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 4 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 77 112 91
Rank change year-on-year +35 -21 +3
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,496 693 828
As % of all contract jobs in England 3.23% 2.47% 2.55%
As % of the General category 5.73% 3.86% 4.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 864 377 442
10th Percentile £325 £300 £285
25th Percentile £450 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -
75th Percentile £675 £644 £638
90th Percentile £738 £743 £738
UK median daily rate £550 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +4.76% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 124 62 22
10th Percentile £12.76 £15.25 £14.33
25th Percentile £13.43 £15.48 £16.00
Median hourly rate £15.11 £16.34 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -7.50% +0.21% -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £19.50 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £25.15 £53.38
UK median hourly rate £15.04 £16.34 £16.30
% change year-on-year -7.93% +0.21% -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 26,093 17,954 19,045
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 56.32% 63.95% 58.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,217 11,378 11,456
10th Percentile £313 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £530
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -5.66% -3.64%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £750 £748 £775
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,385 1,050 868
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.51 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.62 £16.26 £18.00
Median hourly rate £29.07 £25.11 £36.08
Median % change year-on-year +15.76% -30.40% +22.31%
75th Percentile £56.00 £45.56 £61.33
90th Percentile £77.50 £70.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £28.00 £25.08 £35.00
% change year-on-year +11.67% -28.36% +27.27%

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 4 October 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 4 October 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 4 October 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 +38 826 £575 +4.55% 2,112
North of England -3 200 £550 +10.00% 708
Midlands +40 161 £550 +27.76% 475
South East -7 161 £581 +5.68% 648
North West +17 127 £550 +10.00% 358
East Midlands +23 89 £500 +14.68% 214
East of England +15 81 £550 -6.38% 257
West Midlands +6 71 £575 +35.29% 260
Yorkshire -38 55 £500 -4.76% 285
South West -12 52 £475 +91.92% 210
North East -24 18 £525 +288.89% 75
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 49 (3.28%) Confluence
2 24 (1.60%) CMS
3 20 (1.34%) SharePoint
4 18 (1.20%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (0.53%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.33%) SAS
7 4 (0.27%) Apache
7 4 (0.27%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.27%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.13%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.13%) CICS
8 2 (0.13%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.13%) WordPress
9 1 (0.067%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.067%) Mendix
9 1 (0.067%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.067%) Mule
9 1 (0.067%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 72 (4.81%) Microsoft Excel
2 52 (3.48%) Microsoft Office
3 28 (1.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (0.94%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 13 (0.87%) Spreadsheet
6 11 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
6 11 (0.74%) MS Visio
7 8 (0.53%) Photoshop
8 7 (0.47%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.40%) CPLEX
10 5 (0.33%) InDesign
11 4 (0.27%) Notion
12 2 (0.13%) Chatbot
13 1 (0.067%) 3ds Max
13 1 (0.067%) PlantUML
13 1 (0.067%) Siemens NX
13 1 (0.067%) SOLIDWORKS
13 1 (0.067%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 52 (3.48%) SAP S/4HANA
2 27 (1.80%) Shopify
3 13 (0.87%) Dynamics CRM
4 9 (0.60%) Magento
4 9 (0.60%) Oracle Retail
5 8 (0.53%) SAP Retail
6 7 (0.47%) SAP CRM
7 6 (0.40%) NetSuite
7 6 (0.40%) SAP MM
8 5 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
8 5 (0.33%) SAP MDG
8 5 (0.33%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
9 4 (0.27%) Payment Gateway
9 4 (0.27%) SAP CAR
