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

6 months to
5 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 88 100 76
Rank change year-on-year +12 -24 +13
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,229 683 1,037
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.79% 2.58% 2.78%
As % of the General category 5.07% 4.03% 4.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 739 352 578
10th Percentile £306 £308 £278
25th Percentile £425 £413 £402
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £525 £520
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% +0.96% -0.95%
75th Percentile £675 £638 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK median daily rate £525 £513 £509
% change year-on-year +2.44% +0.74% -4.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 92 35 85
10th Percentile £12.99 £14.80 £11.85
25th Percentile £15.25 £15.25 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £16.30 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +28.83% +1.88% -19.23%
75th Percentile £22.50 £27.08 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £54.65 £21.46
UK median hourly rate £21.00 £16.30 £16.00
% change year-on-year +28.83% +1.88% -19.23%

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 24,252 16,937 21,347
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 55.00% 63.89% 57.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,640 10,873 13,632
10th Percentile £313 £281 £300
25th Percentile £413 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £518 £535
Median % change year-on-year +1.45% -3.27% -2.73%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £750 £763 £775
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,754 845 1,766
10th Percentile £14.25 £13.36 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.75 £16.50 £15.92
Median hourly rate £32.50 £27.21 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.44% -17.55% +10.00%
75th Percentile £63.75 £51.18 £55.00
90th Percentile £81.05 £73.75 £68.75
UK median hourly rate £32.00 £27.21 £31.97
% change year-on-year +17.60% -14.89% +4.68%

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 5 July 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 5 July 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 5 July 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 +20 712 £550 - 598
South East +18 164 £538 -3.15% 324
North of England -33 143 £550 +7.32% 230
Midlands -14 102 £500 +8.11% 199
North West -2 94 £575 +15.00% 132
East of England +8 59 £550 - 112
East Midlands 0 55 £495 +7.03% 111
West Midlands -32 47 £539 +18.23% 88
Yorkshire -54 46 £531 +1.19% 81
South West -18 36 £325 -19.38% 71
North East -37 3 £173 -79.07% 20
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 35 (2.85%) Confluence
2 19 (1.55%) CMS
3 15 (1.22%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 10 (0.81%) Apache Airflow
5 7 (0.57%) SharePoint
6 4 (0.33%) SAS
6 4 (0.33%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.16%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.16%) CICS
8 1 (0.081%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.081%) Apache
8 1 (0.081%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 34 (2.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 28 (2.28%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (1.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 17 (1.38%) Microsoft Project
5 13 (1.06%) Chatbot
6 10 (0.81%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 10 (0.81%) Photoshop
7 9 (0.73%) Adobe Illustrator
8 6 (0.49%) InDesign
8 6 (0.49%) MS Visio
9 3 (0.24%) Notion
9 3 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
10 2 (0.16%) UserZoom
11 1 (0.081%) 3ds Max
11 1 (0.081%) CPLEX
11 1 (0.081%) Maya
11 1 (0.081%) PlantUML
11 1 (0.081%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 28 (2.28%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (1.87%) Shopify
3 11 (0.90%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (0.90%) Oracle Retail
4 6 (0.49%) Magento
4 6 (0.49%) SAP CRM
4 6 (0.49%) SAP Retail
5 4 (0.33%) Finacle
5 4 (0.33%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.33%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (0.33%) Payment Gateway
5 4 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.33%) SAP SD
6 3 (0.24%) SAP CAR
6 3 (0.24%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.16%) Cognos Controller
