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

6 months to
30 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 100 97 79
Rank change year-on-year -3 -18 +7
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,024 647 1,000
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.44% 2.69% 2.72%
As % of the General category 4.49% 4.20% 4.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 601 335 552
10th Percentile £263 £325 £275
25th Percentile £411 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £513
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% +2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £638 £629 £625
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £505
% change year-on-year -3.85% +2.97% -6.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 76 20 88
10th Percentile £13.14 £15.25 £11.56
25th Percentile £15.63 £16.04 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £23.83 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.86% +48.91% -23.81%
75th Percentile £22.63 £51.88 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £68.50 £21.46
UK median hourly rate £21.00 £27.08 £16.00
% change year-on-year -22.44% +69.22% -21.59%

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 22,831 15,405 21,227
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 54.35% 64.12% 57.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,997 9,950 13,648
10th Percentile £313 £285 £281
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £630 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £775
UK median daily rate £513 £513 £525
% change year-on-year - -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,561 695 1,806
10th Percentile £14.10 £13.41 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.32 £16.95 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.81 £27.76 £30.44
Median % change year-on-year +10.99% -8.79% -4.89%
75th Percentile £61.18 £53.75 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £66.87
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £27.85 £30.00
% change year-on-year +7.72% -7.17% -7.69%

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 30 May 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 30 May 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 30 May 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 +3 567 £538 -2.27% 244
South East -10 136 £475 -5.00% 260
North of England -39 132 £511 +2.25% 199
Midlands -22 92 £495 +10.00% 131
North West -11 81 £538 +7.50% 106
East Midlands -1 54 £495 +6.74% 68
East of England -5 51 £509 -3.05% 86
Yorkshire -59 48 £506 +12.50% 78
West Midlands -54 38 £529 +20.88% 63
South West -21 32 £326 -34.75% 69
North East -24 3 £173 -76.98% 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 36 (3.52%) Confluence
2 13 (1.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
2 13 (1.27%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.17%) CMS
4 9 (0.88%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.29%) SAS
5 3 (0.29%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.20%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.20%) CICS
7 1 (0.098%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.098%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 30 (2.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 23 (2.25%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (1.86%) Microsoft Project
4 18 (1.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 13 (1.27%) Chatbot
6 11 (1.07%) MS Visio
7 10 (0.98%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.78%) Adobe Illustrator
9 5 (0.49%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 5 (0.49%) InDesign
10 3 (0.29%) Notion
11 2 (0.20%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.098%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.098%) Adobe After Effects
12 1 (0.098%) Adobe XD
12 1 (0.098%) Maya
12 1 (0.098%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.098%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.098%) Spreadsheet
12 1 (0.098%) Trello
Business Applications
1 22 (2.15%) Shopify
2 17 (1.66%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (1.07%) Dynamics CRM
4 8 (0.78%) SAP Retail
5 7 (0.68%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 6 (0.59%) Finacle
6 6 (0.59%) Oracle Retail
6 6 (0.59%) SAP CRM
7 5 (0.49%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.39%) Magento
8 4 (0.39%) NetSuite
9 3 (0.29%) Payment Gateway
