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

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 95 82
Rank change year-on-year -30 -13 +1
Contract jobs citing Retail 846 686 984
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.13% 2.79% 2.64%
As % of the General category 3.83% 4.36% 4.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 524 371 559
10th Percentile £206 £308 £278
25th Percentile £381 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £520
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +0.96% -0.95%
75th Percentile £609 £630 £644
90th Percentile £738 £750 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £505
% change year-on-year -4.76% +3.96% -3.81%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 15 83
10th Percentile £12.95 £15.67 £11.25
25th Percentile £15.77 £17.22 £12.15
Median hourly rate £17.50 £29.00 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -39.66% +81.25% -19.23%
75th Percentile £22.52 £42.50 £21.37
90th Percentile £46.25 £62.60 £21.46
UK median hourly rate £18.18 £31.50 £16.00
% change year-on-year -42.30% +96.88% -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 22,061 15,727 21,785
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 55.57% 63.99% 58.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,826 10,218 14,096
10th Percentile £304 £300 £275
25th Percentile £406 £411 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £775
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,429 662 1,772
10th Percentile £14.25 £14.20 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.05 £17.53 £15.39
Median hourly rate £30.00 £28.60 £29.83
Median % change year-on-year +4.90% -4.11% -14.79%
75th Percentile £61.25 £58.75 £51.25
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £28.55 £28.18 £28.50
% change year-on-year +1.31% -1.12% -18.57%

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 23 April 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 23 April 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 23 April 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 -25 456 £525 -4.55% 269
South East -21 115 £375 -28.57% 240
North of England -32 115 £500 +11.11% 200
Midlands -34 77 £495 -1.00% 141
North West -12 64 £500 - 118
Yorkshire -39 46 £513 +38.51% 66
East of England -6 45 £535 -2.73% 104
East Midlands -13 39 £495 -1.00% 82
West Midlands -53 37 £500 +11.11% 59
South West -23 22 £318 -25.73% 63
North East -17 5 £206 -72.50% 20
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 36 (4.26%) Confluence
2 16 (1.89%) SharePoint
3 13 (1.54%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 9 (1.06%) CMS
5 8 (0.95%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (0.47%) SAS
7 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.24%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.24%) WordPress
9 1 (0.12%) CICS
9 1 (0.12%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.12%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 32 (3.78%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (2.25%) Microsoft Project
3 15 (1.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 13 (1.54%) Chatbot
5 12 (1.42%) Microsoft Office
6 11 (1.30%) MS Visio
7 8 (0.95%) Photoshop
8 6 (0.71%) Adobe Illustrator
9 3 (0.35%) InDesign
10 2 (0.24%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 2 (0.24%) Trello
10 2 (0.24%) UserZoom
11 1 (0.12%) 3ds Max
11 1 (0.12%) Adobe After Effects
11 1 (0.12%) Adobe XD
11 1 (0.12%) Maya
11 1 (0.12%) SOLIDWORKS
11 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 18 (2.13%) Shopify
2 13 (1.54%) SAP S/4HANA
3 12 (1.42%) Dynamics CRM
4 8 (0.95%) Oracle Retail
5 7 (0.83%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 7 (0.83%) SAP Retail
6 6 (0.71%) Finacle
7 5 (0.59%) SAP Payroll
8 4 (0.47%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.47%) Temenos T24
9 3 (0.35%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
10 2 (0.24%) BambooHR
10 2 (0.24%) Dynamics AX
10 2 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
10 2 (0.24%) Payment Gateway
10 2 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
10 2 (0.24%) SAP MM
10 2 (0.24%) Sprinklr
11 1 (0.12%) Adobe Campaign
11 1 (0.12%) Sage X3
Cloud Services
1 89 (10.52%) Azure
2 54 (6.38%) AWS
