%) Bash
7 9 (1.37%) Shell Script
8 8 (1.22%) Kusto Query Language
9 6 (0.91%) C#
10 5 (0.76%) TypeScript
11 3 (0.46%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.30%) ABAP
12 2 (0.30%) PHP
12 2 (0.30%) Swift
12 2 (0.30%) VBA
13 1 (0.15%) CLIST
13 1 (0.15%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 1 (0.15%) Kotlin
13 1 (0.15%) ProC
13 1 (0.15%) VB
Qualifications
1 35 (5.33%) Degree
2 22 (3.35%) PMP
3 19 (2.89%) Security Cleared
4 17 (2.59%) PMI Certification
5 9 (1.37%) Master's Degree
6 7 (1.07%) MBA
6 7 (1.07%) SC Cleared
7 6 (0.91%) APMP
7 6 (0.91%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (0.91%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (0.91%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.76%) CISSP
9 4 (0.61%) CCIE
9 4 (0.61%) CCNP
9 4 (0.61%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.61%) CISM
9 4 (0.61%) CRISC
9 4 (0.61%) CSPO
10 3 (0.46%) GIAC
10 3 (0.46%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.11%) Data Quality
2 25 (3.81%) QA
3 21 (3.20%) PMO
4 15 (2.28%) Accessibility
5 12 (1.83%) GDPR
5 12 (1.83%) SLA
6 5 (0.76%) Actionable Recommendations
7 4 (0.61%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.46%) IFRS
8 3 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 3 (0.46%) NCSC
9 2 (0.30%) COBIT
9 2 (0.30%) NIST
10 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.15%) IFRS 9
10 1 (0.15%) MiFID
10 1 (0.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.15%) Solvency II
10 1 (0.15%) WCAG
System Software
1 12 (1.83%) Docker
2 7 (1.07%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (0.46%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.15%) RACF
4 1 (0.15%) Varnish
4 1 (0.15%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 18 (2.74%) Terraform
2 12 (1.83%) Kubernetes
3 6 (0.91%) Argo
3 6 (0.91%) Istio
4 4 (0.61%) Grafana
4 4 (0.61%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (0.46%) Jamf Pro
5 3 (0.46%) SCCM
5 3 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.30%) Ansible
7 1 (0.15%) AirWatch
7 1 (0.15%) Cacti
7 1 (0.15%) Control-M
7 1 (0.15%) Nmap
7 1 (0.15%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.15%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 1 (0.15%) ZABBIX
7 1 (0.15%) zSecure
Vendors
1 68 (10.35%) Microsoft
2 58 (8.83%) SAP
3 41 (6.24%) Salesforce
4 39 (5.94%) Oracle
5 33 (5.02%) Google
6 20 (3.04%) Adobe
7 18 (2.74%) Databricks
8 11 (1.67%) ServiceNow
9 7 (1.07%) Sitecore
10 6 (0.91%) Apple
10 6 (0.91%) BMC
10 6 (0.91%) CheckPoint
10 6 (0.91%) F5
10 6 (0.91%) Temenos
11 5 (0.76%) Cisco
11 5 (0.76%) Dell
11 5 (0.76%) Dynatrace
11 5 (0.76%) HP
11 5 (0.76%) Meraki
11 5 (0.76%) MicroStrategy