Retail Contract Job Trends

Retailing
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Retail in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Retail over the 6 months leading up to 23 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 92 87
Rank change year-on-year -41 -5 +2
Contract jobs citing Retail 930 796 1,067
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.00% 2.70% 2.44%
As % of the General category 3.64% 4.27% 4.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 568 424 609
10th Percentile £200 £300 £298
25th Percentile £372 £407 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £505
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +3.96% -3.81%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 19 84
10th Percentile £12.95 £14.98 £11.31
25th Percentile £15.82 £17.22 £12.15
Median hourly rate £18.18 £31.50 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -42.30% +96.88% -19.23%
75th Percentile £23.21 £61.38 £21.37
90th Percentile £46.25 £87.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £18.13 £15.29
% change year-on-year -3.47% +18.57% -22.82%

All General Skills
UK

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 25,520 18,658 25,479
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.98% 63.18% 58.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,793 11,922 16,126
10th Percentile £305 £300 £270
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £756
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,617 785 1,925
10th Percentile £13.72 £14.20 £12.76
25th Percentile £17.50 £18.13 £15.40
Median hourly rate £28.55 £28.18 £28.50
Median % change year-on-year +1.31% -1.12% -18.57%
75th Percentile £60.00 £56.00 £51.25
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.38 £26.28 £27.00
% change year-on-year -3.42% -2.67% -14.65%

Retail
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Retail relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Retail job vacancy trend in the UK

Retail
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Retail.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Retail

Retail
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Retail over the 6 months to 23 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Retail in the UK

Retail
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Retail.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Retail

Retail
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Retail over the 6 months to 23 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Retail in the UK

Retail
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Retail within the UK over the 6 months to 23 April 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
England -30 846 £500 -4.76% 921
London -25 456 £525 -4.55% 263
UK excluding London -11 399 £475 -5.00% 769
Work from Home -53 228 £500 -2.44% 306
South East -21 115 £375 -28.57% 241
North of England -32 115 £500 +11.11% 195
Midlands -34 77 £495 -1.00% 151
North West -12 64 £500 - 113
Yorkshire -39 46 £513 +38.51% 64
East of England -6 45 £535 -2.73% 109
East Midlands -13 39 £495 -1.00% 91
West Midlands -53 37 £500 +11.11% 60
Scotland +8 22 £475 -10.17% 28
South West -23 22 £318 -25.73% 61
North East -17 5 £206 -72.50% 22
Northern Ireland +3 2 £190 -44.48% 11
Wales -11 1 £190 +29.52% 15

