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 28 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 77 114 90
Rank change year-on-year +37 -24 +2
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,485 689 827
As % of all contract jobs in England 3.22% 2.48% 2.54%
As % of the General category 5.74% 3.87% 4.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 862 377 448
10th Percentile £343 £300 £282
25th Percentile £456 £425 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -
75th Percentile £675 £638 £638
90th Percentile £749 £743 £738
UK median daily rate £550 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +4.76% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 119 62 27
10th Percentile £12.76 £15.25 £13.41
25th Percentile £13.41 £15.48 £16.00
Median hourly rate £15.24 £16.34 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -6.70% +0.21% -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £19.50 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £25.15 £45.25
UK median hourly rate £15.04 £16.34 £16.30
% change year-on-year -7.93% +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 25,880 17,797 19,106
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 56.10% 64.16% 58.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,159 11,293 11,495
10th Percentile £313 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £535
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -6.54% -2.73%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
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 2,315 1,027 901
10th Percentile £13.51 £13.50 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.77 £16.17 £18.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £25.08 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +19.64% -33.13% +30.43%
75th Percentile £56.21 £45.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.41 £69.65 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £29.00 £25.08 £35.00
% change year-on-year +15.65% -28.36% +27.27%

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 28 September 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 28 September 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 28 September 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 +45 827 £575 +4.55% 1,636
North of England -7 195 £550 +10.00% 559
South East -2 162 £575 +4.55% 473
Midlands +39 158 £525 +23.53% 397
North West +2 124 £550 +10.00% 317
East Midlands +20 91 £500 +17.86% 172
East of England +9 75 £575 -8.00% 193
West Midlands +1 66 £575 +35.29% 225
South West -14 53 £428 +35.71% 177
Yorkshire -43 53 £500 - 201
North East -24 18 £525 +288.89% 46
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 48 (3.23%) Confluence
2 21 (1.41%) CMS
3 19 (1.28%) SharePoint
4 16 (1.08%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (0.61%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.34%) SAS
7 4 (0.27%) Apache
7 4 (0.27%) Apache Spark
7 4 (0.27%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.13%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.13%) CICS
8 2 (0.13%) WordPress
9 1 (0.067%) Mendix
9 1 (0.067%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.067%) Mule
9 1 (0.067%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 69 (4.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 48 (3.23%) Microsoft Office
3 27 (1.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 15 (1.01%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 12 (0.81%) Spreadsheet
6 11 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
6 11 (0.74%) MS Visio
7 9 (0.61%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.54%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.40%) CPLEX
9 6 (0.40%) InDesign
10 4 (0.27%) Notion
11 3 (0.20%) Chatbot
12 1 (0.067%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.067%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.067%) Siemens NX
12 1 (0.067%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.067%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 49 (3.30%) SAP S/4HANA
2 25 (1.68%) Shopify
3 14 (0.94%) Dynamics CRM
4 10 (0.67%) Oracle Retail
5 8 (0.54%) Magento
5 8 (0.54%) SAP Retail
6 6 (0.40%) NetSuite
6 6 (0.40%) Salesforce CRM
6 6 (0.40%) SAP CRM
7 5 (0.34%) SAP MDG
7 5 (0.34%) Workday HCM
8 4 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
8 4 (0.27%) Payment Gateway
8 4 (0.27%) SAP SD
9 3 (0.20%) Dynamics AX
9 3 (0.20%) OpenText VIM for SAP
9 3 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
