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

6 months to
2 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 138 82 88
Rank change year-on-year -56 +6 -8
Contract jobs citing Retail 694 742 915
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.97% 2.93% 2.41%
As % of the General category 3.35% 4.66% 4.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 445 393 528
10th Percentile £207 £288 £275
25th Percentile £394 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £509
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% +3.19% -3.10%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £636
90th Percentile £738 £775 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -6.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 12 56
10th Percentile £12.93 £18.13 £11.06
25th Percentile £16.17 £20.47 £12.15
Median hourly rate £17.69 £32.50 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -45.58% +99.39% -17.72%
75th Percentile £24.40 £50.38 £21.37
90th Percentile £47.20 £66.28 £21.46
UK median hourly rate £18.87 £33.00 £16.30
% change year-on-year -42.82% +102.45% -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 20,728 15,909 22,357
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 58.70% 62.84% 58.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,120 9,915 14,652
10th Percentile £300 £296 £265
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £775 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,295 540 1,618
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.25 £13.14
25th Percentile £17.14 £20.00 £15.30
Median hourly rate £23.83 £30.45 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.76% +17.12% -18.75%
75th Percentile £55.00 £60.00 £50.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.00 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £23.79 £30.00 £26.00
% change year-on-year -20.71% +15.38% -15.42%

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 2 March 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 2 March 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 2 March 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 -42 392 £545 -0.91% 333
South East -42 85 £425 -20.93% 270
North of England -50 80 £500 +11.11% 228
Midlands -51 68 £495 -1.00% 204
East Midlands -16 41 £495 -1.00% 117
North West -36 40 £525 +16.67% 116
Yorkshire -47 36 £500 +83.49% 87
East of England -31 31 £526 -4.32% 117
West Midlands -57 26 £463 -11.90% 85
South West -11 19 £213 -34.62% 96
North East -12 4 £206 -65.63% 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 31 (4.47%) Confluence
2 15 (2.16%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.73%) Apache Airflow
3 12 (1.73%) CMS
4 11 (1.59%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 4 (0.58%) WordPress
6 3 (0.43%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.43%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.29%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.29%) SAS
8 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 21 (3.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (2.02%) Microsoft Project
3 11 (1.59%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.44%) Chatbot
4 10 (1.44%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.43%) Photoshop
6 2 (0.29%) Adobe Illustrator
6 2 (0.29%) Trello
7 1 (0.14%) 3ds Max
7 1 (0.14%) Adobe After Effects
7 1 (0.14%) Adobe XD
7 1 (0.14%) InDesign
7 1 (0.14%) Maya
7 1 (0.14%) SOLIDWORKS
7 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.14%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 17 (2.45%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.73%) SAP Retail
2 12 (1.73%) Shopify
3 10 (1.44%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (1.01%) Oracle Retail
5 6 (0.86%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 5 (0.72%) Finacle
6 5 (0.72%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.58%) SAP MDG
7 4 (0.58%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.43%) SAP MM
8 3 (0.43%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.29%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.29%) Sprinklr
10 1 (0.14%) Bloomberg TOMS
10 1 (0.14%) Magento
10 1 (0.14%) Payment Gateway
10 1 (0.14%) Sage X3