2 54 (6.38%) Power Platform
3 50 (5.91%) GCP
4 25 (2.96%) Dynamics 365
5 21 (2.48%) Azure DevOps
5 21 (2.48%) GitHub
5 21 (2.48%) Snowflake
6 17 (2.01%) Microsoft 365
7 14 (1.65%) Entra ID
8 13 (1.54%) Figma
8 13 (1.54%) GitHub Actions
8 13 (1.54%) Google Workspace
8 13 (1.54%) SaaS
9 12 (1.42%) BigCommerce
10 11 (1.30%) Miro
11 10 (1.18%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 9 (1.06%) Azure Data Factory
12 9 (1.06%) Cloud Run
13 8 (0.95%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 18 (2.13%) VPN
2 16 (1.89%) RFID
3 15 (1.77%) Firewall
4 14 (1.65%) WAN
5 12 (1.42%) Wireless
6 8 (0.95%) LAN
6 8 (0.95%) NFC
7 6 (0.71%) BGP
7 6 (0.71%) Cisco Nexus
7 6 (0.71%) OSPF
7 6 (0.71%) Wi-Fi
8 4 (0.47%) EIGRP
8 4 (0.47%) VoIP
9 3 (0.35%) Cisco Firepower
9 3 (0.35%) MPLS
9 3 (0.35%) Network Security
9 3 (0.35%) SD-WAN
9 3 (0.35%) WLAN
10 2 (0.24%) Cisco ASA
10 2 (0.24%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (5.44%) Power BI
2 24 (2.84%) BigQuery
3 18 (2.13%) Data Warehouse
4 16 (1.89%) SQL Server
5 12 (1.42%) MySQL
6 10 (1.18%) Metadata
6 10 (1.18%) Tableau
7 8 (0.95%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.83%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.71%) Data Vault
10 5 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
11 4 (0.47%) Delta Lake
11 4 (0.47%) NoSQL
11 4 (0.47%) Snowflake Schema
12 3 (0.35%) Looker
12 3 (0.35%) OLAP
12 3 (0.35%) Oracle OLAP
13 2 (0.24%) MongoDB
13 2 (0.24%) Oracle Reports
13 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 69 (8.16%) JIRA
2 9 (1.06%) Git
2 9 (1.06%) Jenkins
3 8 (0.95%) GitLab
4 5 (0.59%) ERwin
5 4 (0.47%) Maven
6 3 (0.35%) Selenium
6 3 (0.35%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.24%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.24%) MLflow
7 2 (0.24%) PowerDesigner
7 2 (0.24%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.12%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.12%) HP UFT
8 1 (0.12%) Hudson
8 1 (0.12%) JMeter
8 1 (0.12%) Mockito
8 1 (0.12%) Toad
8 1 (0.12%) Xcode
8 1 (0.12%) Zephyr
General
1 261 (30.85%) Social Skills
2 218 (25.77%) Finance
3 102 (12.06%) Analytical Skills
4 70 (8.27%) Banking
5 57 (6.74%) Marketing
6 43 (5.08%) Manufacturing
7 40 (4.73%) Organisational Skills
8 30 (3.55%) Documentation Skills
9 27 (3.19%) Public Sector
10 26 (3.07%) Presentation Skills
11 24 (2.84%) Influencing Skills
12 23 (2.72%) Investment Banking
13 22 (2.60%) Retail Banking
14 21 (2.48%) Corporate Banking
15 20 (2.36%) Telecoms
16 14 (1.65%) Legal
17 11 (1.30%) Back Office
18 8 (0.95%) Pharmaceutical
19 7 (0.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
20 6 (0.71%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 143 (16.90%) Analyst
2 123 (14.54%) Architect
3 108 (12.77%) Senior
4 99 (11.70%) Project Manager
5 85 (10.05%) Business Analyst
6 67 (7.92%) Lead
7 46 (5.44%) Senior Manager
8 44 (5.20%) Solutions Architect
9 36 (4.26%) Consultant
10 30 (3.55%) Technical Manager
11 28 (3.31%) Designer
12 25 (2.96%) Senior Project Manager
13 24 (2.84%) Enterprise Architect
14 22 (2.60%) Data Architect
15 20 (2.36%) Programme Manager
16 18 (2.13%) Developer
17 17 (2.01%) Product Manager
18 15 (1.77%) Data Engineer
18 15 (1.77%) IT Manager
18 15 (1.77%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (3.31%) VML
2 24 (2.84%) Middleware
3 21 (2.48%) REST
4 15 (1.77%) Spring
5 13 (1.54%) React
6 12 (1.42%) AngularJS
7 10 (1.18%) Spring Boot
8 9 (1.06%) CSS
8 9 (1.06%) Node.js
9 8 (0.95%) .NET
9 8 (0.95%) PySpark
10 7 (0.83%) HTML
10 7 (0.83%) LangChain
11 6 (0.71%) jQuery
11 6 (0.71%) OAuth
11 6 (0.71%) OAuth2
11 6 (0.71%) OpenID
11 6 (0.71%) OpenTelemetry
11 6 (0.71%) SAML
12 5 (0.59%) PyTorch
Miscellaneous
1 56 (6.62%) Product Ownership
2 27 (3.19%) Cloud Native
2 27 (3.19%) Self-Motivation
3 24 (2.84%) Driving Licence
4 23 (2.72%) Data Centre
5 21 (2.48%) Management Information System
6 20 (2.36%) FMCG
6 20 (2.36%) Onboarding
7 17 (2.01%) Data Structures
8 16 (1.89%) EPoS
8 16 (1.89%) Legacy Systems
9 15 (1.77%) Mainframe
10 11 (1.30%) Mobile App
11 10 (1.18%) IoT
11 10 (1.18%) Virtual Team
12 9 (1.06%) Greenfield Project
13 8 (0.95%) Hybrid Cloud
13 8 (0.95%) Reference Data
14 7 (0.83%) AI Agents
14 7 (0.83%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 35 (4.14%) Windows
