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

6 months to
2 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 99 92 78
Rank change year-on-year -7 -14 +8
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,022 646 996
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.45% 2.68% 2.70%
As % of the General category 4.52% 4.18% 4.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 598 335 551
10th Percentile £265 £325 £278
25th Percentile £411 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £515
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% +1.94% -2.83%
75th Percentile £638 £629 £625
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £509
% change year-on-year -3.85% +2.21% -5.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 79 20 87
10th Percentile £13.21 £15.25 £11.50
25th Percentile £15.50 £16.04 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £23.83 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.86% +48.91% -21.59%
75th Percentile £22.50 £51.88 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £68.50 £21.46
UK median hourly rate £21.00 £27.08 £16.00
% change year-on-year -22.44% +69.22% -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 22,611 15,439 21,245
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 54.26% 64.12% 57.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,839 9,972 13,632
10th Percentile £313 £281 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £630 £650 £650
90th Percentile £744 £775 £775
UK median daily rate £513 £513 £525
% change year-on-year - -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,554 701 1,818
10th Percentile £14.11 £13.35 £12.88
25th Percentile £18.38 £16.95 £15.50
Median hourly rate £31.16 £28.00 £30.44
Median % change year-on-year +11.27% -8.00% -4.65%
75th Percentile £62.00 £53.75 £52.35
90th Percentile £80.08 £75.00 £67.38
UK median hourly rate £30.08 £28.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year +7.41% -6.67% -7.12%

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 June 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 June 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 June 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 +5 568 £531 -3.41% 624
South East -4 135 £475 -5.00% 306
North of England -38 133 £511 +2.25% 306
Midlands -21 90 £495 +10.00% 171
North West -6 82 £538 +7.50% 179
East Midlands -4 53 £495 +6.74% 82
East of England -6 51 £509 -3.05% 111
Yorkshire -56 48 £506 +9.46% 109
West Midlands -46 37 £529 +20.88% 89
South West -15 32 £326 -34.75% 84
North East -26 3 £173 -76.98% 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 36 (3.52%) Confluence
2 13 (1.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 12 (1.17%) CMS
3 12 (1.17%) SharePoint
4 9 (0.88%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.29%) SAS
5 3 (0.29%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.20%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.20%) CICS
7 1 (0.098%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.098%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 30 (2.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 24 (2.35%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (1.86%) Microsoft Project
4 17 (1.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 13 (1.27%) Chatbot
6 11 (1.08%) MS Visio
7 10 (0.98%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.78%) Adobe Illustrator
9 5 (0.49%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 5 (0.49%) InDesign
10 3 (0.29%) Notion
11 2 (0.20%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.098%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.098%) Adobe After Effects
12 1 (0.098%) Adobe XD
12 1 (0.098%) Maya
12 1 (0.098%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.098%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.098%) Spreadsheet
12 1 (0.098%) Trello
Business Applications
1 22 (2.15%) Shopify
2 17 (1.66%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (1.08%) Dynamics CRM
4 8 (0.78%) SAP Retail
5 7 (0.68%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 6 (0.59%) Finacle
6 6 (0.59%) Oracle Retail
6 6 (0.59%) SAP CRM
7 5 (0.49%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.39%) Magento
8 4 (0.39%) NetSuite
9 3 (0.29%) Payment Gateway
9 3 (0.29%) Salesforce CRM
10 2 (0.20%) Dynamics AX
10 2 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
