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

6 months to
28 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 141 87 95
Rank change year-on-year -54 +8 -19
Contract jobs citing Retail 649 744 858
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.98% 2.81% 2.29%
As % of the General category 3.30% 4.50% 3.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 391 386 503
10th Percentile £208 £269 £263
25th Percentile £400 £413 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £520
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +0.96% -0.95%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £638
90th Percentile £738 £769 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -6.98%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 10 39
10th Percentile £12.95 £15.82 £10.93
25th Percentile £16.17 £18.13 £12.38
Median hourly rate £16.34 £30.75 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -46.88% +57.69% -1.56%
75th Percentile £19.50 £34.88 £21.03
90th Percentile £24.61 £39.75 £24.35
UK median hourly rate £16.42 £30.75 £19.50
% change year-on-year -46.61% +57.69% -1.56%

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 19,659 16,550 22,080
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 59.93% 62.55% 58.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,521 9,965 14,661
10th Percentile £289 £300 £263
25th Percentile £403 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £545
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -3.67% -0.91%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £534
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.69% -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,209 541 1,366
10th Percentile £14.04 £15.62 £13.30
25th Percentile £16.50 £19.25 £15.17
Median hourly rate £22.85 £29.23 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.83% +12.42% +1.13%
75th Percentile £47.50 £57.50 £55.11
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.87 £68.75
UK median hourly rate £22.85 £27.50 £26.00
% change year-on-year -16.91% +5.77% +4.00%

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 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 28 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 28 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 -37 344 £550 - 258
South East -23 91 £518 -5.77% 410
North of England -51 75 £485 +7.78% 237
Midlands -42 69 £479 -4.25% 203
East Midlands -11 46 £495 -1.00% 104
Yorkshire -38 41 £506 +26.56% 93
East of England -11 37 £529 +0.71% 163
North West -29 32 £473 +5.00% 117
West Midlands -49 22 £275 -47.62% 99
South West -18 15 £183 -56.55% 122
North East -16 3 £213 -64.58% 28
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 28 (4.31%) Confluence
2 15 (2.31%) CMS
2 15 (2.31%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.39%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (0.92%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 5 (0.77%) Camunda
5 5 (0.77%) Jupyter
6 4 (0.62%) WordPress
7 3 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.31%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.31%) SAS
9 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.15%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 22 (3.39%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (1.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 10 (1.54%) MS Visio
3 9 (1.39%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (1.39%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.31%) Chatbot
4 2 (0.31%) Trello
5 1 (0.15%) Adobe After Effects
5 1 (0.15%) Adobe XD
5 1 (0.15%) Photoshop
5 1 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.15%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 21 (3.24%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (2.00%) Shopify
3 10 (1.54%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (1.54%) SAP Retail
4 6 (0.92%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 6 (0.92%) Payment Gateway
5 5 (0.77%) SAP Payroll
6 4 (0.62%) Dynamics AX
6 4 (0.62%) Finacle
6 4 (0.62%) Oracle Retail
6 4 (0.62%) Temenos T24
7 3 (0.46%) Salesforce CRM
