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

6 months to
19 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 77 111 78
Rank change year-on-year +34 -33 +13
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,457 676 892
As % of all contract jobs in England 3.19% 2.45% 2.68%
As % of the General category 5.76% 3.81% 4.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 844 357 497
10th Percentile £319 £300 £300
25th Percentile £456 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £505
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% +3.96% -3.81%
75th Percentile £675 £638 £625
90th Percentile £738 £725 £707
UK median daily rate £550 £513 £500
% change year-on-year +7.32% +2.50% -5.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 110 41 56
10th Percentile £12.76 - £12.15
25th Percentile £13.51 £15.25 £12.50
Median hourly rate £17.50 £16.30 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year +7.36% - -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £25.15 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £32.75 £22.86
UK median hourly rate £17.02 £16.30 £16.30
% change year-on-year +4.40% - -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 25,299 17,739 19,144
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 55.33% 64.31% 57.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,091 11,249 12,258
10th Percentile £313 £275 £300
25th Percentile £420 £400 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £508 £538
Median % change year-on-year +3.45% -5.67% -2.18%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £660
90th Percentile £750 £750 £775
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,016 974 1,180
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.25 £14.42
25th Percentile £17.75 £16.36 £17.88
Median hourly rate £32.00 £25.15 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year +27.24% -34.02% +38.62%
75th Percentile £60.00 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £71.25
UK median hourly rate £31.50 £25.15 £38.07
% change year-on-year +25.25% -33.94% +38.44%

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 19 August 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 19 August 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 19 August 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 +48 830 £568 +3.18% 1,111
North of England -22 190 £550 +10.00% 454
South East +5 177 £525 -4.55% 402
Midlands +24 134 £500 +14.68% 298
North West +1 120 £575 +15.00% 248
East Midlands +14 76 £500 +14.68% 154
East of England +13 69 £550 +4.76% 145
West Midlands -17 57 £575 +31.43% 144
Yorkshire -44 53 £500 - 168
South West -33 44 £400 +12.68% 115
North East -27 17 £525 +18.64% 43
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 47 (3.23%) Confluence
2 18 (1.24%) CMS
3 12 (0.82%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 10 (0.69%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (0.62%) SharePoint
6 5 (0.34%) SAS
7 4 (0.27%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.14%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.14%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.14%) CICS
9 1 (0.069%) Apache
9 1 (0.069%) Mendix
9 1 (0.069%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.069%) Mule
9 1 (0.069%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 51 (3.50%) Microsoft Excel
2 35 (2.40%) Microsoft Office
3 21 (1.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 16 (1.10%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 13 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
6 9 (0.62%) Chatbot
6 9 (0.62%) Photoshop
7 8 (0.55%) Adobe Illustrator
7 8 (0.55%) MS Visio
8 7 (0.48%) Spreadsheet
9 6 (0.41%) InDesign
10 4 (0.27%) CPLEX
10 4 (0.27%) Notion
11 1 (0.069%) PlantUML
11 1 (0.069%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 41 (2.81%) SAP S/4HANA
2 27 (1.85%) Shopify
3 11 (0.75%) Dynamics CRM
4 10 (0.69%) Oracle Retail
5 8 (0.55%) Magento
6 6 (0.41%) Salesforce CRM
6 6 (0.41%) SAP CRM
6 6 (0.41%) SAP Retail
7 5 (0.34%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.34%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.27%) Payment Gateway
8 4 (0.27%) SAP SD
9 3 (0.21%) OpenText VIM for SAP
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Payables
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Receivables
9 3 (0.21%) SAP ERP