10 2 (0.20%) SAP CAR
10 2 (0.20%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.20%) SAP MM
10 2 (0.20%) Temenos T24
11 1 (0.098%) SAP Forecasting and Replenishment
Cloud Services
1 113 (11.06%) Azure
2 81 (7.93%) AWS
3 60 (5.87%) GCP
4 49 (4.79%) Power Platform
5 32 (3.13%) Snowflake
6 25 (2.45%) GitHub
7 20 (1.96%) Azure DevOps
7 20 (1.96%) Dynamics 365
8 17 (1.66%) GitHub Actions
9 16 (1.57%) Figma
10 15 (1.47%) Microsoft 365
11 13 (1.27%) Entra ID
11 13 (1.27%) SaaS
11 13 (1.27%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 12 (1.17%) Azure Data Factory
12 12 (1.17%) BigCommerce
13 11 (1.08%) Google Workspace
14 10 (0.98%) dbt
14 10 (0.98%) Miro
15 9 (0.88%) Cloud Run
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.37%) WAN
2 13 (1.27%) ATM
2 13 (1.27%) Firewall
3 11 (1.08%) VPN
4 9 (0.88%) Network Security
4 9 (0.88%) Wireless
5 8 (0.78%) RFID
6 7 (0.68%) Cisco Nexus
6 7 (0.68%) LAN
6 7 (0.68%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (0.59%) Cisco Firepower
8 5 (0.49%) BGP
8 5 (0.49%) Cisco ASA
8 5 (0.49%) OSPF
8 5 (0.49%) SD-WAN
8 5 (0.49%) VSAN
9 4 (0.39%) MPLS
10 3 (0.29%) Broadband
10 3 (0.29%) EIGRP
10 3 (0.29%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (4.50%) Power BI
2 28 (2.74%) BigQuery
3 18 (1.76%) Data Warehouse
4 16 (1.57%) MySQL
4 16 (1.57%) SQL Server
5 11 (1.08%) Metadata
6 10 (0.98%) Data Lake
6 10 (0.98%) Tableau
7 7 (0.68%) Relational Database
8 6 (0.59%) Data Vault
8 6 (0.59%) NoSQL
9 5 (0.49%) MongoDB
10 4 (0.39%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.39%) Looker
10 4 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
10 4 (0.39%) Semantic Layer
10 4 (0.39%) Snowflake Schema
11 3 (0.29%) Big Data
11 3 (0.29%) OLAP
11 3 (0.29%) Oracle OLAP
Development Applications
1 74 (7.24%) JIRA
2 16 (1.57%) Git
3 15 (1.47%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.78%) GitLab
5 4 (0.39%) Maven
5 4 (0.39%) Subversion
6 3 (0.29%) ERwin
6 3 (0.29%) JMeter
6 3 (0.29%) Selenium
6 3 (0.29%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.20%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.20%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.20%) git-flow
7 2 (0.20%) Hudson
7 2 (0.20%) MLflow
7 2 (0.20%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.098%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.098%) Mockito
8 1 (0.098%) webpack
8 1 (0.098%) Zephyr
General
1 293 (28.67%) Social Skills
2 257 (25.15%) Finance
3 101 (9.88%) Analytical Skills
4 90 (8.81%) Banking
5 68 (6.65%) Marketing
6 50 (4.89%) Manufacturing
7 49 (4.79%) Organisational Skills
8 42 (4.11%) Retail Banking
9 36 (3.52%) Investment Banking
10 32 (3.13%) Corporate Banking
11 27 (2.64%) Telecoms
12 25 (2.45%) Public Sector
13 24 (2.35%) Documentation Skills
14 21 (2.05%) Presentation Skills
15 19 (1.86%) Influencing Skills
16 18 (1.76%) Legal
17 15 (1.47%) Advertising
18 14 (1.37%) French Language
19 13 (1.27%) Back Office
20 12 (1.17%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 163 (15.95%) Architect
2 141 (13.80%) Analyst
3 127 (12.43%) Senior
4 109 (10.67%) Project Manager
5 81 (7.93%) Business Analyst
6 73 (7.14%) Lead
7 72 (7.05%) Solutions Architect
8 58 (5.68%) Senior Manager
9 44 (4.31%) Technical Manager
10 38 (3.72%) Designer
11 33 (3.23%) Product Manager
11 33 (3.23%) Senior Project Manager
12 32 (3.13%) Developer
12 32 (3.13%) Enterprise Architect
13 28 (2.74%) Consultant
14 27 (2.64%) Data Architect
15 25 (2.45%) Data Engineer
16 23 (2.25%) 2nd Line Support
17 20 (1.96%) Programme Manager
18 19 (1.86%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (2.74%) Middleware
2 27 (2.64%) VML
3 26 (2.54%) REST
4 23 (2.25%) React
5 22 (2.15%) Spring
6 16 (1.57%) Node.js
6 16 (1.57%) Spring Boot
7 14 (1.37%) AngularJS
8 13 (1.27%) CSS
8 13 (1.27%) Kafka
9 10 (0.98%) HTML
9 10 (0.98%) RESTful
10 9 (0.88%) .NET
11 8 (0.78%) OpenTelemetry
11 8 (0.78%) PySpark
12 7 (0.68%) LangChain
12 7 (0.68%) MACH
12 7 (0.68%) OAuth
12 7 (0.68%) OAuth2
12 7 (0.68%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 68 (6.65%) Product Ownership
2 34 (3.33%) EPoS
3 33 (3.23%) FMCG
4 30 (2.94%) Driving Licence
5 29 (2.84%) Cloud Native
6 28 (2.74%) Onboarding
7 21 (2.05%) Data Centre
8 19 (1.86%) Data Structures
9 17 (1.66%) Self-Motivation
10 16 (1.57%) Legacy Systems
11 14 (1.37%) Mainframe
11 14 (1.37%) Management Information System