9 4 (0.27%) SAP SD
10 3 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
10 3 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
10 3 (0.20%) Oracle Payables
10 3 (0.20%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 206 (13.77%) Azure
2 148 (9.89%) AWS
3 76 (5.08%) Power Platform
4 71 (4.75%) GCP
5 52 (3.48%) Snowflake
6 50 (3.34%) GitHub
7 39 (2.61%) Azure DevOps
8 32 (2.14%) Entra ID
9 31 (2.07%) GitHub Actions
10 27 (1.80%) SaaS
11 26 (1.74%) Dynamics 365
12 24 (1.60%) dbt
13 20 (1.34%) Figma
14 18 (1.20%) Azure Data Factory
15 17 (1.14%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
16 16 (1.07%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 16 (1.07%) Microsoft 365
17 14 (0.94%) OCI
18 11 (0.74%) Salesforce Service Cloud
19 9 (0.60%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.47%) WAN
2 20 (1.34%) Firewall
3 16 (1.07%) VPN
4 14 (0.94%) ATM
4 14 (0.94%) Network Security
5 13 (0.87%) LAN
5 13 (0.87%) Wireless
6 12 (0.80%) Wi-Fi
7 7 (0.47%) BGP
7 7 (0.47%) Internet
7 7 (0.47%) IPsec
7 7 (0.47%) OSPF
7 7 (0.47%) SD-WAN
8 6 (0.40%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 6 (0.40%) Structured Cabling
8 6 (0.40%) VLAN
9 5 (0.33%) DNS
10 4 (0.27%) Broadband
10 4 (0.27%) SMS
10 4 (0.27%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 75 (5.01%) Power BI
2 41 (2.74%) Data Warehouse
3 28 (1.87%) Data Lake
4 27 (1.80%) BigQuery
5 22 (1.47%) SQL Server
6 19 (1.27%) Metadata
6 19 (1.27%) MongoDB
6 19 (1.27%) Tableau
7 18 (1.20%) NoSQL
8 15 (1.00%) Amazon Redshift
8 15 (1.00%) PostgreSQL
8 15 (1.00%) SAP BW
9 14 (0.94%) Relational Database
10 13 (0.87%) MySQL
10 13 (0.87%) SAP HANA
11 12 (0.80%) Power Query
12 11 (0.74%) Redis
13 10 (0.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 9 (0.60%) Couchbase
14 9 (0.60%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 74 (4.95%) JIRA
2 22 (1.47%) Git
2 22 (1.47%) Jenkins
3 8 (0.53%) Subversion
4 7 (0.47%) Claude Code
5 5 (0.33%) Cypress.io
6 4 (0.27%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.27%) GitLab
6 4 (0.27%) JMeter
7 3 (0.20%) Hudson
7 3 (0.20%) Postman
8 2 (0.13%) git-flow
8 2 (0.13%) LSMW
8 2 (0.13%) MLflow
8 2 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
8 2 (0.13%) Selenium
8 2 (0.13%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.13%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.13%) webpack
9 1 (0.067%) ScriptRunner
General
1 438 (29.28%) Social Skills
2 327 (21.86%) Finance
3 152 (10.16%) Analytical Skills
4 131 (8.76%) Marketing
5 107 (7.15%) Banking
5 107 (7.15%) Manufacturing
6 69 (4.61%) Organisational Skills
7 53 (3.54%) Retail Banking
8 36 (2.41%) Influencing Skills
9 35 (2.34%) Corporate Banking
10 34 (2.27%) Investment Banking
11 30 (2.01%) Advertising
12 28 (1.87%) Legal
12 28 (1.87%) Telecoms
13 25 (1.67%) Public Sector
14 17 (1.14%) French Language
14 17 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 17 (1.14%) Presentation Skills
14 17 (1.14%) Spanish Language
15 16 (1.07%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 250 (16.71%) Architect
2 204 (13.64%) Analyst
3 159 (10.63%) Senior
4 146 (9.76%) Solutions Architect
5 115 (7.69%) Project Manager
6 107 (7.15%) Business Analyst
7 103 (6.89%) Lead
8 76 (5.08%) Developer
9 52 (3.48%) Consultant
9 52 (3.48%) Product Manager
10 49 (3.28%) Designer
11 42 (2.81%) Senior Manager
11 42 (2.81%) Supply Chain Architect
12 32 (2.14%) Data Analyst
12 32 (2.14%) Senior Developer
13 27 (1.80%) Technical Manager
14 25 (1.67%) 2nd Line Support
14 25 (1.67%) Data Architect
14 25 (1.67%) Data Engineer
15 23 (1.54%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 65 (4.34%) REST
2 47 (3.14%) Terraform
3 40 (2.67%) Kafka
4 38 (2.54%) React
5 30 (2.01%) Spring
6 26 (1.74%) Spring Boot
7 24 (1.60%) Middleware
7 24 (1.60%) Node.js
8 22 (1.47%) Django
9 21 (1.40%) RESTful
10 20 (1.34%) MACH
10 20 (1.34%) SOAP
11 18 (1.20%) Next.js
12 17 (1.14%) SAP Fiori
12 17 (1.14%) VML
13 15 (1.00%) HTML
14 13 (0.87%) .NET
14 13 (0.87%) SAPUI5
15 11 (0.74%) CSS
15 11 (0.74%) SAP Basis
Miscellaneous
1 73 (4.88%) Product Ownership
2 70 (4.68%) FMCG
3 66 (4.41%) EPoS
4 53 (3.54%) Onboarding
5 49 (3.28%) Cloud Native
6 35 (2.34%) Driving Licence
7 32 (2.14%) Legacy Systems
8 31 (2.07%) Management Information System
9 30 (2.01%) Mobile App
10 26 (1.74%) Greenfield Project
11 25 (1.67%) Data Centre