7 3 (0.46%) SAP MDG
7 3 (0.46%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
8 2 (0.31%) BambooHR
8 2 (0.31%) Magento
8 2 (0.31%) NetSuite
8 2 (0.31%) SAP GTS
8 2 (0.31%) SAP MM
9 1 (0.15%) Endur
Cloud Services
1 80 (12.33%) Azure
2 44 (6.78%) Power Platform
3 38 (5.86%) AWS
4 32 (4.93%) GCP
5 22 (3.39%) Dynamics 365
6 21 (3.24%) Azure DevOps
7 16 (2.47%) GitHub
7 16 (2.47%) Microsoft 365
8 13 (2.00%) Figma
8 13 (2.00%) SaaS
8 13 (2.00%) Snowflake
9 11 (1.69%) GitHub Actions
9 11 (1.69%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
10 8 (1.23%) Entra ID
10 8 (1.23%) Vertex AI
11 7 (1.08%) BigCommerce
11 7 (1.08%) dbt
11 7 (1.08%) Serverless
11 7 (1.08%) SuccessFactors
12 6 (0.92%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 20 (3.08%) RFID
2 18 (2.77%) NFC
2 18 (2.77%) Wireless
3 10 (1.54%) VPN
4 8 (1.23%) Firewall
5 7 (1.08%) WAN
6 6 (0.92%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (0.62%) BGP
7 4 (0.62%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (0.62%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.62%) OSPF
7 4 (0.62%) VoIP
8 3 (0.46%) LAN
9 2 (0.31%) MPLS
9 2 (0.31%) SAN
9 2 (0.31%) WLAN
10 1 (0.15%) FTP
10 1 (0.15%) HTTPS
10 1 (0.15%) Multicast
10 1 (0.15%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (5.55%) Power BI
2 20 (3.08%) BigQuery
3 19 (2.93%) Data Warehouse
4 15 (2.31%) SQL Server
5 14 (2.16%) Metadata
6 13 (2.00%) Tableau
7 8 (1.23%) Data Lake
7 8 (1.23%) MySQL
8 6 (0.92%) Data Vault
9 5 (0.77%) PostgreSQL
9 5 (0.77%) Snowflake Schema
10 4 (0.62%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.62%) MongoDB
10 4 (0.62%) Redis
10 4 (0.62%) Relational Database
10 4 (0.62%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.46%) Amazon Redshift
11 3 (0.46%) Oracle OLAP
11 3 (0.46%) Power Query
11 3 (0.46%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 65 (10.02%) JIRA
2 12 (1.85%) Jenkins
3 8 (1.23%) GitLab
4 6 (0.92%) Git
5 5 (0.77%) ERwin
5 5 (0.77%) Selenium
6 4 (0.62%) Storybook
7 3 (0.46%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.31%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.31%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.31%) JMeter
8 2 (0.31%) JUnit
8 2 (0.31%) MLflow
8 2 (0.31%) Mockito
8 2 (0.31%) Postman
8 2 (0.31%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.31%) SoapUI
8 2 (0.31%) Xcode
8 2 (0.31%) Zephyr
9 1 (0.15%) Visual Studio
General
1 228 (35.13%) Social Skills
2 135 (20.80%) Finance
3 76 (11.71%) Analytical Skills
4 52 (8.01%) Banking
5 49 (7.55%) Marketing
6 40 (6.16%) Organisational Skills
7 34 (5.24%) Public Sector
8 33 (5.08%) Manufacturing
9 23 (3.54%) Influencing Skills
10 21 (3.24%) Retail Banking
11 19 (2.93%) Corporate Banking
11 19 (2.93%) Documentation Skills
12 18 (2.77%) Presentation Skills
13 17 (2.62%) Investment Banking
14 16 (2.47%) Legal
15 13 (2.00%) Telecoms
16 10 (1.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 6 (0.92%) Publishing
18 4 (0.62%) Automotive
18 4 (0.62%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 130 (20.03%) Analyst
2 72 (11.09%) Project Manager
3 71 (10.94%) Architect
4 67 (10.32%) Senior
5 62 (9.55%) Business Analyst
6 57 (8.78%) Lead
7 33 (5.08%) Solutions Architect
8 29 (4.47%) Consultant
9 28 (4.31%) Senior Manager
10 19 (2.93%) Product Manager
11 18 (2.77%) Programme Manager
11 18 (2.77%) Technical Manager
12 15 (2.31%) Developer
13 14 (2.16%) Support Analyst
14 13 (2.00%) Help Desk Analyst
15 12 (1.85%) SAP Consultant
15 12 (1.85%) Senior Project Manager
15 12 (1.85%) Service Manager
16 11 (1.69%) Data Engineer
16 11 (1.69%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (3.08%) React
2 19 (2.93%) VML
3 15 (2.31%) Node.js
4 12 (1.85%) REST
5 11 (1.69%) PySpark
6 9 (1.39%) AngularJS
6 9 (1.39%) HTML
7 8 (1.23%) .NET
7 8 (1.23%) Spring
7 8 (1.23%) Spring Boot
8 7 (1.08%) OpenTelemetry
8 7 (1.08%) scikit-learn
9 6 (0.92%) LangChain
9 6 (0.92%) Middleware
10 5 (0.77%) CSS
10 5 (0.77%) Kafka
10 5 (0.77%) Matplotlib
10 5 (0.77%) React Native
10 5 (0.77%) RESTful
10 5 (0.77%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 34 (5.24%) Product Ownership