2 18 (2.13%) Linux
3 8 (0.95%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.59%) Android
4 5 (0.59%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.47%) Unix
5 4 (0.47%) zOS
6 3 (0.35%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.24%) VMS
8 1 (0.12%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 192 (22.70%) Stakeholder Management
2 184 (21.75%) Agile
3 167 (19.74%) Problem-Solving
4 117 (13.83%) E-Commerce
5 111 (13.12%) Migration
6 102 (12.06%) Roadmaps
7 99 (11.70%) Project Management
8 86 (10.17%) Analytics
9 82 (9.69%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 79 (9.34%) Customer Experience
11 77 (9.10%) ERP
12 73 (8.63%) Workshop Facilitation
13 72 (8.51%) AI
14 65 (7.68%) Project Delivery
14 65 (7.68%) Scrum
15 64 (7.57%) Change Management
15 64 (7.57%) Continuous Improvement
16 61 (7.21%) Business Intelligence
17 58 (6.86%) Decision-Making
18 57 (6.74%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 57 (6.74%) SQL
2 55 (6.50%) Python
3 26 (3.07%) Java
4 19 (2.25%) JavaScript
5 15 (1.77%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.06%) Bash
6 9 (1.06%) Shell Script
7 7 (0.83%) C#
7 7 (0.83%) Kusto Query Language
8 5 (0.59%) TypeScript
9 4 (0.47%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.47%) VBA
10 3 (0.35%) Kotlin
10 3 (0.35%) Scala
11 2 (0.24%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.24%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 2 (0.24%) Google Apps Script
11 2 (0.24%) R
11 2 (0.24%) SOQL
11 2 (0.24%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 44 (5.20%) Degree
2 34 (4.02%) Security Cleared
3 23 (2.72%) SC Cleared
4 19 (2.25%) PMP
5 15 (1.77%) PMI Certification
6 9 (1.06%) CSPO
7 7 (0.83%) APMP
7 7 (0.83%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (0.83%) Master's Degree
8 6 (0.71%) CCNP
8 6 (0.71%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (0.71%) Computer Science Degree
9 5 (0.59%) CISSP
9 5 (0.59%) MBA
10 4 (0.47%) CCIE
10 4 (0.47%) DBS Check
11 3 (0.35%) CRISC
11 3 (0.35%) IIBA
11 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Certification
11 3 (0.35%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (4.61%) Data Quality
2 38 (4.49%) QA
3 32 (3.78%) GDPR
4 30 (3.55%) PMO
5 18 (2.13%) SLA
6 14 (1.65%) Accessibility
7 9 (1.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 7 (0.83%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.59%) NIST
10 4 (0.47%) IFRS
11 3 (0.35%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.24%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.24%) GRC
12 2 (0.24%) WCAG
13 1 (0.12%) COBIT
13 1 (0.12%) GAAP
13 1 (0.12%) IFRS 9
13 1 (0.12%) ISO 8583
13 1 (0.12%) NCSC
System Software
1 18 (2.13%) Active Directory
2 16 (1.89%) Docker
3 5 (0.59%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (0.59%) VMware NSX
4 4 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.24%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.24%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.12%) RACF
6 1 (0.12%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 22 (2.60%) Terraform
2 13 (1.54%) Kubernetes
3 8 (0.95%) Microsoft Intune
4 7 (0.83%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (0.83%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.71%) Argo
5 6 (0.71%) Istio
6 5 (0.59%) Grafana
7 4 (0.47%) SCCM
8 2 (0.24%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.24%) Ansible
8 2 (0.24%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.24%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.24%) MOM
8 2 (0.24%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.12%) Control-M
9 1 (0.12%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.12%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.12%) zSecure
Vendors
1 73 (8.63%) Microsoft
2 65 (7.68%) SAP
3 54 (6.38%) Oracle
4 48 (5.67%) Google
5 43 (5.08%) Salesforce
6 33 (3.90%) Databricks
7 28 (3.31%) Adobe
8 18 (2.13%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.77%) Sitecore
10 12 (1.42%) IFS
11 11 (1.30%) Cisco
12 9 (1.06%) Palo Alto
12 9 (1.06%) VMware
13 8 (0.95%) Temenos
13 8 (0.95%) Workday
13 8 (0.95%) Zscaler
14 7 (0.83%) CheckPoint
15 6 (0.71%) Apple
15 6 (0.71%) Avaloq
15 6 (0.71%) GoldenSource