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 8 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 86 104 80
Rank change year-on-year +18 -24 +3
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,246 686 1,035
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.80% 2.57% 2.79%
As % of the General category 5.08% 4.03% 4.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 750 354 575
10th Percentile £306 £309 £283
25th Percentile £419 £413 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% - -
75th Percentile £675 £638 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £733
UK median daily rate £525 £513 £515
% change year-on-year +2.44% -0.49% -2.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 92 36 85
10th Percentile £12.99 £14.88 £11.85
25th Percentile £15.25 £15.25 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £16.30 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +28.83% +1.88% -19.23%
75th Percentile £22.50 £26.11 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £54.50 £21.46
UK median hourly rate £21.00 £16.30 £16.00
% change year-on-year +28.83% +1.88% -19.23%

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 24,516 17,035 21,272
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 55.15% 63.85% 57.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,801 10,924 13,585
10th Percentile £313 £281 £300
25th Percentile £413 £403 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £517 £533
Median % change year-on-year +1.55% -3.00% -3.09%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £749 £763 £775
UK median daily rate £519 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +3.80% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,769 860 1,753
10th Percentile £14.34 £13.34 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.00 £16.48 £15.92
Median hourly rate £32.81 £27.17 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year +20.75% -17.67% +10.00%
75th Percentile £63.75 £51.41 £55.00
90th Percentile £82.25 £73.75 £68.75
UK median hourly rate £32.36 £27.22 £31.89
% change year-on-year +18.91% -14.65% +6.28%

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 8 July 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 8 July 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 8 July 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 +19 723 £550 - 478
South East +13 167 £538 -3.15% 322
North of England -34 147 £550 +7.32% 256
Midlands -13 100 £500 +8.11% 209
North West -1 97 £575 +15.00% 144
East of England +11 60 £550 -4.35% 116
East Midlands +2 52 £485 +4.86% 121
West Midlands -27 48 £539 +18.23% 86
Yorkshire -40 46 £531 +1.19% 85
South West -31 36 £325 -19.38% 72
North East -37 4 £173 -79.07% 30
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 35 (2.81%) Confluence
2 19 (1.52%) CMS
3 15 (1.20%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 10 (0.80%) Apache Airflow
5 7 (0.56%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.32%) SAS
6 4 (0.32%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.16%) Anypoint
7 2 (0.16%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.16%) CICS
8 1 (0.080%) Apache
8 1 (0.080%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.080%) Mule
Applications
1 36 (2.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 28 (2.25%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (1.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (1.36%) Microsoft Project
5 13 (1.04%) Chatbot
6 10 (0.80%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 10 (0.80%) Photoshop
7 9 (0.72%) Adobe Illustrator
8 6 (0.48%) InDesign
9 5 (0.40%) MS Visio
10 3 (0.24%) Notion
10 3 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
11 2 (0.16%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.080%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.080%) CPLEX
12 1 (0.080%) Maya
12 1 (0.080%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.080%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 28 (2.25%) SAP S/4HANA
2 25 (2.01%) Shopify
3 12 (0.96%) Dynamics CRM
4 11 (0.88%) Oracle Retail
5 7 (0.56%) SAP CRM
6 6 (0.48%) Magento
6 6 (0.48%) SAP Retail
7 5 (0.40%) Salesforce CRM
8 4 (0.32%) Finacle
8 4 (0.32%) NetSuite
8 4 (0.32%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 4 (0.32%) Payment Gateway
8 4 (0.32%) SAP SD
9 3 (0.24%) SAP CAR