2 23 (3.54%) Self-Motivation
3 22 (3.39%) Legacy Systems
4 20 (3.08%) IoT
5 19 (2.93%) Onboarding
6 18 (2.77%) FMCG
7 17 (2.62%) Management Information System
8 15 (2.31%) Data Structures
9 14 (2.16%) Cloud Native
10 13 (2.00%) Data Centre
11 12 (1.85%) EPoS
12 10 (1.54%) Mobile App
13 9 (1.39%) Analytical Mindset
13 9 (1.39%) Driving Licence
14 7 (1.08%) Social Media
15 6 (0.92%) Algorithms
15 6 (0.92%) CMDB
15 6 (0.92%) Reference Data
15 6 (0.92%) Replication
16 5 (0.77%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 33 (5.08%) Windows
2 11 (1.69%) Linux
3 7 (1.08%) Mac OS
4 6 (0.92%) Android
5 5 (0.77%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.46%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.31%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.15%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.15%) VMS
8 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 153 (23.57%) Agile
2 152 (23.42%) Stakeholder Management
3 106 (16.33%) Problem-Solving
4 79 (12.17%) Project Management
5 74 (11.40%) Analytics
5 74 (11.40%) E-Commerce
6 68 (10.48%) Migration
7 65 (10.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 58 (8.94%) Workshop Facilitation
9 57 (8.78%) Roadmaps
10 55 (8.47%) Continuous Improvement
11 51 (7.86%) Scrum
12 49 (7.55%) AI
13 48 (7.40%) Business Intelligence
14 47 (7.24%) Data Modelling
15 46 (7.09%) DevOps
16 44 (6.78%) Project Delivery
17 42 (6.47%) CRM
18 40 (6.16%) Decision-Making
18 40 (6.16%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 61 (9.40%) SQL
2 51 (7.86%) Python
3 16 (2.47%) Java
4 13 (2.00%) JavaScript
5 11 (1.69%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.54%) Bash
7 8 (1.23%) Shell Script
8 7 (1.08%) Kusto Query Language
9 6 (0.92%) C#
10 5 (0.77%) TypeScript
11 3 (0.46%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.31%) ABAP
12 2 (0.31%) PHP
12 2 (0.31%) Swift
12 2 (0.31%) VBA
13 1 (0.15%) CLIST
13 1 (0.15%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 1 (0.15%) Kotlin
13 1 (0.15%) R
13 1 (0.15%) Scala
Qualifications
1 33 (5.08%) Degree
2 22 (3.39%) PMP
3 19 (2.93%) Security Cleared
4 17 (2.62%) PMI Certification
5 9 (1.39%) Master's Degree
6 7 (1.08%) MBA
6 7 (1.08%) SC Cleared
7 6 (0.92%) APMP
7 6 (0.92%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (0.92%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (0.92%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.77%) CISSP
9 4 (0.62%) CCIE
9 4 (0.62%) CCNP
9 4 (0.62%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.62%) CISM
9 4 (0.62%) CRISC
9 4 (0.62%) CSPO
10 3 (0.46%) GIAC
10 3 (0.46%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (4.16%) Data Quality
2 24 (3.70%) QA
3 20 (3.08%) PMO
4 15 (2.31%) Accessibility
5 13 (2.00%) GDPR
6 12 (1.85%) SLA
7 5 (0.77%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.62%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.46%) IFRS
9 3 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.46%) NCSC
10 2 (0.31%) COBIT
10 2 (0.31%) NIST
11 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.15%) IFRS 9
11 1 (0.15%) MiFID
11 1 (0.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.15%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.15%) WCAG
System Software
1 12 (1.85%) Docker
2 7 (1.08%) 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
Systems Management
1 18 (2.77%) Terraform
2 12 (1.85%) Kubernetes
3 6 (0.92%) Argo
3 6 (0.92%) Istio
4 4 (0.62%) Grafana
4 4 (0.62%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (0.46%) Jamf Pro
5 3 (0.46%) SCCM
5 3 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.31%) 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 70 (10.79%) Microsoft
2 57 (8.78%) SAP
3 42 (6.47%) Salesforce
4 39 (6.01%) Oracle
5 32 (4.93%) Google
6 18 (2.77%) Adobe
7 17 (2.62%) Databricks
8 10 (1.54%) ServiceNow
9 7 (1.08%) Sitecore
10 6 (0.92%) Apple
10 6 (0.92%) BMC
10 6 (0.92%) CheckPoint
10 6 (0.92%) F5
10 6 (0.92%) HP
10 6 (0.92%) Temenos
11 5 (0.77%) Cisco
11 5 (0.77%) Dell
11 5 (0.77%) Meraki
11 5 (0.77%) MicroStrategy
11 5 (0.77%) Workday