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 16 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 135 85 94
Rank change year-on-year -50 +9 -22
Contract jobs citing Retail 672 796 908
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.15% 2.74% 2.43%
As % of the General category 3.46% 4.47% 4.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 402 421 515
10th Percentile £206 £263 £275
25th Percentile £400 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £508 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.19% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £644
90th Percentile £737 £766 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 10 29
10th Percentile £15.18 £16.05 £14.86
25th Percentile £15.48 £18.13 £18.50
Median hourly rate £16.34 £32.50 £19.81
Median % change year-on-year -49.74% +64.06% -
75th Percentile £19.50 £37.88 £21.31
90th Percentile £25.15 £49.38 £29.75
UK median hourly rate £16.34 £32.50 £19.81
% change year-on-year -49.74% +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 common skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 19,431 17,802 22,330
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 62.02% 61.32% 59.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,314 10,776 15,097
10th Percentile £280 £300 £285
25th Percentile £402 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% -2.27% -
75th Percentile £630 £650 £665
90th Percentile £738 £775 £763
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,269 629 1,002
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.46 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.50 £18.03 £17.25
Median hourly rate £23.50 £30.40 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.70% -7.88% +32.00%
75th Percentile £46.00 £58.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £72.71 £70.66
UK median hourly rate £23.58 £27.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year -14.27% -15.38% +30.00%

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 16 December 2025.

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 16 December 2025.

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 16 December 2025. 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 -33 355 £538 -2.27% 216
South East -17 98 £525 -4.55% 225
North of England -49 71 £500 +8.11% 162
Midlands -48 57 £450 -10.00% 109
East of England -16 44 £595 +10.70% 58
East Midlands -2 38 £450 -10.00% 50
Yorkshire -40 35 £513 +17.14% 58
North West -42 31 £500 +8.11% 79
South West +1 25 £183 -55.38% 61
West Midlands -54 18 £450 -15.29% 59
North East -8 6 £206 -65.63% 26
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 27 (4.02%) Confluence
2 17 (2.53%) SharePoint
3 16 (2.38%) CMS
4 7 (1.04%) Apache Airflow
5 5 (0.74%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 5 (0.74%) Camunda
5 5 (0.74%) Jupyter
5 5 (0.74%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.60%) WordPress
7 2 (0.30%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.15%) Appian
8 1 (0.15%) SAS
8 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.15%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 24 (3.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (2.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (1.49%) Microsoft Office
4 6 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.45%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.45%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.15%) Trello
7 1 (0.15%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 27 (4.02%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (1.34%) Shopify
3 8 (1.19%) Dynamics CRM
3 8 (1.19%) Oracle Retail
3 8 (1.19%) SAP Retail
4 6 (0.89%) Payment Gateway
5 5 (0.74%) Dynamics AX
5 5 (0.74%) SAP Payroll
6 4 (0.60%) Temenos T24
7 3 (0.45%) NetSuite
7 3 (0.45%) Salesforce CRM
7 3 (0.45%) SAP GTS
7 3 (0.45%) SAP MM
8 2 (0.30%) BambooHR
8 2 (0.30%) Magento
8 2 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
8 2 (0.30%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