9 3 (0.24%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.16%) OpenText VIM for SAP
10 2 (0.16%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.16%) Oracle Receivables
10 2 (0.16%) SAP IBP
10 2 (0.16%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 157 (12.60%) Azure
2 125 (10.03%) AWS
3 74 (5.94%) GCP
4 64 (5.14%) Power Platform
5 45 (3.61%) Snowflake
6 28 (2.25%) GitHub
7 24 (1.93%) Azure DevOps
8 23 (1.85%) Dynamics 365
9 19 (1.52%) Entra ID
9 19 (1.52%) Figma
9 19 (1.52%) GitHub Actions
10 16 (1.28%) SaaS
11 15 (1.20%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 12 (0.96%) Azure Data Factory
12 12 (0.96%) dbt
13 11 (0.88%) Google Workspace
14 10 (0.80%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 10 (0.80%) Microsoft 365
14 10 (0.80%) Salesforce Service Cloud
15 9 (0.72%) Miro
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.12%) WAN
2 13 (1.04%) ATM
2 13 (1.04%) Firewall
2 13 (1.04%) Wireless
3 12 (0.96%) Network Security
4 11 (0.88%) VPN
5 9 (0.72%) RFID
6 8 (0.64%) LAN
6 8 (0.64%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (0.48%) Cisco Firepower
7 6 (0.48%) SD-WAN
8 5 (0.40%) BGP
8 5 (0.40%) Cisco ASA
8 5 (0.40%) Cisco Nexus
8 5 (0.40%) IPsec
8 5 (0.40%) OSPF
8 5 (0.40%) VSAN
9 4 (0.32%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 4 (0.32%) Internet
9 4 (0.32%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 62 (4.98%) Power BI
2 30 (2.41%) BigQuery
3 24 (1.93%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (1.69%) MySQL
5 19 (1.52%) Tableau
6 18 (1.44%) Data Lake
7 17 (1.36%) Metadata
8 16 (1.28%) SQL Server
9 15 (1.20%) NoSQL
10 12 (0.96%) Relational Database
11 8 (0.64%) Amazon Redshift
11 8 (0.64%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 7 (0.56%) MongoDB
12 7 (0.56%) PostgreSQL
12 7 (0.56%) Power Query
13 6 (0.48%) Data Vault
13 6 (0.48%) Looker
13 6 (0.48%) SAP HANA
13 6 (0.48%) Semantic Layer
14 5 (0.40%) Couchbase
Development Applications
1 70 (5.62%) JIRA
2 21 (1.69%) Git
3 17 (1.36%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.48%) Subversion
5 4 (0.32%) Eclipse
5 4 (0.32%) Maven
6 3 (0.24%) Cypress.io
6 3 (0.24%) ERwin
6 3 (0.24%) GitLab
6 3 (0.24%) Selenium
7 2 (0.16%) git-flow
7 2 (0.16%) Hudson
7 2 (0.16%) JMeter
7 2 (0.16%) MLflow
7 2 (0.16%) Oracle Forms
7 2 (0.16%) Postman
7 2 (0.16%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.16%) WebDriver
7 2 (0.16%) webpack
8 1 (0.080%) REST Assured
General
1 360 (28.89%) Social Skills
2 285 (22.87%) Finance
3 111 (8.91%) Analytical Skills
4 105 (8.43%) Banking
5 83 (6.66%) Marketing
6 76 (6.10%) Manufacturing
7 54 (4.33%) Organisational Skills
8 49 (3.93%) Retail Banking
9 39 (3.13%) Investment Banking
10 37 (2.97%) Corporate Banking
11 27 (2.17%) Telecoms
12 24 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
12 24 (1.93%) Public Sector
13 23 (1.85%) Documentation Skills
14 20 (1.61%) Legal
14 20 (1.61%) Presentation Skills
15 19 (1.52%) French Language
16 18 (1.44%) Spanish Language
17 17 (1.36%) Advertising
18 13 (1.04%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 221 (17.74%) Architect
2 165 (13.24%) Analyst
3 148 (11.88%) Senior
4 116 (9.31%) Project Manager
4 116 (9.31%) Solutions Architect
5 88 (7.06%) Business Analyst
5 88 (7.06%) Lead
6 60 (4.82%) Senior Manager
7 52 (4.17%) Developer
8 46 (3.69%) Designer
9 40 (3.21%) Product Manager
10 38 (3.05%) Technical Manager
11 37 (2.97%) Consultant
12 36 (2.89%) Enterprise Architect
12 36 (2.89%) Senior Project Manager
13 30 (2.41%) Data Architect
14 29 (2.33%) 2nd Line Support
14 29 (2.33%) Supply Chain Architect
15 28 (2.25%) Data Engineer
15 28 (2.25%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (4.25%) REST
2 32 (2.57%) Middleware
3 27 (2.17%) React
4 25 (2.01%) Spring
5 22 (1.77%) VML
6 21 (1.69%) Kafka
7 17 (1.36%) Spring Boot
8 16 (1.28%) HTML
8 16 (1.28%) Node.js
9 15 (1.20%) CSS
9 15 (1.20%) MACH
9 15 (1.20%) RESTful
10 14 (1.12%) Django
10 14 (1.12%) OAuth
11 13 (1.04%) J2EE
11 13 (1.04%) SOAP
12 11 (0.88%) .NET
13 9 (0.72%) AngularJS
13 9 (0.72%) OAuth2
14 8 (0.64%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 77 (6.18%) Product Ownership
2 52 (4.17%) FMCG
3 41 (3.29%) EPoS
3 41 (3.29%) Onboarding
4 34 (2.73%) Cloud Native
5 29 (2.33%) Driving Licence
6 26 (2.09%) Data Centre
6 26 (2.09%) Legacy Systems
7 22 (1.77%) Data Structures
8 21 (1.69%) Mobile App
9 20 (1.61%) Marketing Technology
