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

6 months to
10 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 81 116 87
Rank change year-on-year +35 -29 +6
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,480 678 829
As % of all contract jobs in England 3.20% 2.42% 2.56%
As % of the General category 5.66% 3.78% 4.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 860 380 436
10th Percentile £319 £300 £280
25th Percentile £450 £425 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -
75th Percentile £675 £639 £638
90th Percentile £738 £739 £738
UK median daily rate £550 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +4.76% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 122 61 18
10th Percentile £12.76 £15.25 £14.78
25th Percentile £13.39 £15.48 £16.00
Median hourly rate £14.50 £16.34 £16.90
Median % change year-on-year -11.23% -3.34% -14.69%
75th Percentile £22.50 £19.50 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £25.15 £56.50
UK median hourly rate £14.50 £16.34 £16.30
% change year-on-year -11.23% +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 26,169 17,939 19,058
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 56.57% 63.95% 58.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,233 11,374 11,440
10th Percentile £313 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £750 £738 £775
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,437 1,065 835
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.69 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.50 £16.32 £17.50
Median hourly rate £29.00 £25.08 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.65% -28.36% +16.67%
75th Percentile £56.21 £45.00 £61.60
90th Percentile £78.51 £70.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £27.50 £25.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +10.00% -23.08% +18.18%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 +47 825 £575 +4.55% 2,160
North of England -16 187 £538 +7.50% 606
Midlands +39 163 £525 +21.95% 419
South East -13 159 £581 +8.14% 550
North West +7 116 £550 +10.00% 335
East Midlands +18 89 £500 +17.65% 198
East of England +7 81 £544 -7.45% 237
West Midlands +10 73 £563 +25.00% 220
Yorkshire -30 53 £475 -19.15% 224
South West -13 49 £500 +102.02% 186
North East -27 18 £525 +288.89% 56
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 (3.18%) Confluence
2 25 (1.69%) CMS
3 20 (1.35%) SharePoint
4 17 (1.15%) Apache Airflow
5 7 (0.47%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 4 (0.27%) Apache
6 4 (0.27%) SAS
6 4 (0.27%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.20%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.20%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.14%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.14%) WordPress
9 1 (0.068%) CICS
9 1 (0.068%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.068%) Mendix
9 1 (0.068%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.068%) Mule
9 1 (0.068%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 70 (4.73%) Microsoft Excel
2 54 (3.65%) Microsoft Office
3 25 (1.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (0.95%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 13 (0.88%) Spreadsheet
6 11 (0.74%) MS Visio
7 10 (0.68%) Microsoft Project
8 7 (0.47%) Photoshop
9 6 (0.41%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.41%) CPLEX
10 5 (0.34%) InDesign
11 4 (0.27%) Notion
12 1 (0.068%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.068%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.068%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.068%) Siemens NX
12 1 (0.068%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.068%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 55 (3.72%) SAP S/4HANA
2 27 (1.82%) Shopify
3 13 (0.88%) Dynamics CRM
4 9 (0.61%) Magento
4 9 (0.61%) Oracle Retail
5 8 (0.54%) SAP Retail
6 7 (0.47%) SAP CRM
7 6 (0.41%) NetSuite
7 6 (0.41%) SAP MM
8 5 (0.34%) SAP MDG
8 5 (0.34%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
9 4 (0.27%) Payment Gateway
9 4 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
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 (13.92%) Azure