8 2 (0.30%) Sprinklr
9 1 (0.15%) Avolution ABACUS
9 1 (0.15%) OpenText VIM for SAP
Cloud Services
1 80 (11.90%) Azure
2 40 (5.95%) AWS
2 40 (5.95%) Power Platform
3 23 (3.42%) GCP
4 22 (3.27%) Azure DevOps
5 21 (3.13%) Dynamics 365
6 16 (2.38%) Microsoft 365
7 15 (2.23%) SaaS
8 11 (1.64%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
9 10 (1.49%) Figma
10 9 (1.34%) Entra ID
10 9 (1.34%) Power Automate
10 9 (1.34%) Snowflake
10 9 (1.34%) Vertex AI
11 8 (1.19%) GitHub
12 7 (1.04%) OCI
12 7 (1.04%) Serverless
12 7 (1.04%) SuccessFactors
13 6 (0.89%) GitHub Actions
13 6 (0.89%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 20 (2.98%) RFID
2 18 (2.68%) NFC
2 18 (2.68%) Wireless
3 11 (1.64%) VPN
4 10 (1.49%) Firewall
5 8 (1.19%) WAN
5 8 (1.19%) Wi-Fi
6 5 (0.74%) Cisco Nexus
6 5 (0.74%) LAN
7 4 (0.60%) BGP
7 4 (0.60%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.60%) OSPF
7 4 (0.60%) VoIP
8 3 (0.45%) Broadband
9 2 (0.30%) DNS
9 2 (0.30%) MPLS
9 2 (0.30%) SAN
9 2 (0.30%) WLAN
10 1 (0.15%) DHCP
10 1 (0.15%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (4.91%) Power BI
2 13 (1.93%) Data Warehouse
3 12 (1.79%) BigQuery
3 12 (1.79%) Metadata
4 11 (1.64%) Tableau
5 10 (1.49%) SQL Server
6 6 (0.89%) Data Lake
7 4 (0.60%) Delta Lake
7 4 (0.60%) MongoDB
7 4 (0.60%) Power Query
7 4 (0.60%) Redis
7 4 (0.60%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 3 (0.45%) Data Vault
8 3 (0.45%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.45%) Relational Database
8 3 (0.45%) SAP BW
8 3 (0.45%) Snowflake Schema
8 3 (0.45%) Star Schema
9 2 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.30%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 51 (7.59%) JIRA
2 13 (1.93%) Git
3 10 (1.49%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.60%) Selenium
4 4 (0.60%) Storybook
5 3 (0.45%) Postman
6 2 (0.30%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 2 (0.30%) ERwin
6 2 (0.30%) JMeter
6 2 (0.30%) JUnit
6 2 (0.30%) MLflow
6 2 (0.30%) Mockito
6 2 (0.30%) PowerDesigner
6 2 (0.30%) SoapUI
6 2 (0.30%) Xcode
7 1 (0.15%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.15%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.15%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.15%) Gradle
7 1 (0.15%) Zephyr
General
1 241 (35.86%) Social Skills
2 141 (20.98%) Finance
3 74 (11.01%) Analytical Skills
4 57 (8.48%) Banking
5 53 (7.89%) Marketing
6 40 (5.95%) Public Sector
7 39 (5.80%) Manufacturing
8 33 (4.91%) Organisational Skills
9 30 (4.46%) Retail Banking
10 26 (3.87%) Corporate Banking
10 26 (3.87%) Investment Banking
11 22 (3.27%) Influencing Skills
11 22 (3.27%) Legal
12 16 (2.38%) Documentation Skills
13 15 (2.23%) Presentation Skills
14 14 (2.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 10 (1.49%) Telecoms
16 8 (1.19%) Automotive
17 7 (1.04%) Law
18 6 (0.89%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 126 (18.75%) Analyst
2 78 (11.61%) Architect
3 73 (10.86%) Project Manager
4 61 (9.08%) Senior
5 53 (7.89%) Business Analyst
6 48 (7.14%) Lead
7 34 (5.06%) Solutions Architect
8 28 (4.17%) Consultant
9 24 (3.57%) Senior Manager
10 20 (2.98%) Programme Manager
11 19 (2.83%) Developer
12 18 (2.68%) Administrator
12 18 (2.68%) Product Manager
13 12 (1.79%) Data Analyst
13 12 (1.79%) Help Desk Analyst
13 12 (1.79%) Product Owner
13 12 (1.79%) Senior Analyst
13 12 (1.79%) Support Analyst
14 11 (1.64%) Service Analyst
15 10 (1.49%) Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (2.68%) React
2 14 (2.08%) Node.js
2 14 (2.08%) REST
3 12 (1.79%) HTML
3 12 (1.79%) PySpark
4 11 (1.64%) VML
5 10 (1.49%) .NET
6 7 (1.04%) CSS
6 7 (1.04%) React Native
6 7 (1.04%) scikit-learn
7 6 (0.89%) Kafka
7 6 (0.89%) Oracle Fusion
7 6 (0.89%) RESTful
8 5 (0.74%) CSS3
8 5 (0.74%) HTML5
8 5 (0.74%) Matplotlib
8 5 (0.74%) PyTorch
8 5 (0.74%) XGBoost
8 5 (0.74%) XML
9 4 (0.60%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 39 (5.80%) Product Ownership
2 23 (3.42%) Legacy Systems
2 23 (3.42%) Self-Motivation