Retail
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 38 (4.09%) Confluence
2 17 (1.83%) SharePoint
3 13 (1.40%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 11 (1.18%) CMS
5 8 (0.86%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.54%) SAS
7 3 (0.32%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.22%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.22%) Magnolia
8 2 (0.22%) WordPress
9 1 (0.11%) CICS
9 1 (0.11%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.11%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 32 (3.44%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (2.04%) Microsoft Project
3 15 (1.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 13 (1.40%) Chatbot
5 12 (1.29%) Microsoft Office
6 11 (1.18%) MS Visio
7 8 (0.86%) Photoshop
8 6 (0.65%) Adobe Illustrator
9 3 (0.32%) InDesign
10 2 (0.22%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 2 (0.22%) Trello
10 2 (0.22%) UserZoom
11 1 (0.11%) 3ds Max
11 1 (0.11%) Adobe After Effects
11 1 (0.11%) Adobe XD
11 1 (0.11%) Maya
11 1 (0.11%) SOLIDWORKS
11 1 (0.11%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 18 (1.94%) Shopify
2 14 (1.51%) Dynamics CRM
2 14 (1.51%) SAP S/4HANA
3 8 (0.86%) Oracle Retail
4 7 (0.75%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 7 (0.75%) SAP Retail
5 6 (0.65%) Finacle
6 5 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
6 5 (0.54%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.43%) SAP MDG
7 4 (0.43%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.32%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.22%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.22%) Dynamics AX
9 2 (0.22%) Payment Gateway
9 2 (0.22%) ResourceLink
9 2 (0.22%) Sage X3
9 2 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
9 2 (0.22%) SAP MM
9 2 (0.22%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 94 (10.11%) Azure
2 62 (6.67%) AWS
3 56 (6.02%) Power Platform
4 54 (5.81%) GCP
5 28 (3.01%) Dynamics 365
6 26 (2.80%) Snowflake
7 21 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (2.26%) GitHub
8 18 (1.94%) Microsoft 365
9 16 (1.72%) SaaS
10 14 (1.51%) Entra ID
11 13 (1.40%) Figma
11 13 (1.40%) GitHub Actions
11 13 (1.40%) Google Workspace
12 12 (1.29%) BigCommerce
13 11 (1.18%) Cloud Run
13 11 (1.18%) Miro
13 11 (1.18%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
14 10 (1.08%) Azure Data Factory
15 9 (0.97%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.94%) VPN
2 16 (1.72%) RFID
3 15 (1.61%) Firewall
4 14 (1.51%) WAN
5 12 (1.29%) Wireless
6 8 (0.86%) LAN
6 8 (0.86%) NFC
7 6 (0.65%) BGP
7 6 (0.65%) Cisco Nexus
7 6 (0.65%) OSPF
7 6 (0.65%) Wi-Fi
8 4 (0.43%) EIGRP
8 4 (0.43%) VoIP
9 3 (0.32%) Cisco Firepower
9 3 (0.32%) MPLS
9 3 (0.32%) Network Security
9 3 (0.32%) SD-WAN
9 3 (0.32%) WLAN
10 2 (0.22%) IPsec
10 2 (0.22%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (5.16%) Power BI
2 24 (2.58%) BigQuery
3 18 (1.94%) Data Warehouse
4 16 (1.72%) SQL Server
5 12 (1.29%) MySQL
5 12 (1.29%) Tableau
6 10 (1.08%) Metadata
7 8 (0.86%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.75%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.65%) Data Vault
9 6 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
10 5 (0.54%) NoSQL
11 4 (0.43%) Delta Lake
11 4 (0.43%) Snowflake Schema
12 3 (0.32%) Looker
12 3 (0.32%) MongoDB
12 3 (0.32%) OLAP
12 3 (0.32%) Oracle OLAP
12 3 (0.32%) Oracle Reports
13 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 71 (7.63%) JIRA
2 15 (1.61%) Git
3 11 (1.18%) GitLab
4 10 (1.08%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.54%) ERwin
6 4 (0.43%) Maven
7 3 (0.32%) Selenium
7 3 (0.32%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.22%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.22%) Hudson
8 2 (0.22%) MLflow
8 2 (0.22%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.22%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.11%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.11%) JMeter
9 1 (0.11%) Mockito
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.11%) Xcode
9 1 (0.11%) Zephyr
General
1 292 (31.40%) Social Skills
2 234 (25.16%) Finance
3 110 (11.83%) Analytical Skills
4 82 (8.82%) Banking
5 57 (6.13%) Marketing
6 45 (4.84%) Manufacturing
7 42 (4.52%) Organisational Skills
8 32 (3.44%) Retail Banking
9 31 (3.33%) Documentation Skills
10 30 (3.23%) Investment Banking
10 30 (3.23%) Public Sector
11 28 (3.01%) Corporate Banking
12 26 (2.80%) Presentation Skills
13 24 (2.58%) Influencing Skills
14 20 (2.15%) Telecoms
15 17 (1.83%) Legal
16 11 (1.18%) Back Office
17 10 (1.08%) Pharmaceutical
18 8 (0.86%) Private Banking
19 7 (0.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 160 (17.20%) Analyst
2 128 (13.76%) Architect
3 114 (12.26%) Senior
4 109 (11.72%) Project Manager
5 93 (10.00%) Business Analyst
6 74 (7.96%) Lead
7 46 (4.95%) Senior Manager
8 45 (4.84%) Solutions Architect
9 38 (4.09%) Consultant
10 31 (3.33%) Technical Manager
11 28 (3.01%) Designer
12 25 (2.69%) Senior Project Manager
13 24 (2.58%) Developer
13 24 (2.58%) Enterprise Architect
14 23 (2.47%) Data Architect
15 20 (2.15%) Programme Manager
