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 16 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 140 86 100
Rank change year-on-year -54 +14 -25
Contract jobs citing Retail 641 742 835
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.01% 2.75% 2.31%
As % of the General category 3.32% 4.43% 3.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 388 396 481
10th Percentile £206 £269 £263
25th Percentile £400 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £520
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +0.96% -4.76%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £638
90th Percentile £738 £765 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 9 31
10th Percentile £12.95 £15.38 £10.63
25th Percentile £16.17 £18.13 £13.00
Median hourly rate £16.67 £32.50 £19.81
Median % change year-on-year -48.72% +64.06% -
75th Percentile £19.50 £35.25 £21.39
90th Percentile £24.66 £40.75 £29.75
UK median hourly rate £17.00 £32.50 £19.81
% change year-on-year -47.69% +64.06% -

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 19,332 16,749 21,320
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 60.72% 62.14% 59.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,324 10,117 14,284
10th Percentile £285 £296 £275
25th Percentile £402 £413 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £530 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.66% -3.64% -
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,193 556 1,098
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.51 £14.00
25th Percentile £16.50 £18.68 £16.05
Median hourly rate £23.00 £30.00 £30.66
Median % change year-on-year -23.33% -2.16% +19.26%
75th Percentile £46.00 £56.26 £57.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.81 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £23.00 £27.50 £30.48
% change year-on-year -16.38% -9.76% +21.90%

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 16 January 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 16 January 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 16 January 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 -39 332 £550 - 236
South East -23 90 £517 -6.09% 383
North of England -45 76 £475 +5.56% 282
Midlands -39 70 £463 -7.50% 200
East Midlands -4 48 £495 -1.00% 109
East of England -17 39 £533 +1.43% 178
Yorkshire -45 39 £500 +25.00% 127
North West -19 33 £485 +6.30% 121
West Midlands -52 21 £275 -47.62% 90
South West -13 15 £183 -56.55% 147
North East -13 5 £200 -66.67% 37
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 27 (4.21%) Confluence
2 14 (2.18%) CMS
2 14 (2.18%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.40%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (0.94%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 5 (0.78%) Camunda
5 5 (0.78%) Jupyter
6 4 (0.62%) WordPress
7 3 (0.47%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.31%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.16%) SAS
9 1 (0.16%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.16%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.16%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 24 (3.74%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.72%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 9 (1.40%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (1.40%) Microsoft Project
3 9 (1.40%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.47%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.31%) Trello
6 1 (0.16%) Adobe After Effects
6 1 (0.16%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.16%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.16%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 23 (3.59%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.87%) Shopify
3 10 (1.56%) SAP Retail
4 9 (1.40%) Dynamics CRM
5 6 (0.94%) Payment Gateway
6 5 (0.78%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.62%) Dynamics AX
7 4 (0.62%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 4 (0.62%) Oracle Retail
7 4 (0.62%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.47%) Finacle
8 3 (0.47%) NetSuite
8 3 (0.47%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.47%) SAP MDG