12 13 (1.27%) Mobile App
13 11 (1.08%) Smartphone
14 10 (0.98%) Greenfield Project
14 10 (0.98%) Virtual Team
15 9 (0.88%) AI Agents
15 9 (0.88%) CCTV
16 8 (0.78%) Mobile Payment
17 7 (0.68%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 47 (4.60%) Windows
2 21 (2.05%) Linux
3 10 (0.98%) Android
4 6 (0.59%) Unix
5 5 (0.49%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.39%) Mac OS
6 4 (0.39%) zOS
7 3 (0.29%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.29%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.098%) Debian
8 1 (0.098%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.098%) SUSE
8 1 (0.098%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.098%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.098%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 225 (22.02%) Agile
2 221 (21.62%) Stakeholder Management
3 172 (16.83%) Problem-Solving
4 155 (15.17%) E-Commerce
5 130 (12.72%) Migration
6 122 (11.94%) Roadmaps
7 108 (10.57%) Project Management
8 104 (10.18%) Analytics
8 104 (10.18%) Customer Experience
9 81 (7.93%) ERP
10 78 (7.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 77 (7.53%) Change Management
11 77 (7.53%) Continuous Improvement
11 77 (7.53%) Project Delivery
12 75 (7.34%) Scrum
13 72 (7.05%) Decision-Making
14 70 (6.85%) AI
15 66 (6.46%) CI/CD
15 66 (6.46%) User Acceptance Testing
16 65 (6.36%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 68 (6.65%) SQL
2 54 (5.28%) Python
3 31 (3.03%) Java
4 22 (2.15%) JavaScript
5 13 (1.27%) TypeScript
6 10 (0.98%) Shell Script
7 9 (0.88%) PowerShell
8 8 (0.78%) C#
9 4 (0.39%) Bash
9 4 (0.39%) Bicep
9 4 (0.39%) Kotlin
9 4 (0.39%) Scala
9 4 (0.39%) SOQL
10 3 (0.29%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.29%) Kusto Query Language
10 3 (0.29%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.29%) R
10 3 (0.29%) SOSL
10 3 (0.29%) VBA
11 2 (0.20%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 50 (4.89%) Degree
2 39 (3.82%) Security Cleared
3 26 (2.54%) SC Cleared
4 18 (1.76%) PMP
5 11 (1.08%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.88%) Computer Science Degree
6 9 (0.88%) DBS Check
7 7 (0.68%) APMP
7 7 (0.68%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (0.68%) CCNP
7 7 (0.68%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (0.68%) CISSP
7 7 (0.68%) Master's Degree
8 6 (0.59%) CSPO
9 5 (0.49%) CCSE
9 5 (0.49%) CCSM
9 5 (0.49%) CISM
9 5 (0.49%) ITIL Certification
9 5 (0.49%) MBA
10 4 (0.39%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (4.21%) Data Quality
1 43 (4.21%) QA
2 34 (3.33%) GDPR
3 32 (3.13%) PMO
4 16 (1.57%) Accessibility
5 13 (1.27%) SLA
6 11 (1.08%) PCI DSS
7 8 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (0.49%) NIST
9 2 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
9 2 (0.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 2 (0.20%) GRC
9 2 (0.20%) IFRS
9 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.20%) WCAG
10 1 (0.098%) COBIT
10 1 (0.098%) GAAP
10 1 (0.098%) GxP
10 1 (0.098%) ISO 8583
10 1 (0.098%) PSD2
System Software
1 23 (2.25%) Docker
2 19 (1.86%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.59%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.59%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.20%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 24 (2.35%) Terraform
2 18 (1.76%) Kubernetes
3 11 (1.08%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 7 (0.68%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.59%) Argo
5 6 (0.59%) Istio
6 5 (0.49%) SCCM
7 4 (0.39%) Grafana
7 4 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.20%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.20%) Ansible
8 2 (0.20%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.20%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.20%) MOM
8 2 (0.20%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.098%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 88 (8.61%) Microsoft
2 70 (6.85%) SAP
3 61 (5.97%) Oracle
4 48 (4.70%) Google
5 47 (4.60%) Salesforce
6 40 (3.91%) Databricks
7 29 (2.84%) Adobe
8 18 (1.76%) ServiceNow
9 14 (1.37%) IFS
9 14 (1.37%) Sitecore
10 13 (1.27%) Cisco
11 10 (0.98%) VMware
12 9 (0.88%) Fortinet
12 9 (0.88%) Palo Alto
13 8 (0.78%) CheckPoint
13 8 (0.78%) Temenos
13 8 (0.78%) Zscaler
14 7 (0.68%) MuleSoft
14 7 (0.68%) Splunk
15 6 (0.59%) Avaloq