10 1 (0.14%) SAP GTS
10 1 (0.14%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 80 (11.53%) Azure
2 47 (6.77%) AWS
3 45 (6.48%) Power Platform
4 41 (5.91%) GCP
5 22 (3.17%) Azure DevOps
6 21 (3.03%) GitHub
7 19 (2.74%) Dynamics 365
8 16 (2.31%) Microsoft 365
8 16 (2.31%) Snowflake
9 14 (2.02%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (1.87%) Figma
10 13 (1.87%) SaaS
11 12 (1.73%) Google Workspace
12 10 (1.44%) Entra ID
12 10 (1.44%) Miro
13 9 (1.30%) Cloud Run
14 8 (1.15%) Azure Data Factory
14 8 (1.15%) dbt
14 8 (1.15%) WhatsApp
15 7 (1.01%) BigCommerce
Communications & Networking
1 17 (2.45%) RFID
2 11 (1.59%) NFC
2 11 (1.59%) Wireless
3 10 (1.44%) VPN
3 10 (1.44%) WAN
4 7 (1.01%) Firewall
5 6 (0.86%) Wi-Fi
6 5 (0.72%) LAN
7 4 (0.58%) BGP
7 4 (0.58%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (0.58%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.58%) OSPF
7 4 (0.58%) VoIP
8 3 (0.43%) MPLS
9 2 (0.29%) SAN
9 2 (0.29%) WLAN
10 1 (0.14%) Broadband
10 1 (0.14%) FTP
10 1 (0.14%) SMS
10 1 (0.14%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (5.33%) Power BI
2 22 (3.17%) BigQuery
3 18 (2.59%) Data Warehouse
4 14 (2.02%) Metadata
5 13 (1.87%) SQL Server
6 12 (1.73%) Tableau
7 11 (1.59%) MySQL
8 10 (1.44%) Data Lake
9 7 (1.01%) Data Vault
10 6 (0.86%) Delta Lake
11 5 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
11 5 (0.72%) Snowflake Schema
12 4 (0.58%) Redis
12 4 (0.58%) Relational Database
12 4 (0.58%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 3 (0.43%) MongoDB
13 3 (0.43%) OLAP
13 3 (0.43%) Oracle OLAP
13 3 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
13 3 (0.43%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 66 (9.51%) JIRA
2 11 (1.59%) Jenkins
3 7 (1.01%) GitLab
4 6 (0.86%) Git
5 5 (0.72%) ERwin
6 4 (0.58%) MLflow
7 3 (0.43%) Maven
7 3 (0.43%) Selenium
7 3 (0.43%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.29%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.29%) Mockito
8 2 (0.29%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.29%) Xcode
9 1 (0.14%) Android Studio
9 1 (0.14%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.14%) Cypress.io
9 1 (0.14%) Gradle
9 1 (0.14%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.14%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.14%) Zephyr
General
1 244 (35.16%) Social Skills
2 153 (22.05%) Finance
3 74 (10.66%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (8.93%) Marketing
5 59 (8.50%) Banking
6 31 (4.47%) Organisational Skills
6 31 (4.47%) Public Sector
7 28 (4.03%) Manufacturing
8 24 (3.46%) Influencing Skills
9 22 (3.17%) Corporate Banking
9 22 (3.17%) Investment Banking
9 22 (3.17%) Retail Banking
10 19 (2.74%) Presentation Skills
11 18 (2.59%) Documentation Skills
12 13 (1.87%) Legal
12 13 (1.87%) Telecoms
13 11 (1.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (1.01%) Financial Institution
14 7 (1.01%) Publishing
15 5 (0.72%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 116 (16.71%) Analyst
2 95 (13.69%) Project Manager
3 85 (12.25%) Senior
4 80 (11.53%) Architect
5 61 (8.79%) Lead
6 59 (8.50%) Business Analyst
7 41 (5.91%) Senior Manager
8 32 (4.61%) Consultant
9 31 (4.47%) Solutions Architect
10 23 (3.31%) Senior Project Manager
10 23 (3.31%) Technical Manager
11 17 (2.45%) Product Manager
12 16 (2.31%) Programme Manager
13 15 (2.16%) Data Engineer
13 15 (2.16%) Service Manager
14 14 (2.02%) Designer
14 14 (2.02%) E-Commerce Manager
15 13 (1.87%) Data Architect
15 13 (1.87%) Developer
15 13 (1.87%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (2.74%) VML
2 17 (2.45%) REST
3 14 (2.02%) Middleware
3 14 (2.02%) Spring
4 12 (1.73%) PySpark
5 11 (1.59%) Spring Boot
6 10 (1.44%) AngularJS
6 10 (1.44%) React
6 10 (1.44%) scikit-learn
7 9 (1.30%) .NET
7 9 (1.30%) PyTorch
8 7 (1.01%) HTML
8 7 (1.01%) Node.js
8 7 (1.01%) OpenTelemetry
9 6 (0.86%) CSS
9 6 (0.86%) LangChain
10 5 (0.72%) TensorFlow
10 5 (0.72%) XML
11 4 (0.58%) GraphQL
11 4 (0.58%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 42 (6.05%) Product Ownership
2 23 (3.31%) Driving Licence
2 23 (3.31%) Self-Motivation
3 22 (3.17%) Cloud Native
4 21 (3.03%) Onboarding
5 19 (2.74%) Management Information System
6 16 (2.31%) EPoS
