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

6 months to
16 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 138 85 86
Rank change year-on-year -53 +1 -2
Contract jobs citing Retail 720 714 933
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.96% 2.89% 2.46%
As % of the General category 3.40% 4.56% 4.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 459 388 538
10th Percentile £200 £305 £277
25th Percentile £363 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £505
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +3.96% -3.81%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £768 £739
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 14 65
10th Percentile £12.79 £16.11 £11.09
25th Percentile £13.60 £18.91 £12.15
Median hourly rate £16.92 £32.00 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -47.13% +100.00% -19.23%
75th Percentile £35.00 £45.38 £21.37
90th Percentile £53.85 £63.83 £21.46
UK median hourly rate £18.85 £32.50 £16.00
% change year-on-year -42.00% +103.13% -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 21,201 15,643 22,211
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 57.65% 63.23% 58.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,382 10,110 14,532
10th Percentile £300 £300 £269
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £763
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,328 575 1,663
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.00 £13.01
25th Percentile £17.69 £19.99 £15.35
Median hourly rate £25.00 £30.78 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -18.78% +18.38% -23.53%
75th Percentile £58.94 £61.50 £50.00
90th Percentile £77.33 £76.25 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £24.19 £30.00 £26.00
% change year-on-year -19.37% +15.38% -24.64%

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 March 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 March 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 March 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 -44 398 £538 -3.59% 268
South East -38 99 £420 -22.76% 246
North of England -38 81 £500 +11.11% 198
Midlands -38 71 £495 -1.00% 175
East Midlands -6 43 £495 -1.00% 96
North West -43 39 £550 +22.22% 104
Yorkshire -35 38 £506 +26.56% 77
East of England -22 35 £526 +0.24% 85
West Midlands -62 27 £463 -11.90% 79
South West -18 19 £261 -26.41% 68
North East -9 4 £206 - 19
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 32 (4.44%) Confluence
2 15 (2.08%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.67%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 12 (1.67%) Apache Airflow
4 11 (1.53%) CMS
5 4 (0.56%) WordPress
6 3 (0.42%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.42%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.28%) SAS
8 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 25 (3.47%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (2.22%) Microsoft Project
3 13 (1.81%) Microsoft Office
4 12 (1.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 11 (1.53%) Chatbot
6 10 (1.39%) MS Visio
7 3 (0.42%) Photoshop
8 2 (0.28%) Adobe Illustrator
8 2 (0.28%) Trello
9 1 (0.14%) 3ds Max
9 1 (0.14%) Adobe After Effects
9 1 (0.14%) Adobe XD
9 1 (0.14%) InDesign
9 1 (0.14%) Maya
9 1 (0.14%) SOLIDWORKS
9 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.14%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 16 (2.22%) SAP S/4HANA
2 15 (2.08%) Shopify
3 12 (1.67%) SAP Retail
4 10 (1.39%) Dynamics CRM
5 7 (0.97%) Oracle Retail
6 6 (0.83%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 5 (0.69%) Finacle
7 5 (0.69%) SAP Payroll
8 4 (0.56%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.56%) Temenos T24
9 3 (0.42%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.42%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
10 2 (0.28%) BambooHR
10 2 (0.28%) Sprinklr
11 1 (0.14%) Oracle Cash Management
11 1 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
11 1 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
11 1 (0.14%) Sage X3
11 1 (0.14%) SAP CAR