9 3 (0.29%) Salesforce CRM
10 2 (0.20%) Dynamics AX
10 2 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
10 2 (0.20%) SAP CAR
10 2 (0.20%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.20%) SAP MM
10 2 (0.20%) Temenos T24
11 1 (0.098%) SAP Forecasting and Replenishment
Cloud Services
1 113 (11.04%) Azure
2 80 (7.81%) AWS
3 59 (5.76%) GCP
4 50 (4.88%) Power Platform
5 31 (3.03%) Snowflake
6 25 (2.44%) GitHub
7 21 (2.05%) Dynamics 365
8 20 (1.95%) Azure DevOps
9 17 (1.66%) GitHub Actions
10 16 (1.56%) Figma
10 16 (1.56%) Microsoft 365
11 14 (1.37%) Entra ID
11 14 (1.37%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 12 (1.17%) BigCommerce
12 12 (1.17%) SaaS
13 11 (1.07%) Azure Data Factory
13 11 (1.07%) Google Workspace
14 10 (0.98%) Miro
15 9 (0.88%) Cloud Run
15 9 (0.88%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.37%) WAN
2 13 (1.27%) ATM
2 13 (1.27%) Firewall
3 12 (1.17%) VPN
4 9 (0.88%) Network Security
4 9 (0.88%) Wireless
5 8 (0.78%) RFID
6 7 (0.68%) Cisco Nexus
6 7 (0.68%) LAN
6 7 (0.68%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (0.59%) Cisco Firepower
8 5 (0.49%) BGP
8 5 (0.49%) Cisco ASA
8 5 (0.49%) OSPF
8 5 (0.49%) SD-WAN
8 5 (0.49%) VSAN
9 4 (0.39%) MPLS
10 3 (0.29%) Broadband
10 3 (0.29%) EIGRP
10 3 (0.29%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (4.59%) Power BI
2 28 (2.73%) BigQuery
3 18 (1.76%) Data Warehouse
4 15 (1.46%) MySQL
4 15 (1.46%) SQL Server
5 11 (1.07%) Metadata
6 10 (0.98%) Data Lake
6 10 (0.98%) Tableau
7 7 (0.68%) Relational Database
8 6 (0.59%) Data Vault
8 6 (0.59%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.49%) MongoDB
10 4 (0.39%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.39%) Looker
10 4 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
10 4 (0.39%) Semantic Layer
10 4 (0.39%) Snowflake Schema
11 3 (0.29%) Big Data
11 3 (0.29%) OLAP
11 3 (0.29%) Oracle OLAP
Development Applications
1 74 (7.23%) JIRA
2 16 (1.56%) Git
3 15 (1.46%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.78%) GitLab
5 4 (0.39%) Maven
5 4 (0.39%) Subversion
6 3 (0.29%) ERwin
6 3 (0.29%) JMeter
6 3 (0.29%) Selenium
6 3 (0.29%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.20%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.20%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.20%) git-flow
7 2 (0.20%) Hudson
7 2 (0.20%) MLflow
7 2 (0.20%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.098%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.098%) Mockito
8 1 (0.098%) webpack
8 1 (0.098%) Zephyr
General
1 296 (28.91%) Social Skills
2 258 (25.20%) Finance
3 101 (9.86%) Analytical Skills
4 90 (8.79%) Banking
5 70 (6.84%) Marketing
6 51 (4.98%) Manufacturing
7 49 (4.79%) Organisational Skills
8 42 (4.10%) Retail Banking
9 36 (3.52%) Investment Banking
10 32 (3.13%) Corporate Banking
11 27 (2.64%) Telecoms
12 26 (2.54%) Public Sector
13 24 (2.34%) Documentation Skills
14 22 (2.15%) Presentation Skills
15 20 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
16 19 (1.86%) Legal
17 15 (1.46%) Advertising
18 14 (1.37%) French Language
19 13 (1.27%) Back Office
20 12 (1.17%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 162 (15.82%) Architect
2 143 (13.96%) Analyst
3 129 (12.60%) Senior
4 109 (10.64%) Project Manager
5 83 (8.11%) Business Analyst
6 74 (7.23%) Lead
7 71 (6.93%) Solutions Architect
8 59 (5.76%) Senior Manager
9 44 (4.30%) Technical Manager
10 38 (3.71%) Designer
11 33 (3.22%) Product Manager
11 33 (3.22%) Senior Project Manager
12 32 (3.13%) Developer
12 32 (3.13%) Enterprise Architect
13 28 (2.73%) Consultant
14 27 (2.64%) Data Architect
15 25 (2.44%) Data Engineer
16 22 (2.15%) 2nd Line Support
17 20 (1.95%) Programme Manager
17 20 (1.95%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (2.73%) Middleware
1 28 (2.73%) VML
2 26 (2.54%) REST
3 23 (2.25%) React
4 22 (2.15%) Spring
5 16 (1.56%) Node.js
5 16 (1.56%) Spring Boot
6 14 (1.37%) AngularJS
7 13 (1.27%) CSS
8 12 (1.17%) Kafka
9 10 (0.98%) HTML
9 10 (0.98%) RESTful
10 9 (0.88%) .NET
11 8 (0.78%) OpenTelemetry
11 8 (0.78%) PySpark
12 7 (0.68%) LangChain
12 7 (0.68%) MACH
12 7 (0.68%) OAuth
12 7 (0.68%) OAuth2
12 7 (0.68%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 70 (6.84%) Product Ownership
2 34 (3.32%) EPoS
3 33 (3.22%) FMCG
4 30 (2.93%) Driving Licence
4 30 (2.93%) Onboarding
5 29 (2.83%) Cloud Native
6 22 (2.15%) Data Centre
7 19 (1.86%) Data Structures
8 18 (1.76%) Self-Motivation