9 2 (0.31%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.31%) Magento
9 2 (0.31%) SAP GTS
9 2 (0.31%) SAP MM
9 2 (0.31%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
10 1 (0.16%) Endur
Cloud Services
1 81 (12.64%) Azure
2 42 (6.55%) Power Platform
3 40 (6.24%) AWS
4 31 (4.84%) GCP
5 21 (3.28%) Azure DevOps
6 20 (3.12%) Dynamics 365
7 15 (2.34%) GitHub
7 15 (2.34%) Microsoft 365
8 14 (2.18%) SaaS
9 12 (1.87%) Snowflake
10 11 (1.72%) Figma
11 10 (1.56%) GitHub Actions
11 10 (1.56%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 8 (1.25%) Entra ID
12 8 (1.25%) Vertex AI
13 7 (1.09%) BigCommerce
13 7 (1.09%) dbt
13 7 (1.09%) OCI
13 7 (1.09%) Serverless
13 7 (1.09%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 19 (2.96%) RFID
2 18 (2.81%) NFC
2 18 (2.81%) Wireless
3 10 (1.56%) VPN
4 8 (1.25%) Firewall
5 7 (1.09%) WAN
6 6 (0.94%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (0.62%) BGP
7 4 (0.62%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (0.62%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.62%) OSPF
7 4 (0.62%) VoIP
8 3 (0.47%) LAN
9 2 (0.31%) MPLS
9 2 (0.31%) SAN
9 2 (0.31%) WLAN
10 1 (0.16%) Broadband
10 1 (0.16%) FTP
10 1 (0.16%) Intranet
10 1 (0.16%) SMS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (5.46%) Power BI
2 19 (2.96%) BigQuery
3 17 (2.65%) Data Warehouse
4 13 (2.03%) SQL Server
4 13 (2.03%) Tableau
5 12 (1.87%) Metadata
6 7 (1.09%) Data Lake
7 6 (0.94%) Data Vault
8 5 (0.78%) MySQL
8 5 (0.78%) Snowflake Schema
9 4 (0.62%) Delta Lake
9 4 (0.62%) MongoDB
9 4 (0.62%) Power Query
9 4 (0.62%) Redis
9 4 (0.62%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.62%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.47%) PostgreSQL
10 3 (0.47%) SAP BW
10 3 (0.47%) Star Schema
11 2 (0.31%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 64 (9.98%) JIRA
2 10 (1.56%) Jenkins
3 8 (1.25%) Git
4 6 (0.94%) GitLab
5 4 (0.62%) Selenium
5 4 (0.62%) Storybook
6 3 (0.47%) ERwin
6 3 (0.47%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.31%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.31%) JMeter
7 2 (0.31%) JUnit
7 2 (0.31%) MLflow
7 2 (0.31%) Mockito
7 2 (0.31%) Postman
7 2 (0.31%) PowerDesigner
7 2 (0.31%) SoapUI
7 2 (0.31%) Xcode
7 2 (0.31%) Zephyr
8 1 (0.16%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.16%) REST Assured
General
1 231 (36.04%) Social Skills
2 131 (20.44%) Finance
3 77 (12.01%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (7.80%) Banking
5 47 (7.33%) Marketing
6 40 (6.24%) Organisational Skills
7 35 (5.46%) Manufacturing
8 34 (5.30%) Public Sector
9 23 (3.59%) Influencing Skills
10 22 (3.43%) Retail Banking
11 19 (2.96%) Corporate Banking
12 18 (2.81%) Documentation Skills
12 18 (2.81%) Investment Banking
13 17 (2.65%) Legal
13 17 (2.65%) Presentation Skills
14 11 (1.72%) Telecoms
15 10 (1.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 6 (0.94%) Publishing
17 4 (0.62%) Automotive
17 4 (0.62%) Law
Job Titles
1 129 (20.12%) Analyst
2 70 (10.92%) Project Manager
3 69 (10.76%) Architect
4 65 (10.14%) Senior
5 61 (9.52%) Business Analyst
6 55 (8.58%) Lead
7 31 (4.84%) Solutions Architect
8 29 (4.52%) Consultant
9 26 (4.06%) Senior Manager
10 19 (2.96%) Product Manager
11 18 (2.81%) Programme Manager
12 14 (2.18%) Developer
12 14 (2.18%) Service Manager
12 14 (2.18%) Technical Manager
13 13 (2.03%) Help Desk Analyst
13 13 (2.03%) Support Analyst
14 12 (1.87%) SAP Consultant
14 12 (1.87%) Senior Analyst
15 11 (1.72%) Data Analyst
15 11 (1.72%) Senior Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (3.28%) React
2 18 (2.81%) VML
3 16 (2.50%) Node.js
4 13 (2.03%) PySpark
4 13 (2.03%) REST
5 10 (1.56%) HTML
6 8 (1.25%) .NET
6 8 (1.25%) AngularJS
7 7 (1.09%) React Native
7 7 (1.09%) scikit-learn
7 7 (1.09%) Spring
7 7 (1.09%) Spring Boot
8 6 (0.94%) OpenTelemetry
9 5 (0.78%) CSS
9 5 (0.78%) Kafka
9 5 (0.78%) LangChain
9 5 (0.78%) Matplotlib
9 5 (0.78%) RESTful
9 5 (0.78%) XGBoost
9 5 (0.78%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 31 (4.84%) Product Ownership
2 24 (3.74%) Self-Motivation
3 23 (3.59%) Legacy Systems
4 20 (3.12%) IoT
5 18 (2.81%) Onboarding
6 16 (2.50%) FMCG
7 15 (2.34%) Management Information System
8 14 (2.18%) EPoS
9 13 (2.03%) Cloud Native