7 2 (0.16%) Dynamics AX
7 2 (0.16%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 2 (0.16%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.16%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 157 (12.77%) Azure
2 125 (10.17%) AWS
3 74 (6.02%) GCP
4 64 (5.21%) Power Platform
5 45 (3.66%) Snowflake
6 28 (2.28%) GitHub
7 24 (1.95%) Azure DevOps
8 22 (1.79%) Dynamics 365
9 19 (1.55%) Entra ID
9 19 (1.55%) Figma
9 19 (1.55%) GitHub Actions
10 16 (1.30%) SaaS
11 14 (1.14%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 12 (0.98%) Azure Data Factory
12 12 (0.98%) dbt
13 11 (0.90%) Google Workspace
14 10 (0.81%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 10 (0.81%) Microsoft 365
14 10 (0.81%) Salesforce Service Cloud
15 9 (0.73%) Miro
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.14%) WAN
2 13 (1.06%) ATM
2 13 (1.06%) Firewall
3 12 (0.98%) Network Security
3 12 (0.98%) Wireless
4 11 (0.90%) VPN
5 9 (0.73%) RFID
6 8 (0.65%) LAN
6 8 (0.65%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (0.49%) Cisco Firepower
7 6 (0.49%) SD-WAN
8 5 (0.41%) BGP
8 5 (0.41%) Cisco ASA
8 5 (0.41%) Cisco Nexus
8 5 (0.41%) IPsec
8 5 (0.41%) OSPF
8 5 (0.41%) VSAN
9 4 (0.33%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 4 (0.33%) Internet
9 4 (0.33%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 62 (5.04%) Power BI
2 30 (2.44%) BigQuery
3 23 (1.87%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (1.71%) MySQL
5 19 (1.55%) Tableau
6 18 (1.46%) Data Lake
7 17 (1.38%) Metadata
8 16 (1.30%) SQL Server
9 15 (1.22%) NoSQL
10 12 (0.98%) Relational Database
11 8 (0.65%) Amazon Redshift
11 8 (0.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 7 (0.57%) MongoDB
12 7 (0.57%) PostgreSQL
13 6 (0.49%) Data Vault
13 6 (0.49%) Looker
13 6 (0.49%) SAP HANA
13 6 (0.49%) Semantic Layer
14 5 (0.41%) Couchbase
14 5 (0.41%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 71 (5.78%) JIRA
2 21 (1.71%) Git
3 17 (1.38%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.49%) Subversion
5 4 (0.33%) Eclipse
5 4 (0.33%) Maven
6 3 (0.24%) Cypress.io
6 3 (0.24%) ERwin
6 3 (0.24%) GitLab
6 3 (0.24%) Selenium
7 2 (0.16%) git-flow
7 2 (0.16%) Hudson
7 2 (0.16%) JMeter
7 2 (0.16%) MLflow
7 2 (0.16%) Oracle Forms
7 2 (0.16%) Postman
7 2 (0.16%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.16%) WebDriver
7 2 (0.16%) webpack
8 1 (0.081%) REST Assured
General
1 352 (28.64%) Social Skills
2 281 (22.86%) Finance
3 110 (8.95%) Analytical Skills
4 104 (8.46%) Banking
5 82 (6.67%) Marketing
6 76 (6.18%) Manufacturing
7 55 (4.48%) Organisational Skills
8 49 (3.99%) Retail Banking
9 39 (3.17%) Investment Banking
10 37 (3.01%) Corporate Banking
11 26 (2.12%) Telecoms
12 24 (1.95%) Documentation Skills
12 24 (1.95%) Influencing Skills
12 24 (1.95%) Public Sector
13 20 (1.63%) Legal
13 20 (1.63%) Presentation Skills
14 19 (1.55%) French Language
15 18 (1.46%) Spanish Language
16 17 (1.38%) Advertising
17 13 (1.06%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 219 (17.82%) Architect
2 162 (13.18%) Analyst
3 150 (12.21%) Senior
4 115 (9.36%) Solutions Architect
5 114 (9.28%) Project Manager
6 88 (7.16%) Lead
7 85 (6.92%) Business Analyst
8 61 (4.96%) Senior Manager
9 50 (4.07%) Developer
10 46 (3.74%) Designer
11 39 (3.17%) Technical Manager
12 37 (3.01%) Consultant
12 37 (3.01%) Senior Project Manager
13 36 (2.93%) Enterprise Architect
13 36 (2.93%) Product Manager
14 29 (2.36%) 2nd Line Support
14 29 (2.36%) Data Architect
14 29 (2.36%) Supply Chain Architect
15 28 (2.28%) Data Engineer
15 28 (2.28%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (4.23%) REST
2 32 (2.60%) Middleware
3 26 (2.12%) React
4 25 (2.03%) Spring
5 23 (1.87%) VML
6 20 (1.63%) Kafka
7 17 (1.38%) Spring Boot
8 16 (1.30%) HTML
9 15 (1.22%) CSS
9 15 (1.22%) MACH
9 15 (1.22%) Node.js
10 14 (1.14%) Django
10 14 (1.14%) OAuth
10 14 (1.14%) RESTful
11 13 (1.06%) J2EE
12 12 (0.98%) SOAP
13 11 (0.90%) .NET
14 9 (0.73%) AngularJS
14 9 (0.73%) OAuth2
15 8 (0.65%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 77 (6.27%) Product Ownership
2 51 (4.15%) FMCG
3 41 (3.34%) EPoS
4 38 (3.09%) Onboarding
5 34 (2.77%) Cloud Native
6 29 (2.36%) Driving Licence
7 26 (2.12%) Data Centre
8 25 (2.03%) Legacy Systems
9 21 (1.71%) Data Structures
10 20 (1.63%) Marketing Technology
11 18 (1.46%) Mobile App
11 18 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