12 23 (1.54%) Data Structures
12 23 (1.54%) Marketing Technology
13 21 (1.40%) Operational Technology
14 20 (1.34%) Distributed Systems
14 20 (1.34%) Smartphone
15 17 (1.14%) Self-Motivation
16 15 (1.00%) IoT
17 14 (0.94%) Credit Risk
17 14 (0.94%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 47 (3.14%) Windows
2 16 (1.07%) Linux
3 12 (0.80%) Android
4 7 (0.47%) Apple iOS
4 7 (0.47%) Mac OS
4 7 (0.47%) Unix
5 6 (0.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (0.40%) Ubuntu
6 4 (0.27%) Windows 10
7 3 (0.20%) zOS
8 2 (0.13%) Debian
9 1 (0.067%) OS/2
9 1 (0.067%) SUSE
9 1 (0.067%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.067%) VMS
9 1 (0.067%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 408 (27.27%) Stakeholder Management
2 340 (22.73%) Agile
3 240 (16.04%) E-Commerce
4 180 (12.03%) Migration
5 179 (11.97%) Analytics
6 172 (11.50%) Logistics
7 163 (10.90%) AI
8 162 (10.83%) Problem-Solving
9 158 (10.56%) Roadmaps
10 144 (9.63%) Decision-Making
11 133 (8.89%) CRM
12 131 (8.76%) Continuous Improvement
12 131 (8.76%) Customer Experience
13 120 (8.02%) CI/CD
14 110 (7.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 109 (7.29%) Project Management
16 108 (7.22%) Customer Service
16 108 (7.22%) DevOps
17 103 (6.89%) Business Intelligence
18 100 (6.68%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 137 (9.16%) SQL
2 105 (7.02%) Python
3 50 (3.34%) Java
4 35 (2.34%) TypeScript
5 23 (1.54%) JavaScript
6 13 (0.87%) ABAP
7 12 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 11 (0.74%) C#
9 10 (0.67%) R
10 8 (0.53%) Bash
11 7 (0.47%) PowerShell
12 6 (0.40%) Apex Code
12 6 (0.40%) PL/SQL
13 5 (0.33%) Groovy
14 4 (0.27%) Bicep
14 4 (0.27%) Shell Script
14 4 (0.27%) SOQL
14 4 (0.27%) T-SQL
15 3 (0.20%) Scala
16 2 (0.13%) X++
Qualifications
1 61 (4.08%) Degree
2 33 (2.21%) Security Cleared
3 22 (1.47%) PMP
4 14 (0.94%) ITIL Certification
5 11 (0.74%) PMI Certification
5 11 (0.74%) SC Cleared
6 8 (0.53%) Computer Science Degree
6 8 (0.53%) DBS Check
7 6 (0.40%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (0.40%) CISSP
8 5 (0.33%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (0.33%) CISM
8 5 (0.33%) City & Guilds
8 5 (0.33%) Six Sigma Green Belt
9 4 (0.27%) SAP Certification
10 3 (0.20%) APMG
10 3 (0.20%) AWS Certification
10 3 (0.20%) CCNP
10 3 (0.20%) CCSE
10 3 (0.20%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 73 (4.88%) Data Quality
2 71 (4.75%) QA
3 27 (1.80%) GDPR
4 25 (1.67%) Accessibility
5 22 (1.47%) PMO
6 13 (0.87%) PCI DSS
7 8 (0.53%) SLA
8 6 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
8 6 (0.40%) NIST
9 5 (0.33%) WCAG
10 4 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 3 (0.20%) PSD2
12 2 (0.13%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.13%) GAAP
12 2 (0.13%) GRC
12 2 (0.13%) IFRS
12 2 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.067%) GxP
13 1 (0.067%) HL7
13 1 (0.067%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 35 (2.34%) Docker
2 23 (1.54%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.87%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.40%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.33%) Firmware
5 5 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.13%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.067%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 39 (2.61%) Kubernetes
2 10 (0.67%) Single Sign-On
3 9 (0.60%) Ansible
4 7 (0.47%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 5 (0.33%) FortiGate
5 5 (0.33%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.27%) Bosun
7 3 (0.20%) SCCM
8 2 (0.13%) AirWatch
8 2 (0.13%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.13%) Kubeflow
8 2 (0.13%) logstash
8 2 (0.13%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.067%) Argo
9 1 (0.067%) CloudHub
9 1 (0.067%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.067%) Grafana
9 1 (0.067%) vMotion
Vendors
1 156 (10.43%) Microsoft
2 121 (8.09%) SAP
3 77 (5.15%) Salesforce
4 70 (4.68%) Databricks
5 67 (4.48%) Oracle
6 52 (3.48%) Google
7 35 (2.34%) Adobe
8 25 (1.67%) MuleSoft
9 24 (1.60%) Zscaler
10 18 (1.20%) Cisco
10 18 (1.20%) IBM
11 17 (1.14%) Workday
12 13 (0.87%) New Relic
13 12 (0.80%) Apple
13 12 (0.80%) ServiceNow
13 12 (0.80%) Splunk
14 11 (0.74%) Braze
14 11 (0.74%) Fortinet
15 10 (0.67%) Palo Alto
15 10 (0.67%) VMware