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

6 months to
3 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 141 86 95
Rank change year-on-year -55 +9 -20
Contract jobs citing Retail 658 760 865
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.08% 2.75% 2.38%
As % of the General category 3.40% 4.44% 4.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 393 408 494
10th Percentile £206 £274 £275
25th Percentile £394 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £644
90th Percentile £733 £765 £745
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £520
% change year-on-year -4.76% +0.96% -5.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 8 28
10th Percentile £15.25 £17.57 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.17 £18.13 £17.71
Median hourly rate £17.00 £32.50 £19.81
Median % change year-on-year -47.69% +64.06% -
75th Percentile £19.50 £36.13 £21.46
90th Percentile £25.15 £41.75 £29.75
UK median hourly rate £17.50 £32.50 £19.81
% change year-on-year -46.15% +64.06% -

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 19,350 17,124 21,585
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 61.18% 61.94% 59.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,302 10,337 14,545
10th Percentile £285 £297 £275
25th Percentile £402 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £534 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.37% -2.91% -
75th Percentile £625 £650 £660
90th Percentile £738 £775 £759
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £543
% change year-on-year -4.76% -3.23% -1.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,215 586 1,031
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.57 £14.16
25th Percentile £17.00 £18.50 £16.33
Median hourly rate £23.58 £30.00 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.42% -9.09% +28.83%
75th Percentile £47.25 £58.20 £59.25
90th Percentile £71.80 £74.81 £70.50
UK median hourly rate £23.58 £27.50 £32.32
% change year-on-year -14.27% -14.91% +29.28%

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 3 January 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 3 January 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 3 January 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 -41 337 £545 -0.91% 368
South East -17 97 £518 -5.77% 180
North of England -51 79 £485 +4.86% 176
Midlands -40 64 £450 -10.00% 116
East Midlands -2 43 £495 -1.00% 52
East of England -19 41 £533 -3.18% 47
Yorkshire -37 41 £500 +17.65% 74
North West -26 34 £495 +8.49% 85
West Midlands -55 20 £375 -28.57% 64
South West -7 18 £180 -55.99% 56
North East -7 5 £200 -66.67% 18
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 30 (4.56%) Confluence
2 17 (2.58%) CMS
3 16 (2.43%) SharePoint
4 8 (1.22%) Apache Airflow
5 6 (0.91%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.76%) Camunda
6 5 (0.76%) Jupyter
7 4 (0.61%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (0.61%) WordPress
8 2 (0.30%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.15%) SAS
9 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.15%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 25 (3.80%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 9 (1.37%) Microsoft Project
4 7 (1.06%) Microsoft Office
4 7 (1.06%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.46%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.30%) Trello
7 1 (0.15%) Adobe After Effects
7 1 (0.15%) Adobe XD
7 1 (0.15%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 25 (3.80%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.67%) SAP Retail
3 10 (1.52%) Shopify
4 9 (1.37%) Dynamics CRM
5 6 (0.91%) Payment Gateway
6 5 (0.76%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.61%) Dynamics AX
7 4 (0.61%) Oracle Retail
7 4 (0.61%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.46%) NetSuite
8 3 (0.46%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 3 (0.46%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.46%) SAP GTS
8 3 (0.46%) SAP MDG
8 3 (0.46%) SAP MM
9 2 (0.30%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.30%) Finacle