12 15 (1.22%) Greenfield Project
13 14 (1.14%) Mainframe
14 13 (1.06%) Operational Technology
15 12 (0.98%) Management Information System
16 11 (0.90%) AI Agents
16 11 (0.90%) Smartphone
16 11 (0.90%) Taxonomies
16 11 (0.90%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 52 (4.23%) Windows
2 25 (2.03%) Linux
3 12 (0.98%) Android
4 11 (0.90%) Unix
5 7 (0.57%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.49%) Apple iOS
6 6 (0.49%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (0.41%) Windows 10
7 5 (0.41%) Windows Server
8 4 (0.33%) zOS
9 2 (0.16%) Debian
10 1 (0.081%) SUSE
10 1 (0.081%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.081%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 304 (24.74%) Stakeholder Management
2 291 (23.68%) Agile
3 188 (15.30%) E-Commerce
4 175 (14.24%) Problem-Solving
5 168 (13.67%) Migration
6 157 (12.77%) Roadmaps
7 138 (11.23%) Analytics
8 115 (9.36%) Customer Experience
9 110 (8.95%) AI
10 105 (8.54%) Project Management
11 96 (7.81%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 94 (7.65%) Logistics
13 92 (7.49%) ERP
14 91 (7.40%) Decision-Making
15 90 (7.32%) CI/CD
15 90 (7.32%) Continuous Improvement
16 89 (7.24%) CRM
16 89 (7.24%) Project Delivery
17 88 (7.16%) Business Intelligence
18 83 (6.75%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 100 (8.14%) SQL
2 82 (6.67%) Python
3 52 (4.23%) Java
4 24 (1.95%) JavaScript
5 20 (1.63%) TypeScript
6 11 (0.90%) C#
7 10 (0.81%) PowerShell
8 8 (0.65%) Shell Script
9 7 (0.57%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 6 (0.49%) ABAP
10 6 (0.49%) Bicep
10 6 (0.49%) PL/SQL
10 6 (0.49%) Scala
11 5 (0.41%) Bash
11 5 (0.41%) Groovy
11 5 (0.41%) R
11 5 (0.41%) SOQL
12 4 (0.33%) Apex Code
12 4 (0.33%) Kotlin
13 3 (0.24%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 58 (4.72%) Degree
2 36 (2.93%) Security Cleared
3 22 (1.79%) SC Cleared
4 17 (1.38%) PMP
5 10 (0.81%) DBS Check
6 9 (0.73%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (0.65%) CISSP
7 8 (0.65%) PMI Certification
8 6 (0.49%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (0.49%) CISM
9 5 (0.41%) BPSS Clearance
9 5 (0.41%) CCNP
9 5 (0.41%) CCSE
9 5 (0.41%) CCSM
9 5 (0.41%) CSPO
10 4 (0.33%) Azure Certification
10 4 (0.33%) City & Guilds
10 4 (0.33%) ITIL Certification
11 3 (0.24%) APMP
11 3 (0.24%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 52 (4.23%) QA
2 45 (3.66%) Data Quality
3 36 (2.93%) GDPR
4 28 (2.28%) PMO
5 20 (1.63%) Accessibility
6 17 (1.38%) PCI DSS
7 10 (0.81%) SLA
8 9 (0.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 7 (0.57%) NIST
10 3 (0.24%) GAAP
10 3 (0.24%) IFRS
10 3 (0.24%) PSD2
11 2 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.16%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.16%) GRC
11 2 (0.16%) ISO 8583
11 2 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.16%) WCAG
12 1 (0.081%) COBIT
12 1 (0.081%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 26 (2.12%) Docker
2 23 (1.87%) Active Directory
3 7 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (0.57%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.49%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.41%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.24%) Firmware
7 2 (0.16%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 32 (2.60%) Terraform
2 24 (1.95%) Kubernetes
3 14 (1.14%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 8 (0.65%) Ansible
5 6 (0.49%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.49%) SCCM
6 5 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.33%) FortiGate
8 3 (0.24%) Grafana
9 2 (0.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.16%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.16%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.16%) MOM
9 2 (0.16%) PingFederate
10 1 (0.081%) Argo
10 1 (0.081%) CSIRT
10 1 (0.081%) Istio
10 1 (0.081%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 99 (8.06%) Microsoft
2 86 (7.00%) SAP
3 74 (6.02%) Oracle
4 55 (4.48%) Salesforce
5 52 (4.23%) Google
6 51 (4.15%) Databricks
7 37 (3.01%) Adobe
8 21 (1.71%) ServiceNow
9 14 (1.14%) IFS
10 13 (1.06%) Cisco
10 13 (1.06%) Zscaler
11 12 (0.98%) MuleSoft
11 12 (0.98%) VMware
12 11 (0.90%) Fortinet
12 11 (0.90%) Palo Alto
12 11 (0.90%) Sitecore
13 10 (0.81%) IBM
13 10 (0.81%) Splunk
14 9 (0.73%) Apple
14 9 (0.73%) Workday