6 16 (2.31%) FMCG
6 16 (2.31%) Legacy Systems
7 15 (2.16%) Data Structures
8 12 (1.73%) Data Centre
8 12 (1.73%) IoT
8 12 (1.73%) Mobile App
9 9 (1.30%) Analytical Mindset
9 9 (1.30%) Virtual Team
10 8 (1.15%) Social Media
11 7 (1.01%) Algorithms
11 7 (1.01%) Greenfield Project
11 7 (1.01%) Reference Data
12 6 (0.86%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 32 (4.61%) Windows
2 15 (2.16%) Linux
3 8 (1.15%) Mac OS
4 5 (0.72%) Android
5 4 (0.58%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.43%) Unix
6 3 (0.43%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.43%) zOS
7 1 (0.14%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.14%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 165 (23.78%) Stakeholder Management
2 156 (22.48%) Agile
3 132 (19.02%) Problem-Solving
4 97 (13.98%) E-Commerce
5 94 (13.54%) Project Management
6 76 (10.95%) Analytics
7 72 (10.37%) Migration
8 69 (9.94%) Roadmaps
9 64 (9.22%) Workshop Facilitation
10 63 (9.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 56 (8.07%) Continuous Improvement
11 56 (8.07%) Customer Experience
12 54 (7.78%) Scrum
13 53 (7.64%) AI
14 52 (7.49%) DevOps
15 50 (7.20%) Project Delivery
16 49 (7.06%) Business Intelligence
17 48 (6.92%) ERP
18 47 (6.77%) Data Modelling
18 47 (6.77%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 60 (8.65%) SQL
2 59 (8.50%) Python
3 23 (3.31%) Java
4 16 (2.31%) JavaScript
5 12 (1.73%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.44%) Bash
7 9 (1.30%) Shell Script
8 7 (1.01%) C#
8 7 (1.01%) Kusto Query Language
9 5 (0.72%) TypeScript
10 4 (0.58%) Kotlin
11 3 (0.43%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.43%) VBA
12 2 (0.29%) Google Apps Script
12 2 (0.29%) PHP
12 2 (0.29%) R
12 2 (0.29%) Swift
13 1 (0.14%) CLIST
13 1 (0.14%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 1 (0.14%) Scala
Qualifications
1 42 (6.05%) Degree
2 23 (3.31%) PMP
3 19 (2.74%) Security Cleared
4 18 (2.59%) PMI Certification
5 9 (1.30%) Master's Degree
6 8 (1.15%) SC Cleared
7 7 (1.01%) APMP
7 7 (1.01%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (1.01%) CISSP
7 7 (1.01%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (1.01%) MBA
8 5 (0.72%) CISM
8 5 (0.72%) CRISC
8 5 (0.72%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (0.58%) CCIE
9 4 (0.58%) CCNP
9 4 (0.58%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.58%) CSPO
10 3 (0.43%) GIAC
10 3 (0.43%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (4.18%) Data Quality
1 29 (4.18%) QA
2 26 (3.75%) PMO
3 17 (2.45%) Accessibility
4 16 (2.31%) GDPR
5 15 (2.16%) SLA
6 6 (0.86%) PCI DSS
7 5 (0.72%) Actionable Recommendations
8 4 (0.58%) IFRS
9 3 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.43%) NCSC
9 3 (0.43%) NIST
10 2 (0.29%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.29%) COBIT
10 2 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.14%) GAAP
11 1 (0.14%) IFRS 9
11 1 (0.14%) MiFID
11 1 (0.14%) Solvency II
11 1 (0.14%) WCAG
System Software
1 15 (2.16%) Docker
2 9 (1.30%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.43%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (0.43%) VMware NSX
4 2 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.14%) RACF
5 1 (0.14%) Varnish
5 1 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 20 (2.88%) Terraform
2 14 (2.02%) Kubernetes
3 7 (1.01%) Grafana
3 7 (1.01%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 6 (0.86%) Argo
4 6 (0.86%) Istio
5 3 (0.43%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (0.43%) SCCM
5 3 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.29%) Jamf Pro
7 1 (0.14%) Ansible
7 1 (0.14%) Cacti
7 1 (0.14%) Control-M
7 1 (0.14%) Nmap
7 1 (0.14%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.14%) ZABBIX
7 1 (0.14%) zSecure
Vendors
1 63 (9.08%) Microsoft
2 58 (8.36%) SAP
3 49 (7.06%) Google
4 41 (5.91%) Oracle
5 31 (4.47%) Salesforce
6 25 (3.60%) Databricks
7 20 (2.88%) Adobe
8 13 (1.87%) ServiceNow
9 8 (1.15%) Sitecore
10 7 (1.01%) Temenos
11 6 (0.86%) Workday
12 5 (0.72%) Apple
12 5 (0.72%) Avaloq
12 5 (0.72%) BMC
12 5 (0.72%) CheckPoint
12 5 (0.72%) Cisco
12 5 (0.72%) F5
12 5 (0.72%) GoldenSource
12 5 (0.72%) MicroStrategy
12 5 (0.72%) Zscaler