9 3 (0.21%) SAP IBP
9 3 (0.21%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.21%) Workday HCM
10 2 (0.14%) Finacle
Cloud Services
1 185 (12.70%) Azure
2 140 (9.61%) AWS
3 73 (5.01%) Power Platform
4 66 (4.53%) GCP
5 49 (3.36%) Snowflake
6 42 (2.88%) GitHub
7 32 (2.20%) Azure DevOps
8 31 (2.13%) Entra ID
9 27 (1.85%) GitHub Actions
10 24 (1.65%) Dynamics 365
11 21 (1.44%) Figma
12 19 (1.30%) SaaS
13 15 (1.03%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
14 14 (0.96%) Azure Data Factory
14 14 (0.96%) Microsoft 365
15 12 (0.82%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 11 (0.75%) Salesforce Service Cloud
16 11 (0.75%) Serverless
17 10 (0.69%) dbt
17 10 (0.69%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.51%) WAN
2 20 (1.37%) Firewall
3 16 (1.10%) VPN
3 16 (1.10%) Wireless
4 14 (0.96%) ATM
4 14 (0.96%) LAN
4 14 (0.96%) Network Security
5 11 (0.75%) Wi-Fi
6 8 (0.55%) BGP
6 8 (0.55%) IPsec
6 8 (0.55%) OSPF
6 8 (0.55%) SD-WAN
7 7 (0.48%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 7 (0.48%) VLAN
8 6 (0.41%) Cisco Firepower
8 6 (0.41%) VSAN
9 5 (0.34%) Cisco ASA
9 5 (0.34%) Cisco Nexus
9 5 (0.34%) RFID
9 5 (0.34%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (4.94%) Power BI
2 32 (2.20%) Data Warehouse
3 29 (1.99%) BigQuery
4 25 (1.72%) Data Lake
5 19 (1.30%) NoSQL
6 18 (1.24%) Metadata
7 17 (1.17%) MongoDB
8 15 (1.03%) SQL Server
9 14 (0.96%) MySQL
9 14 (0.96%) Tableau
10 12 (0.82%) Amazon Redshift
10 12 (0.82%) Power Query
10 12 (0.82%) Relational Database
11 11 (0.75%) PostgreSQL
12 10 (0.69%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 9 (0.62%) Redis
14 8 (0.55%) Couchbase
15 7 (0.48%) Star Schema
16 6 (0.41%) SAP HANA
16 6 (0.41%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 75 (5.15%) JIRA
2 25 (1.72%) Git
3 18 (1.24%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.55%) Subversion
5 7 (0.48%) Claude Code
6 4 (0.27%) Cypress.io
6 4 (0.27%) Eclipse
6 4 (0.27%) GitLab
6 4 (0.27%) JMeter
7 3 (0.21%) Hudson
7 3 (0.21%) Maven
7 3 (0.21%) MLflow
8 2 (0.14%) git-flow
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Forms
8 2 (0.14%) Postman
8 2 (0.14%) Selenium
8 2 (0.14%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.14%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.14%) webpack
9 1 (0.069%) Moq
General
1 405 (27.80%) Social Skills
2 346 (23.75%) Finance
3 156 (10.71%) Analytical Skills
4 121 (8.30%) Banking
5 103 (7.07%) Marketing
6 94 (6.45%) Manufacturing
7 59 (4.05%) Organisational Skills
7 59 (4.05%) Retail Banking
8 42 (2.88%) Investment Banking
9 40 (2.75%) Corporate Banking
10 31 (2.13%) Influencing Skills
11 30 (2.06%) Telecoms
12 29 (1.99%) Legal
12 29 (1.99%) Public Sector
13 28 (1.92%) Advertising
14 23 (1.58%) Presentation Skills
15 21 (1.44%) Documentation Skills
16 19 (1.30%) French Language
17 18 (1.24%) Spanish Language
18 13 (0.89%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 248 (17.02%) Architect
2 204 (14.00%) Analyst
3 166 (11.39%) Senior
4 140 (9.61%) Solutions Architect
5 120 (8.24%) Project Manager
6 108 (7.41%) Business Analyst
7 103 (7.07%) Lead
8 76 (5.22%) Developer
9 48 (3.29%) Product Manager
10 47 (3.23%) Senior Manager
11 46 (3.16%) Designer
12 44 (3.02%) Consultant
13 39 (2.68%) Supply Chain Architect
14 34 (2.33%) Enterprise Architect
14 34 (2.33%) Programme Manager
14 34 (2.33%) Senior Developer
15 33 (2.26%) Technical Manager
16 32 (2.20%) Data Architect
17 27 (1.85%) Data Analyst
18 26 (1.78%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 62 (4.26%) REST
2 37 (2.54%) React
3 30 (2.06%) Kafka
4 29 (1.99%) Middleware
4 29 (1.99%) Spring
5 23 (1.58%) Node.js
6 22 (1.51%) Spring Boot
7 21 (1.44%) VML
8 20 (1.37%) Django
9 19 (1.30%) MACH
10 18 (1.24%) RESTful
11 15 (1.03%) HTML
11 15 (1.03%) SOAP
12 14 (0.96%) Next.js
12 14 (0.96%) OAuth
13 13 (0.89%) CSS
14 12 (0.82%) Jakarta EE
15 10 (0.69%) .NET
16 9 (0.62%) OAuth2
16 9 (0.62%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 78 (5.35%) Product Ownership
2 65 (4.46%) FMCG
3 52 (3.57%) EPoS
4 51 (3.50%) Onboarding
5 45 (3.09%) Cloud Native
6 32 (2.20%) Legacy Systems
7 30 (2.06%) Data Centre
8 25 (1.72%) Mobile App
9 23 (1.58%) Data Structures
9 23 (1.58%) Driving Licence
9 23 (1.58%) Greenfield Project
10 21 (1.44%) Operational Technology
11 20 (1.37%) Marketing Technology
12 19 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