9 13 (2.03%) Data Centre
9 13 (2.03%) Data Structures
10 9 (1.40%) Driving Licence
10 9 (1.40%) Mobile App
11 8 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
12 6 (0.94%) Algorithms
12 6 (0.94%) Greenfield Project
12 6 (0.94%) Replication
13 5 (0.78%) Hybrid Cloud
13 5 (0.78%) Mainframe
13 5 (0.78%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 34 (5.30%) Windows
2 10 (1.56%) Linux
3 7 (1.09%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.78%) Android
4 5 (0.78%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.47%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.31%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.16%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.16%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.16%) VMS
7 1 (0.16%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 151 (23.56%) Agile
2 148 (23.09%) Stakeholder Management
3 103 (16.07%) Problem-Solving
4 81 (12.64%) Project Management
5 77 (12.01%) Analytics
6 75 (11.70%) E-Commerce
7 63 (9.83%) Migration
8 61 (9.52%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 56 (8.74%) Workshop Facilitation
10 55 (8.58%) Roadmaps
11 54 (8.42%) Continuous Improvement
12 49 (7.64%) Data Modelling
13 48 (7.49%) AI
14 46 (7.18%) Business Intelligence
14 46 (7.18%) DevOps
14 46 (7.18%) Scrum
15 45 (7.02%) Customer Experience
16 43 (6.71%) Project Delivery
17 41 (6.40%) CRM
17 41 (6.40%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 63 (9.83%) SQL
2 53 (8.27%) Python
3 16 (2.50%) Java
4 13 (2.03%) JavaScript
5 11 (1.72%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.56%) Bash
7 7 (1.09%) Kusto Query Language
7 7 (1.09%) Shell Script
8 6 (0.94%) C#
9 5 (0.78%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.47%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.31%) ABAP
11 2 (0.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 2 (0.31%) PHP
11 2 (0.31%) R
11 2 (0.31%) Swift
11 2 (0.31%) VBA
12 1 (0.16%) CLIST
12 1 (0.16%) Kotlin
12 1 (0.16%) VB
Qualifications
1 28 (4.37%) Degree
2 20 (3.12%) PMP
3 18 (2.81%) PMI Certification
3 18 (2.81%) Security Cleared
4 8 (1.25%) Master's Degree
5 6 (0.94%) ITIL Certification
5 6 (0.94%) MBA
5 6 (0.94%) SC Cleared
6 4 (0.62%) APMP
6 4 (0.62%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (0.62%) CCIE
6 4 (0.62%) CCNP
6 4 (0.62%) Cisco Certification
6 4 (0.62%) CISSP
6 4 (0.62%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (0.62%) CSPO
7 3 (0.47%) CISM
7 3 (0.47%) CRISC
7 3 (0.47%) GIAC
7 3 (0.47%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (3.90%) Data Quality
2 20 (3.12%) QA
3 17 (2.65%) PMO
4 12 (1.87%) Accessibility
4 12 (1.87%) GDPR
4 12 (1.87%) SLA
5 5 (0.78%) Actionable Recommendations
6 3 (0.47%) IFRS
6 3 (0.47%) NCSC
6 3 (0.47%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.31%) COBIT
7 2 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.31%) NIST
8 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.16%) IFRS 9
8 1 (0.16%) MiFID
8 1 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.16%) Solvency II
System Software
1 11 (1.72%) Docker
2 7 (1.09%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.47%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (0.47%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.16%) RACF
4 1 (0.16%) Varnish
4 1 (0.16%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 18 (2.81%) Terraform
2 11 (1.72%) Kubernetes
3 5 (0.78%) Argo
3 5 (0.78%) Istio
4 4 (0.62%) Grafana
4 4 (0.62%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (0.47%) Jamf Pro
5 3 (0.47%) SCCM
5 3 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.31%) Ansible
7 1 (0.16%) AirWatch
7 1 (0.16%) Cacti
7 1 (0.16%) Control-M
7 1 (0.16%) Nmap
7 1 (0.16%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.16%) ZABBIX
7 1 (0.16%) zSecure
Vendors
1 70 (10.92%) Microsoft
2 60 (9.36%) SAP
3 41 (6.40%) Salesforce
4 36 (5.62%) Oracle
5 28 (4.37%) Google
6 18 (2.81%) Adobe
7 16 (2.50%) Databricks
8 8 (1.25%) HP
8 8 (1.25%) ServiceNow
9 7 (1.09%) Sitecore
10 6 (0.94%) CheckPoint
10 6 (0.94%) Dell
10 6 (0.94%) F5
11 5 (0.78%) Cisco
11 5 (0.78%) Dynatrace
11 5 (0.78%) Meraki
11 5 (0.78%) MicroStrategy
11 5 (0.78%) Temenos
11 5 (0.78%) Zscaler
12 4 (0.62%) BMC