16 17 (1.83%) Data Analyst
16 17 (1.83%) Product Manager
16 17 (1.83%) Senior Analyst
17 16 (1.72%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (3.12%) Middleware
2 28 (3.01%) VML
3 25 (2.69%) REST
4 17 (1.83%) Spring
5 15 (1.61%) React
6 12 (1.29%) AngularJS
6 12 (1.29%) Spring Boot
7 10 (1.08%) CSS
7 10 (1.08%) PySpark
8 9 (0.97%) Node.js
9 8 (0.86%) .NET
9 8 (0.86%) HTML
10 7 (0.75%) Kafka
10 7 (0.75%) LangChain
11 6 (0.65%) jQuery
11 6 (0.65%) JSON
11 6 (0.65%) OAuth
11 6 (0.65%) OAuth2
11 6 (0.65%) OpenID
11 6 (0.65%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 58 (6.24%) Product Ownership
2 33 (3.55%) Driving Licence
3 29 (3.12%) Cloud Native
4 27 (2.90%) Self-Motivation
5 26 (2.80%) EPoS
6 23 (2.47%) Data Centre
6 23 (2.47%) Management Information System
7 22 (2.37%) Onboarding
8 21 (2.26%) FMCG
8 21 (2.26%) Mainframe
9 18 (1.94%) Legacy Systems
10 17 (1.83%) Data Structures
11 14 (1.51%) Mobile App
12 10 (1.08%) Greenfield Project
12 10 (1.08%) IoT
12 10 (1.08%) Virtual Team
13 8 (0.86%) Clustering
13 8 (0.86%) Hybrid Cloud
13 8 (0.86%) Reference Data
14 7 (0.75%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 36 (3.87%) Windows
2 19 (2.04%) Linux
3 8 (0.86%) Mac OS
4 7 (0.75%) zOS
5 5 (0.54%) Android
5 5 (0.54%) Unix
5 5 (0.54%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.32%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.22%) VMS
8 1 (0.11%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 208 (22.37%) Stakeholder Management
2 203 (21.83%) Agile
3 182 (19.57%) Problem-Solving
4 120 (12.90%) E-Commerce
4 120 (12.90%) Migration
5 113 (12.15%) Project Management
6 109 (11.72%) Roadmaps
7 92 (9.89%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 91 (9.78%) Analytics
9 85 (9.14%) Customer Experience
10 82 (8.82%) ERP
11 80 (8.60%) AI
12 73 (7.85%) Project Delivery
12 73 (7.85%) Workshop Facilitation
13 71 (7.63%) Change Management
14 69 (7.42%) Continuous Improvement
14 69 (7.42%) Decision-Making
15 67 (7.20%) Scrum
16 63 (6.77%) Business Intelligence
17 62 (6.67%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 73 (7.85%) SQL
2 64 (6.88%) Python
3 29 (3.12%) Java
4 20 (2.15%) JavaScript
5 15 (1.61%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.08%) Bash
7 9 (0.97%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.75%) C#
8 7 (0.75%) Kusto Query Language
8 7 (0.75%) TypeScript
9 5 (0.54%) Kotlin
9 5 (0.54%) PL/SQL
10 4 (0.43%) VBA
11 3 (0.32%) Apex Code
11 3 (0.32%) Scala
11 3 (0.32%) SOQL
11 3 (0.32%) SOSL
12 2 (0.22%) Bicep
12 2 (0.22%) Korn
12 2 (0.22%) R
Qualifications
1 46 (4.95%) Degree
2 34 (3.66%) Security Cleared
3 23 (2.47%) SC Cleared
4 19 (2.04%) PMP
5 15 (1.61%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.97%) CSPO
7 8 (0.86%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (0.75%) APMP
8 7 (0.75%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.65%) CCNP
9 6 (0.65%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (0.65%) CISSP
9 6 (0.65%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (0.54%) MBA
11 4 (0.43%) CCIE
11 4 (0.43%) DBS Check
12 3 (0.32%) Azure Certification
12 3 (0.32%) CISM
12 3 (0.32%) CRISC
12 3 (0.32%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (5.48%) Data Quality
1 51 (5.48%) QA
2 35 (3.76%) GDPR
3 30 (3.23%) PMO
4 19 (2.04%) SLA
5 14 (1.51%) Accessibility
6 9 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 7 (0.75%) PCI DSS
8 5 (0.54%) NIST
9 4 (0.43%) IFRS
10 3 (0.32%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.32%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.22%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.22%) GRC
11 2 (0.22%) WCAG
12 1 (0.11%) COBIT
12 1 (0.11%) GAAP
12 1 (0.11%) IFRS 9
12 1 (0.11%) NCSC
12 1 (0.11%) Solvency II
System Software
1 19 (2.04%) Active Directory
2 16 (1.72%) Docker
3 5 (0.54%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (0.54%) VMware NSX
4 4 (0.43%) RACF
4 4 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.11%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 23 (2.47%) Terraform
2 13 (1.40%) Kubernetes
3 8 (0.86%) Microsoft Intune
4 7 (0.75%) Grafana
4 7 (0.75%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (0.75%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.65%) Argo
5 6 (0.65%) Istio
6 4 (0.43%) SCCM
7 3 (0.32%) Ansible
8 2 (0.22%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.22%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.22%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.22%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.22%) MOM
8 2 (0.22%) PingFederate
8 2 (0.22%) ZABBIX
9 1 (0.11%) Cacti
9 1 (0.11%) Control-M
9 1 (0.11%) Nagios
Vendors
1 79 (8.49%) Microsoft
2 69 (7.42%) SAP
3 59 (6.34%) Oracle
4 51 (5.48%) Google
5 45 (4.84%) Salesforce
6 36 (3.87%) Databricks
7 28 (3.01%) Adobe
8 19 (2.04%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.61%) Sitecore
10 14 (1.51%) Cisco
11 13 (1.40%) IFS
12 11 (1.18%) IBM
13 9 (0.97%) Palo Alto
13 9 (0.97%) VMware
13 9 (0.97%) Workday
14 8 (0.86%) Splunk
14 8 (0.86%) Temenos
14 8 (0.86%) Zscaler
15 7 (0.75%) CheckPoint
16 6 (0.65%) GoldenSource