13 17 (1.17%) Smartphone
14 16 (1.10%) IoT
14 16 (1.10%) Mainframe
15 15 (1.03%) Distributed Systems
15 15 (1.03%) Management Information System
16 14 (0.96%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 54 (3.71%) Windows
2 21 (1.44%) Linux
3 11 (0.75%) Android
4 10 (0.69%) Unix
5 8 (0.55%) Apple iOS
6 7 (0.48%) Mac OS
7 6 (0.41%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.34%) Windows 10
8 5 (0.34%) Windows Server
9 3 (0.21%) zOS
10 2 (0.14%) Debian
11 1 (0.069%) SUSE
11 1 (0.069%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.069%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 380 (26.08%) Stakeholder Management
2 342 (23.47%) Agile
3 220 (15.10%) E-Commerce
4 189 (12.97%) Problem-Solving
5 182 (12.49%) Migration
6 168 (11.53%) Roadmaps
7 163 (11.19%) Analytics
8 156 (10.71%) AI
9 153 (10.50%) Logistics
10 132 (9.06%) Customer Experience
11 125 (8.58%) Decision-Making
12 123 (8.44%) Continuous Improvement
13 121 (8.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 115 (7.89%) Project Management
15 114 (7.82%) CI/CD
16 109 (7.48%) CRM
17 105 (7.21%) ERP
18 103 (7.07%) Business Intelligence
18 103 (7.07%) DevOps
19 99 (6.79%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 119 (8.17%) SQL
2 100 (6.86%) Python
3 52 (3.57%) Java
4 33 (2.26%) TypeScript
5 26 (1.78%) JavaScript
6 12 (0.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 10 (0.69%) C#
7 10 (0.69%) PowerShell
8 8 (0.55%) ABAP
9 7 (0.48%) Bash
9 7 (0.48%) R
10 6 (0.41%) Apex Code
10 6 (0.41%) Bicep
10 6 (0.41%) PL/SQL
10 6 (0.41%) Scala
10 6 (0.41%) SOQL
11 5 (0.34%) Groovy
12 4 (0.27%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.27%) SOSL
13 3 (0.21%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 63 (4.32%) Degree
2 43 (2.95%) Security Cleared
3 21 (1.44%) PMP
4 20 (1.37%) SC Cleared
5 11 (0.75%) DBS Check
5 11 (0.75%) PMI Certification
6 7 (0.48%) ITIL Certification
7 6 (0.41%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (0.41%) Cisco Certification
7 6 (0.41%) CISSP
8 5 (0.34%) CCNP
8 5 (0.34%) CCSE
8 5 (0.34%) CCSM
8 5 (0.34%) CISM
8 5 (0.34%) Computer Science Degree
8 5 (0.34%) CSPO
8 5 (0.34%) Six Sigma Green Belt
9 4 (0.27%) Azure Certification
9 4 (0.27%) City & Guilds
10 3 (0.21%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (4.60%) QA
2 59 (4.05%) Data Quality
3 38 (2.61%) GDPR
4 24 (1.65%) PMO
5 22 (1.51%) Accessibility
6 15 (1.03%) PCI DSS
7 12 (0.82%) SLA
8 8 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 6 (0.41%) NIST
10 5 (0.34%) WCAG
11 3 (0.21%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.21%) GAAP
11 3 (0.21%) GRC
11 3 (0.21%) IFRS
11 3 (0.21%) PSD2
12 2 (0.14%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.14%) ISO 8583
12 2 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.069%) GxP
13 1 (0.069%) HL7
System Software
1 39 (2.68%) Docker
2 31 (2.13%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.89%) Virtual Desktop
4 8 (0.55%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (0.48%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (0.34%) Firmware
6 5 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.21%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.069%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 51 (3.50%) Terraform
2 40 (2.75%) Kubernetes
3 10 (0.69%) Ansible
4 9 (0.62%) Single Sign-On
4 9 (0.62%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 8 (0.55%) Microsoft Intune
6 6 (0.41%) FortiGate
7 4 (0.27%) SCCM
8 3 (0.21%) Bosun
9 2 (0.14%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.14%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.14%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.14%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.14%) logstash
9 2 (0.14%) MOM
9 2 (0.14%) PingFederate
9 2 (0.14%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.069%) CSIRT
10 1 (0.069%) Kubeflow
10 1 (0.069%) vMotion
Vendors
1 130 (8.92%) Microsoft
2 106 (7.28%) SAP
3 73 (5.01%) Oracle
4 70 (4.80%) Databricks
5 68 (4.67%) Salesforce
6 44 (3.02%) Google
7 38 (2.61%) Adobe
8 24 (1.65%) Zscaler
9 17 (1.17%) ServiceNow
9 17 (1.17%) Workday
10 16 (1.10%) Cisco
11 15 (1.03%) MuleSoft
12 14 (0.96%) IFS
13 13 (0.89%) Fortinet
13 13 (0.89%) Palo Alto
13 13 (0.89%) VMware
14 12 (0.82%) IBM
15 11 (0.75%) Apple
15 11 (0.75%) Braze
15 11 (0.75%) New Relic
2,382 Retail jobs in England