3 22 (3.27%) IoT
4 18 (2.68%) Mobile App
4 18 (2.68%) Onboarding
5 16 (2.38%) EPoS
6 14 (2.08%) FMCG
7 11 (1.64%) Cloud Native
7 11 (1.64%) Data Centre
7 11 (1.64%) Management Information System
8 10 (1.49%) Analytical Mindset
9 8 (1.19%) Data Structures
9 8 (1.19%) Driving Licence
10 7 (1.04%) Algorithms
10 7 (1.04%) Greenfield Project
11 6 (0.89%) Hybrid Cloud
11 6 (0.89%) Replication
11 6 (0.89%) Social Media
12 5 (0.74%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 38 (5.65%) Windows
2 6 (0.89%) Apple iOS
2 6 (0.89%) Linux
2 6 (0.89%) Mac OS
3 3 (0.45%) Android
3 3 (0.45%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.30%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.15%) Kali Linux
5 1 (0.15%) Mac OS X
5 1 (0.15%) VMS
5 1 (0.15%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 158 (23.51%) Agile
2 156 (23.21%) Stakeholder Management
3 99 (14.73%) Problem-Solving
4 76 (11.31%) E-Commerce
4 76 (11.31%) Project Management
5 75 (11.16%) Analytics
6 61 (9.08%) Roadmaps
6 61 (9.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 57 (8.48%) Customer Experience
8 55 (8.18%) Continuous Improvement
9 51 (7.59%) Migration
10 49 (7.29%) CRM
10 49 (7.29%) Workshop Facilitation
11 48 (7.14%) DevOps
12 46 (6.85%) Waterfall
13 45 (6.70%) AI
14 44 (6.55%) Data Modelling
14 44 (6.55%) Project Delivery
15 43 (6.40%) ERP
16 42 (6.25%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 57 (8.48%) Python
2 52 (7.74%) SQL
3 18 (2.68%) JavaScript
4 13 (1.93%) Java
5 11 (1.64%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.49%) Bash
7 8 (1.19%) C#
7 8 (1.19%) TypeScript
8 6 (0.89%) Kusto Query Language
9 3 (0.45%) 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%) Shell Script
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 31 (4.61%) Degree
2 20 (2.98%) PMP
3 18 (2.68%) PMI Certification
4 15 (2.23%) Security Cleared
5 8 (1.19%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (0.89%) Master's Degree
7 5 (0.74%) CISSP
7 5 (0.74%) ITIL Certification
8 4 (0.60%) CCIE
8 4 (0.60%) CCNP
8 4 (0.60%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (0.60%) CSPO
8 4 (0.60%) Microsoft Certification
9 3 (0.45%) ACCA
9 3 (0.45%) CISM
9 3 (0.45%) CRISC
9 3 (0.45%) GIAC
10 2 (0.30%) MBA
10 2 (0.30%) SC Cleared
10 2 (0.30%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (3.27%) QA
2 17 (2.53%) Data Quality
3 14 (2.08%) GDPR
3 14 (2.08%) SLA
4 13 (1.93%) Accessibility
5 9 (1.34%) PMO
6 5 (0.74%) Actionable Recommendations
7 3 (0.45%) IFRS
7 3 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (0.45%) NCSC
7 3 (0.45%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.30%) COBIT
8 2 (0.30%) MiFID
8 2 (0.30%) NIST
8 2 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.15%) FATCA
9 1 (0.15%) IFRS 9
9 1 (0.15%) SEPA
9 1 (0.15%) Solvency II
System Software
1 11 (1.64%) Docker
2 9 (1.34%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.45%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (0.45%) VMware NSX
4 1 (0.15%) RACF
4 1 (0.15%) Varnish
4 1 (0.15%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.15%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 16 (2.38%) Terraform
2 12 (1.79%) Kubernetes
3 6 (0.89%) Ansible
3 6 (0.89%) Microsoft Intune
4 5 (0.74%) Grafana
5 4 (0.60%) SCCM
5 4 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.45%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (0.30%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.15%) AirWatch
8 1 (0.15%) Cacti
8 1 (0.15%) Control-M
8 1 (0.15%) Nmap
8 1 (0.15%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.15%) ZABBIX
8 1 (0.15%) zSecure
Vendors
1 74 (11.01%) Microsoft
2 59 (8.78%) SAP
3 42 (6.25%) Salesforce
4 37 (5.51%) Oracle
5 22 (3.27%) Google
6 15 (2.23%) Databricks
7 13 (1.93%) Adobe
8 10 (1.49%) HP
9 7 (1.04%) Cisco
10 6 (0.89%) CheckPoint
10 6 (0.89%) Dell
10 6 (0.89%) F5
10 6 (0.89%) Splunk
11 5 (0.74%) Apple
11 5 (0.74%) Meraki
11 5 (0.74%) ServiceNow
11 5 (0.74%) VMware
11 5 (0.74%) Workday
11 5 (0.74%) Zscaler
12 4 (0.60%) Qualys