9 2 (0.30%) Magento
9 2 (0.30%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.30%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 77 (11.70%) Azure
2 43 (6.53%) Power Platform
3 33 (5.02%) AWS
4 26 (3.95%) GCP
5 22 (3.34%) Azure DevOps
6 21 (3.19%) Dynamics 365
7 16 (2.43%) Microsoft 365
8 14 (2.13%) GitHub
9 12 (1.82%) SaaS
10 11 (1.67%) Figma
11 10 (1.52%) GitHub Actions
11 10 (1.52%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
11 10 (1.52%) Snowflake
12 8 (1.22%) Entra ID
12 8 (1.22%) Vertex AI
13 7 (1.06%) OCI
13 7 (1.06%) Power Automate
13 7 (1.06%) Serverless
13 7 (1.06%) SuccessFactors
14 5 (0.76%) Stackdriver
Communications & Networking
1 19 (2.89%) RFID
2 18 (2.74%) NFC
2 18 (2.74%) Wireless
3 10 (1.52%) VPN
4 8 (1.22%) Firewall
5 7 (1.06%) WAN
6 6 (0.91%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (0.61%) BGP
7 4 (0.61%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (0.61%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.61%) OSPF
7 4 (0.61%) VoIP
8 3 (0.46%) LAN
9 2 (0.30%) Broadband
9 2 (0.30%) MPLS
9 2 (0.30%) SAN
9 2 (0.30%) WLAN
10 1 (0.15%) DNS
10 1 (0.15%) Intranet
10 1 (0.15%) SMS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (5.32%) Power BI
2 17 (2.58%) BigQuery
3 15 (2.28%) Data Warehouse
4 10 (1.52%) Metadata
4 10 (1.52%) SQL Server
4 10 (1.52%) Tableau
5 7 (1.06%) Data Lake
6 4 (0.61%) Data Vault
6 4 (0.61%) Delta Lake
6 4 (0.61%) MongoDB
6 4 (0.61%) Power Query
6 4 (0.61%) Redis
6 4 (0.61%) Relational Database
6 4 (0.61%) Snowflake Schema
6 4 (0.61%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 3 (0.46%) SAP BW
7 3 (0.46%) Star Schema
8 2 (0.30%) MySQL
8 2 (0.30%) Oracle Reports
8 2 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 62 (9.42%) JIRA
2 10 (1.52%) Jenkins
3 8 (1.22%) Git
4 6 (0.91%) GitLab
5 4 (0.61%) Selenium
5 4 (0.61%) Storybook
6 3 (0.46%) Postman
7 2 (0.30%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.30%) ERwin
7 2 (0.30%) JMeter
7 2 (0.30%) JUnit
7 2 (0.30%) MLflow
7 2 (0.30%) Mockito
7 2 (0.30%) PowerDesigner
7 2 (0.30%) SoapUI
7 2 (0.30%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.30%) Xcode
7 2 (0.30%) Zephyr
8 1 (0.15%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.15%) Cypress.io
General
1 240 (36.47%) Social Skills
2 130 (19.76%) Finance
3 75 (11.40%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (7.60%) Banking
4 50 (7.60%) Marketing
5 39 (5.93%) Public Sector
6 37 (5.62%) Organisational Skills
7 34 (5.17%) Manufacturing
8 23 (3.50%) Retail Banking
9 22 (3.34%) Influencing Skills
10 20 (3.04%) Corporate Banking
11 19 (2.89%) Investment Banking
12 18 (2.74%) Legal
13 17 (2.58%) Documentation Skills
14 16 (2.43%) Presentation Skills
15 11 (1.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 11 (1.67%) Telecoms
16 6 (0.91%) Publishing
17 5 (0.76%) Automotive
18 4 (0.61%) Law
Job Titles
1 133 (20.21%) Analyst
2 75 (11.40%) Project Manager
3 68 (10.33%) Architect
4 64 (9.73%) Senior
5 61 (9.27%) Business Analyst
6 54 (8.21%) Lead
7 30 (4.56%) Solutions Architect
8 29 (4.41%) Consultant
9 25 (3.80%) Senior Manager
10 20 (3.04%) Programme Manager
11 19 (2.89%) Product Manager
12 14 (2.13%) Developer
13 13 (1.98%) SAP Consultant
13 13 (1.98%) Senior Analyst
13 13 (1.98%) Support Analyst
14 12 (1.82%) Administrator
14 12 (1.82%) Help Desk Analyst
14 12 (1.82%) Technical Manager
15 11 (1.67%) Data Analyst
15 11 (1.67%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (3.19%) React
2 16 (2.43%) Node.js
3 15 (2.28%) VML
4 13 (1.98%) PySpark
5 12 (1.82%) REST
6 10 (1.52%) HTML
7 8 (1.22%) .NET
7 8 (1.22%) AngularJS
8 7 (1.06%) React Native
8 7 (1.06%) scikit-learn
8 7 (1.06%) Spring
8 7 (1.06%) Spring Boot
9 6 (0.91%) OpenTelemetry
10 5 (0.76%) CSS
10 5 (0.76%) Kafka
10 5 (0.76%) LangChain
10 5 (0.76%) Matplotlib
10 5 (0.76%) Oracle Fusion
10 5 (0.76%) XGBoost
10 5 (0.76%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 30 (4.56%) Product Ownership
2 24 (3.65%) Self-Motivation
3 23 (3.50%) Legacy Systems
4 22 (3.34%) IoT
5 16 (2.43%) FMCG
5 16 (2.43%) Onboarding
6 15 (2.28%) EPoS
7 13 (1.98%) Management Information System