2 145 (9.80%) AWS
3 76 (5.14%) Power Platform
4 72 (4.86%) GCP
5 51 (3.45%) GitHub
5 51 (3.45%) Snowflake
6 38 (2.57%) Azure DevOps
7 31 (2.09%) Entra ID
8 30 (2.03%) GitHub Actions
9 27 (1.82%) SaaS
10 24 (1.62%) dbt
11 23 (1.55%) Dynamics 365
12 20 (1.35%) Figma
13 19 (1.28%) Azure Data Factory
14 17 (1.15%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 17 (1.15%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
15 16 (1.08%) Microsoft 365
16 15 (1.01%) OCI
17 12 (0.81%) Salesforce Service Cloud
18 10 (0.68%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 21 (1.42%) WAN
2 19 (1.28%) Firewall
3 14 (0.95%) ATM
3 14 (0.95%) Network Security
3 14 (0.95%) VPN
4 13 (0.88%) LAN
4 13 (0.88%) Wireless
5 12 (0.81%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (0.47%) BGP
6 7 (0.47%) Internet
6 7 (0.47%) IPsec
6 7 (0.47%) OSPF
7 6 (0.41%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 6 (0.41%) SD-WAN
7 6 (0.41%) Structured Cabling
7 6 (0.41%) VLAN
8 5 (0.34%) DNS
9 4 (0.27%) Broadband
9 4 (0.27%) SMS
9 4 (0.27%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 74 (5.00%) Power BI
2 40 (2.70%) Data Warehouse
3 29 (1.96%) Data Lake
4 27 (1.82%) BigQuery
5 23 (1.55%) SQL Server
6 19 (1.28%) Metadata
6 19 (1.28%) MongoDB
6 19 (1.28%) Tableau
7 18 (1.22%) NoSQL
8 16 (1.08%) PostgreSQL
9 15 (1.01%) Relational Database
9 15 (1.01%) SAP BW
10 14 (0.95%) Amazon Redshift
10 14 (0.95%) MySQL
11 13 (0.88%) SAP HANA
12 12 (0.81%) Power Query
13 11 (0.74%) Redis
14 10 (0.68%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 9 (0.61%) Couchbase
15 9 (0.61%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 70 (4.73%) JIRA
2 22 (1.49%) Git
2 22 (1.49%) Jenkins
3 8 (0.54%) Subversion
4 7 (0.47%) Claude Code
5 5 (0.34%) 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 (0.14%) git-flow
8 2 (0.14%) LSMW
8 2 (0.14%) MLflow
8 2 (0.14%) Oracle Forms
8 2 (0.14%) Pylint
8 2 (0.14%) Selenium
8 2 (0.14%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.14%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.14%) webpack
General
1 440 (29.73%) Social Skills
2 321 (21.69%) Finance
3 149 (10.07%) Analytical Skills
4 132 (8.92%) Marketing
5 107 (7.23%) Manufacturing
6 105 (7.09%) Banking
7 69 (4.66%) Organisational Skills
8 51 (3.45%) Retail Banking
9 36 (2.43%) Influencing Skills
10 33 (2.23%) Corporate Banking
11 32 (2.16%) Investment Banking
12 30 (2.03%) Advertising
13 26 (1.76%) Legal
14 25 (1.69%) Public Sector
15 24 (1.62%) Telecoms
16 16 (1.08%) French Language
16 16 (1.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 16 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
16 16 (1.08%) Spanish Language
17 15 (1.01%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 240 (16.22%) Architect
2 202 (13.65%) Analyst
3 154 (10.41%) Senior
4 141 (9.53%) Solutions Architect
5 113 (7.64%) Project Manager
6 104 (7.03%) Business Analyst
7 103 (6.96%) Lead
8 78 (5.27%) Developer
9 53 (3.58%) Consultant
10 52 (3.51%) Product Manager
11 45 (3.04%) Designer
12 42 (2.84%) Supply Chain Architect
13 40 (2.70%) Senior Manager
14 32 (2.16%) Data Analyst
14 32 (2.16%) Senior Developer
15 26 (1.76%) EPoS Engineer
15 26 (1.76%) Technical Manager
16 25 (1.69%) 2nd Line Support
16 25 (1.69%) Data Architect
16 25 (1.69%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 66 (4.46%) REST
2 46 (3.11%) Terraform
3 39 (2.64%) Kafka
4 37 (2.50%) React
5 30 (2.03%) Spring
6 26 (1.76%) Spring Boot
7 24 (1.62%) Node.js
8 23 (1.55%) Django
9 22 (1.49%) Middleware
9 22 (1.49%) RESTful
10 20 (1.35%) SOAP
11 19 (1.28%) MACH
11 19 (1.28%) Next.js
12 17 (1.15%) SAP Fiori
13 15 (1.01%) .NET
13 15 (1.01%) HTML
13 15 (1.01%) VML
14 13 (0.88%) SAPUI5
15 11 (0.74%) CSS
15 11 (0.74%) SAP Basis
Miscellaneous
1 73 (4.93%) Product Ownership
2 69 (4.66%) EPoS
2 69 (4.66%) FMCG
3 53 (3.58%) Onboarding
4 48 (3.24%) Cloud Native
5 41 (2.77%) Driving Licence
6 33 (2.23%) Legacy Systems
7 31 (2.09%) Management Information System
8 30 (2.03%) Mobile App
9 26 (1.76%) Greenfield Project
10 24 (1.62%) Data Centre
11 23 (1.55%) Data Structures
11 23 (1.55%) Marketing Technology
12 22 (1.49%) Smartphone
13 21 (1.42%) Operational Technology
14 20 (1.35%) Distributed Systems