10 18 (1.44%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (1.20%) Greenfield Project
11 15 (1.20%) Mainframe
12 13 (1.04%) Operational Technology
13 12 (0.96%) Management Information System
14 11 (0.88%) AI Agents
14 11 (0.88%) Smartphone
14 11 (0.88%) Taxonomies
14 11 (0.88%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 52 (4.17%) Windows
2 25 (2.01%) Linux
3 12 (0.96%) Android
4 11 (0.88%) Unix
5 7 (0.56%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.48%) Apple iOS
6 6 (0.48%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (0.40%) Windows 10
7 5 (0.40%) Windows Server
8 4 (0.32%) zOS
9 2 (0.16%) Debian
10 1 (0.080%) SUSE
10 1 (0.080%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.080%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 310 (24.88%) Stakeholder Management
2 297 (23.84%) Agile
3 195 (15.65%) E-Commerce
4 176 (14.13%) Problem-Solving
5 170 (13.64%) Migration
6 161 (12.92%) Roadmaps
7 138 (11.08%) Analytics
8 119 (9.55%) Customer Experience
9 115 (9.23%) AI
10 104 (8.35%) Project Management
11 102 (8.19%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 95 (7.62%) Logistics
13 93 (7.46%) CRM
13 93 (7.46%) Decision-Making
13 93 (7.46%) ERP
14 91 (7.30%) CI/CD
14 91 (7.30%) Continuous Improvement
15 89 (7.14%) Project Delivery
16 88 (7.06%) Business Intelligence
17 84 (6.74%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 101 (8.11%) SQL
2 82 (6.58%) Python
3 52 (4.17%) Java
4 25 (2.01%) JavaScript
5 20 (1.61%) TypeScript
6 11 (0.88%) C#
7 10 (0.80%) PowerShell
8 8 (0.64%) Shell Script
9 7 (0.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 6 (0.48%) ABAP
10 6 (0.48%) Bicep
10 6 (0.48%) PL/SQL
10 6 (0.48%) Scala
11 5 (0.40%) Bash
11 5 (0.40%) Groovy
11 5 (0.40%) R
11 5 (0.40%) SOQL
12 4 (0.32%) Apex Code
12 4 (0.32%) Kotlin
13 3 (0.24%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 58 (4.65%) Degree
2 36 (2.89%) Security Cleared
3 22 (1.77%) SC Cleared
4 17 (1.36%) PMP
5 10 (0.80%) DBS Check
6 9 (0.72%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (0.64%) CISSP
7 8 (0.64%) PMI Certification
8 6 (0.48%) BPSS Clearance
8 6 (0.48%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (0.48%) CISM
8 6 (0.48%) ITIL Certification
9 5 (0.40%) CCNP
9 5 (0.40%) CCSE
9 5 (0.40%) CCSM
9 5 (0.40%) CSPO
10 4 (0.32%) Azure Certification
10 4 (0.32%) City & Guilds
11 3 (0.24%) Master's Degree
11 3 (0.24%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 53 (4.25%) QA
2 48 (3.85%) Data Quality
3 37 (2.97%) GDPR
4 28 (2.25%) PMO
5 20 (1.61%) Accessibility
6 17 (1.36%) PCI DSS
7 11 (0.88%) SLA
8 9 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 7 (0.56%) NIST
10 3 (0.24%) GAAP
10 3 (0.24%) IFRS
10 3 (0.24%) PSD2
11 2 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.16%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.16%) GRC
11 2 (0.16%) ISO 8583
11 2 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.16%) WCAG
12 1 (0.080%) COBIT
12 1 (0.080%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 26 (2.09%) Docker
2 23 (1.85%) Active Directory
3 7 (0.56%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (0.56%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.48%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.24%) Firmware
7 2 (0.16%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 32 (2.57%) Terraform
2 24 (1.93%) Kubernetes
3 14 (1.12%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 8 (0.64%) Ansible
5 6 (0.48%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.48%) SCCM
6 5 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.32%) FortiGate
8 3 (0.24%) Grafana
9 2 (0.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.16%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.16%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.16%) MOM
9 2 (0.16%) PingFederate
10 1 (0.080%) Argo
10 1 (0.080%) CloudHub
10 1 (0.080%) CSIRT
10 1 (0.080%) Istio
10 1 (0.080%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 102 (8.19%) Microsoft
2 86 (6.90%) SAP
3 74 (5.94%) Oracle
4 56 (4.49%) Salesforce
5 52 (4.17%) Google
6 51 (4.09%) Databricks
7 36 (2.89%) Adobe
8 21 (1.69%) ServiceNow
9 14 (1.12%) IFS
9 14 (1.12%) MuleSoft
10 13 (1.04%) Cisco
10 13 (1.04%) Zscaler
11 12 (0.96%) VMware
12 11 (0.88%) Fortinet
12 11 (0.88%) Palo Alto
13 10 (0.80%) IBM
13 10 (0.80%) Sitecore
13 10 (0.80%) Splunk
14 9 (0.72%) Apple
14 9 (0.72%) Workday