9 3 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
9 3 (0.20%) SAP ERP
9 3 (0.20%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 204 (13.74%) Azure
2 149 (10.03%) AWS
3 77 (5.19%) Power Platform
4 73 (4.92%) GCP
5 53 (3.57%) Snowflake
6 48 (3.23%) GitHub
7 37 (2.49%) Azure DevOps
8 33 (2.22%) Entra ID
9 30 (2.02%) GitHub Actions
10 27 (1.82%) Dynamics 365
11 26 (1.75%) SaaS
12 22 (1.48%) dbt
13 20 (1.35%) Figma
14 17 (1.14%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
15 16 (1.08%) Azure Data Factory
16 15 (1.01%) Azure Synapse Analytics
17 14 (0.94%) Microsoft 365
17 14 (0.94%) OCI
18 12 (0.81%) Salesforce Service Cloud
19 8 (0.54%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.48%) WAN
2 21 (1.41%) Firewall
3 16 (1.08%) VPN
4 14 (0.94%) ATM
4 14 (0.94%) Network Security
5 13 (0.88%) LAN
5 13 (0.88%) Wireless
6 12 (0.81%) Wi-Fi
7 7 (0.47%) BGP
7 7 (0.47%) Internet
7 7 (0.47%) IPsec
7 7 (0.47%) OSPF
7 7 (0.47%) SD-WAN
8 6 (0.40%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 6 (0.40%) Structured Cabling
8 6 (0.40%) VLAN
9 5 (0.34%) DNS
10 4 (0.27%) Broadband
10 4 (0.27%) Cisco Firepower
10 4 (0.27%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 77 (5.19%) Power BI
2 40 (2.69%) Data Warehouse
3 29 (1.95%) BigQuery
4 27 (1.82%) Data Lake
5 21 (1.41%) Metadata
5 21 (1.41%) SQL Server
6 19 (1.28%) MongoDB
6 19 (1.28%) Tableau
7 18 (1.21%) NoSQL
8 15 (1.01%) PostgreSQL
9 14 (0.94%) Amazon Redshift
9 14 (0.94%) Relational Database
10 13 (0.88%) MySQL
11 12 (0.81%) Power Query
11 12 (0.81%) SAP BW
11 12 (0.81%) SAP HANA
12 11 (0.74%) Redis
13 10 (0.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 9 (0.61%) Couchbase
15 8 (0.54%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 74 (4.98%) JIRA
2 22 (1.48%) Git
3 21 (1.41%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.54%) Subversion
5 7 (0.47%) Claude Code
6 5 (0.34%) Cypress.io
7 4 (0.27%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.27%) GitLab
7 4 (0.27%) Hudson
7 4 (0.27%) JMeter
8 3 (0.20%) Postman
9 2 (0.13%) git-flow
9 2 (0.13%) MLflow
9 2 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
9 2 (0.13%) Selenium
9 2 (0.13%) Terragrunt
9 2 (0.13%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.13%) webpack
10 1 (0.067%) JUnit
10 1 (0.067%) Toad
General
1 435 (29.29%) Social Skills
2 326 (21.95%) Finance
3 152 (10.24%) Analytical Skills
4 128 (8.62%) Marketing
5 108 (7.27%) Banking
6 104 (7.00%) Manufacturing
7 63 (4.24%) Organisational Skills
8 55 (3.70%) Retail Banking
9 37 (2.49%) Corporate Banking
9 37 (2.49%) Influencing Skills
10 36 (2.42%) Investment Banking
11 28 (1.89%) Advertising
11 28 (1.89%) Telecoms
12 27 (1.82%) Legal
12 27 (1.82%) Public Sector
13 19 (1.28%) Presentation Skills
14 17 (1.14%) French Language
14 17 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 17 (1.14%) Spanish Language
15 16 (1.08%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 261 (17.58%) Architect
2 201 (13.54%) Analyst
3 156 (10.51%) Senior
4 149 (10.03%) Solutions Architect
5 115 (7.74%) Project Manager
6 107 (7.21%) Business Analyst
7 101 (6.80%) Lead
8 76 (5.12%) Developer
9 52 (3.50%) Product Manager
10 50 (3.37%) Consultant
11 48 (3.23%) Designer
12 42 (2.83%) Supply Chain Architect
13 40 (2.69%) Senior Manager
14 32 (2.15%) Senior Developer
15 31 (2.09%) Data Analyst
16 30 (2.02%) Enterprise Architect
17 28 (1.89%) Data Architect
18 27 (1.82%) Technical Manager
19 25 (1.68%) 2nd Line Support
19 25 (1.68%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 63 (4.24%) REST
2 47 (3.16%) Terraform
3 39 (2.63%) Kafka
3 39 (2.63%) React
4 29 (1.95%) Spring
5 26 (1.75%) Spring Boot
6 24 (1.62%) Node.js
7 23 (1.55%) Middleware
8 22 (1.48%) Django
9 21 (1.41%) MACH
9 21 (1.41%) RESTful
10 19 (1.28%) SOAP
11 17 (1.14%) VML
12 16 (1.08%) Next.js
13 15 (1.01%) HTML
13 15 (1.01%) SAP Fiori
14 12 (0.81%) SAPUI5
15 11 (0.74%) CSS
15 11 (0.74%) OAuth
16 10 (0.67%) SAP Basis
Miscellaneous
1 72 (4.85%) Product Ownership
2 70 (4.71%) FMCG
3 57 (3.84%) EPoS
4 51 (3.43%) Onboarding
5 48 (3.23%) Cloud Native
6 33 (2.22%) Legacy Systems
7 29 (1.95%) Management Information System
7 29 (1.95%) Mobile App
8 26 (1.75%) Driving Licence
8 26 (1.75%) Greenfield Project
9 25 (1.68%) Data Centre
10 23 (1.55%) Marketing Technology
11 22 (1.48%) Data Structures
12 21 (1.41%) Operational Technology
13 20 (1.35%) Distributed Systems
14 17 (1.14%) Self-Motivation
14 17 (1.14%) Smartphone