15 16 (1.08%) Self-Motivation
16 14 (0.95%) Credit Risk
16 14 (0.95%) Graphic Design
16 14 (0.95%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 46 (3.11%) Windows
2 16 (1.08%) Linux
3 12 (0.81%) Android
4 8 (0.54%) Unix
5 7 (0.47%) Apple iOS
5 7 (0.47%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.41%) Ubuntu
7 4 (0.27%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.14%) Debian
8 2 (0.14%) zOS
9 1 (0.068%) OS/2
9 1 (0.068%) SUSE
9 1 (0.068%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.068%) VMS
9 1 (0.068%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 404 (27.30%) Stakeholder Management
2 338 (22.84%) Agile
3 244 (16.49%) E-Commerce
4 179 (12.09%) Migration
5 175 (11.82%) Analytics
6 174 (11.76%) Logistics
7 160 (10.81%) AI
8 157 (10.61%) Problem-Solving
9 152 (10.27%) Roadmaps
10 144 (9.73%) Decision-Making
11 131 (8.85%) CRM
12 127 (8.58%) Continuous Improvement
13 126 (8.51%) Customer Experience
14 122 (8.24%) CI/CD
15 109 (7.36%) DevOps
15 109 (7.36%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 108 (7.30%) Customer Service
17 102 (6.89%) Business Intelligence
18 101 (6.82%) Project Management
19 100 (6.76%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 139 (9.39%) SQL
2 107 (7.23%) Python
3 50 (3.38%) Java
4 34 (2.30%) TypeScript
5 24 (1.62%) JavaScript
6 13 (0.88%) ABAP
7 12 (0.81%) C#
7 12 (0.81%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 10 (0.68%) R
9 8 (0.54%) Bash
10 7 (0.47%) PL/SQL
10 7 (0.47%) PowerShell
11 6 (0.41%) Apex Code
12 5 (0.34%) Groovy
12 5 (0.34%) Shell Script
13 4 (0.27%) Bicep
13 4 (0.27%) SOQL
13 4 (0.27%) T-SQL
14 3 (0.20%) Scala
15 2 (0.14%) X++
Qualifications
1 62 (4.19%) Degree
2 28 (1.89%) Security Cleared
3 21 (1.42%) PMP
4 14 (0.95%) ITIL Certification
5 10 (0.68%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.61%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (0.47%) DBS Check
7 7 (0.47%) SC Cleared
8 6 (0.41%) BPSS Clearance
8 6 (0.41%) CISSP
9 5 (0.34%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (0.34%) CISM
9 5 (0.34%) City & Guilds
9 5 (0.34%) Six Sigma Green Belt
10 4 (0.27%) SAP Certification
11 3 (0.20%) APMG
11 3 (0.20%) AWS Certification
11 3 (0.20%) CCNP
11 3 (0.20%) CCSE
11 3 (0.20%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 75 (5.07%) Data Quality
2 73 (4.93%) QA
3 24 (1.62%) Accessibility
3 24 (1.62%) GDPR
4 23 (1.55%) PMO
5 13 (0.88%) PCI DSS
6 8 (0.54%) SLA
7 6 (0.41%) Actionable Recommendations
8 5 (0.34%) NIST
8 5 (0.34%) WCAG
9 4 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.20%) PSD2
11 2 (0.14%) GAAP
11 2 (0.14%) GRC
11 2 (0.14%) IFRS
12 1 (0.068%) Basel III
12 1 (0.068%) HL7
12 1 (0.068%) ISO 8583
12 1 (0.068%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 34 (2.30%) Docker
2 22 (1.49%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.88%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.41%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.34%) Firmware
6 4 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.068%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.068%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 39 (2.64%) Kubernetes
2 9 (0.61%) Ansible
3 8 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (0.47%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 5 (0.34%) FortiGate
5 5 (0.34%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.27%) Bosun
7 3 (0.20%) Kubeflow
7 3 (0.20%) SCCM
8 2 (0.14%) AirWatch
8 2 (0.14%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.14%) logstash
8 2 (0.14%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.068%) Argo
9 1 (0.068%) CloudHub
9 1 (0.068%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.068%) Grafana
9 1 (0.068%) vMotion
Vendors
1 153 (10.34%) Microsoft
2 122 (8.24%) SAP
3 76 (5.14%) Salesforce
4 70 (4.73%) Databricks
5 68 (4.59%) Oracle
6 55 (3.72%) Google
7 33 (2.23%) Adobe
8 26 (1.76%) MuleSoft
9 23 (1.55%) Zscaler
10 17 (1.15%) Cisco
10 17 (1.15%) IBM
10 17 (1.15%) Workday
11 13 (0.88%) New Relic
12 12 (0.81%) Apple
12 12 (0.81%) ServiceNow
13 11 (0.74%) Braze
13 11 (0.74%) Splunk
14 10 (0.68%) Fortinet
14 10 (0.68%) JDA
15 9 (0.61%) VMware
4,235 Retail jobs in England