9 16 (1.56%) Legacy Systems
10 15 (1.46%) Management Information System
11 14 (1.37%) Mainframe
12 13 (1.27%) Mobile App
13 11 (1.07%) Smartphone
14 10 (0.98%) Greenfield Project
14 10 (0.98%) Virtual Team
15 9 (0.88%) AI Agents
15 9 (0.88%) CCTV
16 7 (0.68%) Mobile Payment
16 7 (0.68%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 47 (4.59%) Windows
2 21 (2.05%) Linux
3 9 (0.88%) Android
4 6 (0.59%) Unix
5 5 (0.49%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.39%) Mac OS
6 4 (0.39%) zOS
7 3 (0.29%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.29%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.098%) Debian
8 1 (0.098%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.098%) SUSE
8 1 (0.098%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.098%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.098%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 226 (22.07%) Agile
2 223 (21.78%) Stakeholder Management
3 173 (16.89%) Problem-Solving
4 155 (15.14%) E-Commerce
5 128 (12.50%) Migration
6 123 (12.01%) Roadmaps
7 108 (10.55%) Project Management
8 105 (10.25%) Analytics
9 103 (10.06%) Customer Experience
10 82 (8.01%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 80 (7.81%) ERP
12 79 (7.71%) Continuous Improvement
13 78 (7.62%) Change Management
14 76 (7.42%) Project Delivery
14 76 (7.42%) Scrum
15 72 (7.03%) Decision-Making
16 70 (6.84%) AI
17 67 (6.54%) User Acceptance Testing
18 66 (6.45%) CI/CD
19 65 (6.35%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 67 (6.54%) SQL
2 53 (5.18%) Python
3 31 (3.03%) Java
4 22 (2.15%) JavaScript
5 13 (1.27%) TypeScript
6 10 (0.98%) Shell Script
7 9 (0.88%) PowerShell
8 8 (0.78%) C#
9 4 (0.39%) Bash
9 4 (0.39%) Bicep
9 4 (0.39%) Kotlin
9 4 (0.39%) Scala
9 4 (0.39%) SOQL
10 3 (0.29%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.29%) Kusto Query Language
10 3 (0.29%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.29%) R
10 3 (0.29%) SOSL
10 3 (0.29%) VBA
11 2 (0.20%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 50 (4.88%) Degree
2 40 (3.91%) Security Cleared
3 26 (2.54%) SC Cleared
4 18 (1.76%) PMP
5 11 (1.07%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.88%) Computer Science Degree
6 9 (0.88%) DBS Check
7 8 (0.78%) CISSP
8 7 (0.68%) APMP
8 7 (0.68%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (0.68%) CCNP
8 7 (0.68%) Cisco Certification
8 7 (0.68%) CSPO
8 7 (0.68%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.59%) CISM
10 5 (0.49%) CCSE
10 5 (0.49%) CCSM
10 5 (0.49%) ITIL Certification
10 5 (0.49%) MBA
11 4 (0.39%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (4.39%) QA
2 43 (4.20%) Data Quality
3 34 (3.32%) GDPR
4 32 (3.13%) PMO
5 16 (1.56%) Accessibility
6 14 (1.37%) SLA
7 11 (1.07%) PCI DSS
8 8 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.49%) NIST
10 2 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.20%) GRC
10 2 (0.20%) IFRS
10 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.20%) WCAG
11 1 (0.098%) COBIT
11 1 (0.098%) GAAP
11 1 (0.098%) GxP
11 1 (0.098%) ISO 8583
11 1 (0.098%) PSD2
System Software
1 23 (2.25%) Docker
2 19 (1.86%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.59%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.59%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
5 4 (0.39%) Virtual Desktop
6 3 (0.29%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 24 (2.34%) Terraform
2 18 (1.76%) Kubernetes
3 11 (1.07%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 7 (0.68%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.59%) Argo
5 6 (0.59%) Istio
6 5 (0.49%) SCCM
6 5 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.39%) Grafana
8 2 (0.20%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.20%) Ansible
8 2 (0.20%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.20%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.20%) MOM
8 2 (0.20%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.098%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 89 (8.69%) Microsoft
2 70 (6.84%) SAP
3 61 (5.96%) Oracle
4 48 (4.69%) Google
4 48 (4.69%) Salesforce
5 40 (3.91%) Databricks
6 29 (2.83%) Adobe
7 18 (1.76%) ServiceNow
8 14 (1.37%) IFS
8 14 (1.37%) Sitecore
9 13 (1.27%) Cisco
10 11 (1.07%) VMware
11 10 (0.98%) Palo Alto
11 10 (0.98%) Zscaler
12 9 (0.88%) Fortinet
13 8 (0.78%) CheckPoint
13 8 (0.78%) Temenos
14 7 (0.68%) Splunk
15 6 (0.59%) Avaloq
15 6 (0.59%) MuleSoft