8 12 (1.82%) Mobile App
9 11 (1.67%) Data Centre
10 10 (1.52%) Cloud Native
10 10 (1.52%) Data Structures
11 9 (1.37%) Analytical Mindset
11 9 (1.37%) Driving Licence
12 6 (0.91%) Algorithms
12 6 (0.91%) Greenfield Project
12 6 (0.91%) Replication
12 6 (0.91%) Social Media
13 5 (0.76%) Enterprise Software
13 5 (0.76%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 38 (5.78%) Windows
2 8 (1.22%) Linux
3 6 (0.91%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.76%) Apple iOS
5 3 (0.46%) Android
5 3 (0.46%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.30%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.15%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.15%) VMS
7 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 157 (23.86%) Stakeholder Management
2 156 (23.71%) Agile
3 104 (15.81%) Problem-Solving
4 83 (12.61%) Project Management
5 75 (11.40%) Analytics
5 75 (11.40%) E-Commerce
6 57 (8.66%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 55 (8.36%) Migration
7 55 (8.36%) Workshop Facilitation
8 54 (8.21%) Continuous Improvement
9 50 (7.60%) Roadmaps
10 49 (7.45%) AI
10 49 (7.45%) Customer Experience
11 46 (6.99%) Business Intelligence
11 46 (6.99%) Waterfall
12 45 (6.84%) CRM
12 45 (6.84%) Data Modelling
13 44 (6.69%) DevOps
13 44 (6.69%) Project Delivery
13 44 (6.69%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 59 (8.97%) SQL
2 51 (7.75%) Python
3 13 (1.98%) Java
3 13 (1.98%) JavaScript
4 11 (1.67%) PowerShell
5 9 (1.37%) Bash
6 6 (0.91%) C#
6 6 (0.91%) Kusto Query Language
7 5 (0.76%) TypeScript
8 4 (0.61%) Shell Script
9 3 (0.46%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.30%) ABAP
10 2 (0.30%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.30%) PHP
10 2 (0.30%) R
10 2 (0.30%) Swift
10 2 (0.30%) VBA
11 1 (0.15%) CLIST
11 1 (0.15%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.15%) Scala
Qualifications
1 28 (4.26%) Degree
2 23 (3.50%) PMP
3 20 (3.04%) PMI Certification
4 19 (2.89%) Security Cleared
5 9 (1.37%) Master's Degree
6 6 (0.91%) ITIL Certification
6 6 (0.91%) MBA
6 6 (0.91%) SC Cleared
7 4 (0.61%) APMP
7 4 (0.61%) CCIE
7 4 (0.61%) CCNP
7 4 (0.61%) Cisco Certification
7 4 (0.61%) CISSP
7 4 (0.61%) CSPO
7 4 (0.61%) Microsoft Certification
8 3 (0.46%) BPSS Clearance
8 3 (0.46%) CISM
8 3 (0.46%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (0.46%) CRISC
8 3 (0.46%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (3.65%) QA
2 21 (3.19%) Data Quality
3 18 (2.74%) PMO
4 13 (1.98%) SLA
5 12 (1.82%) Accessibility
5 12 (1.82%) GDPR
6 5 (0.76%) Actionable Recommendations
7 3 (0.46%) IFRS
7 3 (0.46%) NCSC
7 3 (0.46%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.30%) COBIT
8 2 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.30%) NIST
9 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.15%) IFRS 9
9 1 (0.15%) MiFID
9 1 (0.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.15%) Solvency II
System Software
1 11 (1.67%) Docker
2 7 (1.06%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (0.46%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.15%) RACF
4 1 (0.15%) Varnish
4 1 (0.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.15%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 17 (2.58%) Terraform
2 11 (1.67%) Kubernetes
3 5 (0.76%) Argo
3 5 (0.76%) Istio
3 5 (0.76%) Microsoft Intune
4 4 (0.61%) Grafana
5 3 (0.46%) Jamf Pro
5 3 (0.46%) SCCM
5 3 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.30%) Ansible
7 1 (0.15%) AirWatch
7 1 (0.15%) Cacti
7 1 (0.15%) Control-M
7 1 (0.15%) Nmap
7 1 (0.15%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.15%) ZABBIX
7 1 (0.15%) zSecure
Vendors
1 73 (11.09%) Microsoft
2 62 (9.42%) SAP
3 41 (6.23%) Salesforce
4 36 (5.47%) Oracle
5 24 (3.65%) Google
6 18 (2.74%) Databricks
7 17 (2.58%) Adobe
8 9 (1.37%) HP
9 6 (0.91%) CheckPoint
9 6 (0.91%) Dell
9 6 (0.91%) F5
10 5 (0.76%) Cisco
10 5 (0.76%) Meraki
10 5 (0.76%) ServiceNow
10 5 (0.76%) Sitecore
10 5 (0.76%) Zscaler
11 4 (0.61%) Apple
11 4 (0.61%) MicroStrategy
11 4 (0.61%) Planview
11 4 (0.61%) Temenos
907 Retail jobs in England