11 1 (0.14%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 81 (11.25%) Azure
2 49 (6.81%) Power Platform
3 46 (6.39%) AWS
4 39 (5.42%) GCP
5 23 (3.19%) Azure DevOps
6 21 (2.92%) GitHub
7 19 (2.64%) Dynamics 365
8 16 (2.22%) Snowflake
9 15 (2.08%) Microsoft 365
10 14 (1.94%) GitHub Actions
11 12 (1.67%) Figma
11 12 (1.67%) Google Workspace
12 11 (1.53%) SaaS
13 10 (1.39%) Entra ID
13 10 (1.39%) Miro
14 9 (1.25%) Azure Data Factory
14 9 (1.25%) Cloud Run
14 9 (1.25%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
14 9 (1.25%) Serverless
15 8 (1.11%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.94%) RFID
2 13 (1.81%) VPN
3 11 (1.53%) WAN
4 10 (1.39%) Wireless
5 9 (1.25%) Firewall
6 8 (1.11%) NFC
7 7 (0.97%) LAN
8 6 (0.83%) Wi-Fi
9 5 (0.69%) Cisco Nexus
10 4 (0.56%) BGP
10 4 (0.56%) EIGRP
10 4 (0.56%) OSPF
10 4 (0.56%) VoIP
11 3 (0.42%) MPLS
12 2 (0.28%) Network Security
12 2 (0.28%) SAN
12 2 (0.28%) SD-WAN
12 2 (0.28%) WLAN
13 1 (0.14%) BT 21CN
13 1 (0.14%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (5.69%) Power BI
2 21 (2.92%) BigQuery
3 17 (2.36%) Data Warehouse
4 13 (1.81%) SQL Server
5 12 (1.67%) MySQL
6 11 (1.53%) Metadata
6 11 (1.53%) Tableau
7 7 (0.97%) Data Lake
7 7 (0.97%) Data Vault
8 6 (0.83%) Delta Lake
9 5 (0.69%) PostgreSQL
10 4 (0.56%) Redis
10 4 (0.56%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.56%) Snowflake Schema
10 4 (0.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.42%) NoSQL
11 3 (0.42%) OLAP
11 3 (0.42%) Oracle OLAP
11 3 (0.42%) Oracle Reports
11 3 (0.42%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 67 (9.31%) JIRA
2 10 (1.39%) Git
2 10 (1.39%) Jenkins
3 7 (0.97%) GitLab
4 5 (0.69%) ERwin
5 4 (0.56%) Maven
5 4 (0.56%) MLflow
6 3 (0.42%) Selenium
6 3 (0.42%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.28%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.28%) PowerDesigner
7 2 (0.28%) WebDriver
7 2 (0.28%) Xcode
8 1 (0.14%) Android Studio
8 1 (0.14%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.14%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.14%) Mockito
8 1 (0.14%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.14%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.14%) Zephyr
General
1 241 (33.47%) Social Skills
2 171 (23.75%) Finance
3 81 (11.25%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (8.75%) Banking
5 60 (8.33%) Marketing
6 33 (4.58%) Public Sector
7 30 (4.17%) Manufacturing
8 29 (4.03%) Organisational Skills
9 25 (3.47%) Investment Banking
10 24 (3.33%) Influencing Skills
10 24 (3.33%) Retail Banking
11 23 (3.19%) Corporate Banking
12 20 (2.78%) Documentation Skills
13 18 (2.50%) Presentation Skills
14 13 (1.81%) Telecoms
15 11 (1.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 10 (1.39%) Legal
17 8 (1.11%) Financial Institution
18 7 (0.97%) Publishing
19 5 (0.69%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 121 (16.81%) Analyst
2 96 (13.33%) Project Manager
3 86 (11.94%) Architect
3 86 (11.94%) Senior
4 63 (8.75%) Business Analyst
5 62 (8.61%) Lead
6 38 (5.28%) Senior Manager
7 34 (4.72%) Solutions Architect
8 33 (4.58%) Consultant
9 26 (3.61%) Technical Manager
10 22 (3.06%) Senior Project Manager
11 18 (2.50%) Product Manager
12 17 (2.36%) Programme Manager
12 17 (2.36%) Service Manager
13 16 (2.22%) Developer
14 15 (2.08%) Data Architect
15 14 (1.94%) Designer
15 14 (1.94%) E-Commerce Manager
16 13 (1.81%) Data Engineer
16 13 (1.81%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (2.78%) REST
1 20 (2.78%) VML
2 17 (2.36%) Middleware
3 15 (2.08%) Spring
4 11 (1.53%) AngularJS
4 11 (1.53%) PySpark
5 10 (1.39%) React
5 10 (1.39%) scikit-learn
5 10 (1.39%) Spring Boot
6 9 (1.25%) .NET
7 8 (1.11%) Node.js
8 7 (0.97%) CSS
8 7 (0.97%) HTML
8 7 (0.97%) PyTorch
9 6 (0.83%) LangChain
9 6 (0.83%) OpenTelemetry
10 5 (0.69%) jQuery
10 5 (0.69%) JSON
10 5 (0.69%) XML
11 4 (0.56%) Spring MVC
Miscellaneous
1 46 (6.39%) Product Ownership
2 27 (3.75%) Driving Licence
3 24 (3.33%) Self-Motivation
4 22 (3.06%) Onboarding
5 21 (2.92%) Cloud Native
6 19 (2.64%) Management Information System
7 17 (2.36%) Data Centre
8 16 (2.22%) FMCG