15 15 (1.01%) IoT
16 14 (0.94%) Credit Risk
16 14 (0.94%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 47 (3.16%) Windows
2 16 (1.08%) Linux
3 11 (0.74%) Android
4 7 (0.47%) Apple iOS
4 7 (0.47%) Mac OS
4 7 (0.47%) Unix
5 6 (0.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (0.40%) Ubuntu
6 4 (0.27%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.13%) Debian
7 2 (0.13%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.13%) zOS
8 1 (0.067%) OS/2
8 1 (0.067%) SUSE
8 1 (0.067%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.067%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 403 (27.14%) Stakeholder Management
2 338 (22.76%) Agile
3 228 (15.35%) E-Commerce
4 177 (11.92%) Migration
5 176 (11.85%) Analytics
6 171 (11.52%) Logistics
7 163 (10.98%) Problem-Solving
8 158 (10.64%) Roadmaps
9 157 (10.57%) AI
10 146 (9.83%) Decision-Making
11 130 (8.75%) Continuous Improvement
11 130 (8.75%) CRM
12 127 (8.55%) Customer Experience
13 118 (7.95%) CI/CD
14 114 (7.68%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 109 (7.34%) Project Management
16 105 (7.07%) Business Intelligence
16 105 (7.07%) DevOps
17 104 (7.00%) Customer Service
18 99 (6.67%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 132 (8.89%) SQL
2 103 (6.94%) Python
3 48 (3.23%) Java
4 36 (2.42%) TypeScript
5 22 (1.48%) JavaScript
6 12 (0.81%) ABAP
6 12 (0.81%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 10 (0.67%) C#
7 10 (0.67%) R
8 8 (0.54%) Bash
9 7 (0.47%) PowerShell
10 6 (0.40%) Apex Code
10 6 (0.40%) PL/SQL
11 5 (0.34%) Groovy
12 4 (0.27%) Bicep
12 4 (0.27%) Scala
12 4 (0.27%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.27%) SOQL
12 4 (0.27%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 59 (3.97%) Degree
2 40 (2.69%) Security Cleared
3 22 (1.48%) PMP
4 18 (1.21%) SC Cleared
5 11 (0.74%) ITIL Certification
5 11 (0.74%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.61%) DBS Check
7 6 (0.40%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (0.40%) CISSP
8 5 (0.34%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (0.34%) CISM
8 5 (0.34%) City & Guilds
8 5 (0.34%) Computer Science Degree
8 5 (0.34%) Six Sigma Green Belt
9 3 (0.20%) APMG
9 3 (0.20%) AWS Certification
9 3 (0.20%) CCSE
9 3 (0.20%) CSPO
9 3 (0.20%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 3 (0.20%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (4.78%) QA
2 70 (4.71%) Data Quality
3 29 (1.95%) GDPR
4 24 (1.62%) Accessibility
5 22 (1.48%) PMO
6 13 (0.88%) PCI DSS
7 8 (0.54%) SLA
8 6 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
8 6 (0.40%) NIST
9 5 (0.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.34%) WCAG
10 3 (0.20%) PSD2
11 2 (0.13%) GAAP
11 2 (0.13%) GRC
11 2 (0.13%) IFRS
11 2 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.067%) Basel III
12 1 (0.067%) GxP
12 1 (0.067%) HL7
12 1 (0.067%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 35 (2.36%) Docker
2 25 (1.68%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.88%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.40%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.34%) Firmware
5 5 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.20%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.13%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.067%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 39 (2.63%) Kubernetes
2 10 (0.67%) Single Sign-On
3 9 (0.61%) Ansible
4 7 (0.47%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.40%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (0.34%) FortiGate
7 4 (0.27%) Bosun
8 3 (0.20%) SCCM
9 2 (0.13%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.13%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.13%) logstash
9 2 (0.13%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.067%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 1 (0.067%) Argo
10 1 (0.067%) CloudHub
10 1 (0.067%) CSIRT
10 1 (0.067%) Grafana
10 1 (0.067%) Kubeflow
10 1 (0.067%) PingFederate
10 1 (0.067%) vMotion
Vendors
1 150 (10.10%) Microsoft
2 116 (7.81%) SAP
3 80 (5.39%) Salesforce
4 74 (4.98%) Databricks
5 69 (4.65%) Oracle
6 49 (3.30%) Google
7 37 (2.49%) Adobe
8 25 (1.68%) MuleSoft
9 24 (1.62%) Zscaler
10 17 (1.14%) Cisco
10 17 (1.14%) Workday
11 15 (1.01%) IBM
12 13 (0.88%) New Relic
12 13 (0.88%) ServiceNow
13 12 (0.81%) Apple
13 12 (0.81%) Splunk
14 11 (0.74%) Braze
14 11 (0.74%) Fortinet
15 10 (0.67%) Palo Alto
15 10 (0.67%) VMware
3,465 Retail jobs in England