8 16 (2.22%) Legacy Systems
9 15 (2.08%) Data Structures
9 15 (2.08%) EPoS
10 12 (1.67%) Mobile App
11 9 (1.25%) IoT
11 9 (1.25%) Virtual Team
12 8 (1.11%) Analytical Mindset
13 7 (0.97%) Algorithms
13 7 (0.97%) Greenfield Project
13 7 (0.97%) Reference Data
14 6 (0.83%) CCTV
14 6 (0.83%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 33 (4.58%) Windows
2 18 (2.50%) Linux
3 9 (1.25%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.69%) Android
5 4 (0.56%) Apple iOS
5 4 (0.56%) Unix
6 3 (0.42%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.42%) zOS
7 1 (0.14%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.14%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 169 (23.47%) Stakeholder Management
2 163 (22.64%) Agile
3 141 (19.58%) Problem-Solving
4 103 (14.31%) E-Commerce
5 89 (12.36%) Project Management
6 76 (10.56%) Analytics
6 76 (10.56%) Migration
7 72 (10.00%) Roadmaps
8 69 (9.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 63 (8.75%) Workshop Facilitation
10 61 (8.47%) Customer Experience
11 59 (8.19%) ERP
12 58 (8.06%) Continuous Improvement
12 58 (8.06%) Scrum
13 57 (7.92%) DevOps
14 56 (7.78%) Project Delivery
15 55 (7.64%) AI
16 52 (7.22%) Change Management
17 50 (6.94%) Business Intelligence
18 45 (6.25%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 61 (8.47%) Python
1 61 (8.47%) SQL
2 25 (3.47%) Java
3 18 (2.50%) JavaScript
4 14 (1.94%) PowerShell
5 11 (1.53%) Bash
6 9 (1.25%) Shell Script
7 8 (1.11%) Kusto Query Language
8 7 (0.97%) C#
9 5 (0.69%) TypeScript
10 4 (0.56%) Kotlin
10 4 (0.56%) VBA
11 3 (0.42%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.28%) Apex Code
12 2 (0.28%) Google Apps Script
12 2 (0.28%) PHP
12 2 (0.28%) Scala
12 2 (0.28%) SOQL
12 2 (0.28%) SOSL
12 2 (0.28%) Swift
Qualifications
1 44 (6.11%) Degree
2 22 (3.06%) PMP
3 20 (2.78%) Security Cleared
4 17 (2.36%) PMI Certification
5 8 (1.11%) Master's Degree
5 8 (1.11%) SC Cleared
6 7 (0.97%) APMP
6 7 (0.97%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (0.97%) MBA
7 6 (0.83%) CISSP
7 6 (0.83%) Computer Science Degree
8 5 (0.69%) CCNP
8 5 (0.69%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (0.56%) CCIE
9 4 (0.56%) CISM
9 4 (0.56%) CRISC
9 4 (0.56%) CSPO
10 3 (0.42%) Microsoft Certification
10 3 (0.42%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (4.44%) QA
2 31 (4.31%) Data Quality
3 27 (3.75%) PMO
4 17 (2.36%) GDPR
4 17 (2.36%) SLA
5 14 (1.94%) Accessibility
6 6 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 6 (0.83%) PCI DSS
7 5 (0.69%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.56%) IFRS
9 3 (0.42%) NIST
10 2 (0.28%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.28%) NCSC
10 2 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.14%) COBIT
11 1 (0.14%) GAAP
11 1 (0.14%) IFRS 9
11 1 (0.14%) MiFID
11 1 (0.14%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.14%) WCAG
System Software
1 18 (2.50%) Docker
2 12 (1.67%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.56%) VMware NSX
4 3 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.28%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.14%) RACF
6 1 (0.14%) Varnish
6 1 (0.14%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 18 (2.50%) Terraform
2 16 (2.22%) Kubernetes
3 7 (0.97%) Grafana
3 7 (0.97%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 6 (0.83%) Argo
4 6 (0.83%) Istio
4 6 (0.83%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (0.42%) SCCM
5 3 (0.42%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
6 2 (0.28%) MOM
7 1 (0.14%) Cacti
7 1 (0.14%) Control-M
7 1 (0.14%) Nmap
7 1 (0.14%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.14%) ZABBIX
7 1 (0.14%) zSecure
Vendors
1 66 (9.17%) Microsoft
2 59 (8.19%) SAP
3 49 (6.81%) Google
4 43 (5.97%) Oracle
5 32 (4.44%) Salesforce
6 24 (3.33%) Databricks
7 21 (2.92%) Adobe
8 13 (1.81%) ServiceNow
9 9 (1.25%) Sitecore
10 7 (0.97%) Temenos
11 6 (0.83%) CheckPoint
11 6 (0.83%) Cisco
11 6 (0.83%) VMware
11 6 (0.83%) Workday
12 5 (0.69%) Apple
12 5 (0.69%) Avaloq
12 5 (0.69%) BMC
12 5 (0.69%) GoldenSource
12 5 (0.69%) IFS
12 5 (0.69%) MicroStrategy