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

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 90 94
Rank change year-on-year -55 +4 -9
Contract jobs citing Retail 791 859 1,016
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.85% 2.82% 2.29%
As % of the General category 3.20% 4.52% 3.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 500 452 583
10th Percentile £200 £265 £275
25th Percentile £363 £413 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -6.37%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £636
90th Percentile £726 £749 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -1.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 14 62
10th Percentile £12.95 £18.13 £11.07
25th Percentile £16.17 £23.19 £13.00
Median hourly rate £18.87 £33.00 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -42.82% +102.45% -17.72%
75th Percentile £24.61 £64.44 £21.37
90th Percentile £46.25 £84.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.34 £22.50 £15.65
% change year-on-year -27.40% +43.77% -21.00%

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 24,694 19,010 26,047
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 57.89% 62.36% 58.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,428 11,790 16,707
10th Percentile £300 £290 £265
25th Percentile £405 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £624 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £478 £495
% change year-on-year -0.52% -3.54% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,513 636 1,758
10th Percentile £13.64 £15.48 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.89 £20.17 £15.34
Median hourly rate £24.00 £30.00 £25.71
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +16.69% -17.06%
75th Percentile £55.00 £58.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £74.94 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £27.35 £25.00
% change year-on-year -17.73% +9.40% -5.59%

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 6 March 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 6 March 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 6 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
England -52 712 £503 -4.29% 1,175
London -43 399 £540 -1.82% 350
UK excluding London -50 322 £475 -5.00% 1,002
Work from Home -75 189 £500 -4.76% 391
South East -42 93 £423 -21.40% 266
North of England -52 80 £500 +11.11% 243
Midlands -44 70 £495 -1.00% 223
East Midlands -6 42 £495 -1.00% 128
North West -25 41 £525 +16.67% 121
Yorkshire -45 35 £500 +83.49% 101
East of England -26 33 £526 -4.32% 91
West Midlands -53 27 £496 -5.59% 94
Scotland +9 22 £450 -14.29% 69
South West -19 18 £261 -26.41% 85
Wales -2 4 £453 +210.25% 39
North East -13 4 £206 - 26
Northern Ireland -3 2 £190 -44.48% 9

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 35 (4.42%) Confluence
2 16 (2.02%) SharePoint
3 14 (1.77%) CMS
4 12 (1.52%) Apache Airflow
5 11 (1.39%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 4 (0.51%) WordPress
7 3 (0.38%) Jupyter
7 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Exchange
7 3 (0.38%) SAS
8 2 (0.25%) Magnolia
9 1 (0.13%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.13%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.13%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.13%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 23 (2.91%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.77%) Microsoft Project
3 13 (1.64%) Chatbot
4 11 (1.39%) Microsoft Office
4 11 (1.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (1.26%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.38%) Photoshop
7 2 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
7 2 (0.25%) Trello
8 1 (0.13%) 3ds Max
8 1 (0.13%) Adobe After Effects
8 1 (0.13%) Adobe XD
8 1 (0.13%) InDesign
8 1 (0.13%) Maya
8 1 (0.13%) SOLIDWORKS
8 1 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.13%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 16 (2.02%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.52%) Dynamics CRM
2 12 (1.52%) SAP Retail
2 12 (1.52%) Shopify
3 9 (1.14%) Oracle Retail
4 6 (0.76%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 5 (0.63%) Finacle
5 5 (0.63%) SAP Payroll
6 4 (0.51%) ResourceLink
6 4 (0.51%) SAP MDG
6 4 (0.51%) Temenos T24
7 3 (0.38%) SAP MM
7 3 (0.38%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
8 2 (0.25%) BambooHR
8 2 (0.25%) NetSuite
8 2 (0.25%) Sage X3
8 2 (0.25%) Sprinklr
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
9 1 (0.13%) Payment Gateway
9 1 (0.13%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 93 (11.76%) Azure
2 59 (7.46%) AWS
3 50 (6.32%) Power Platform
4 47 (5.94%) GCP
5 23 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
6 22 (2.78%) Dynamics 365
6 22 (2.78%) GitHub
6 22 (2.78%) Snowflake
7 17 (2.15%) Microsoft 365
8 15 (1.90%) GitHub Actions
8 15 (1.90%) SaaS
9 13 (1.64%) Figma
10 12 (1.52%) Google Workspace
11 11 (1.39%) Azure Data Factory
11 11 (1.39%) Cloud Run
11 11 (1.39%) Entra ID
12 10 (1.26%) Miro
13 9 (1.14%) OCI
14 8 (1.01%) dbt
14 8 (1.01%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 17 (2.15%) RFID
2 13 (1.64%) Firewall
2 13 (1.64%) VPN
3 11 (1.39%) NFC
3 11 (1.39%) Wireless
4 10 (1.26%) WAN
5 6 (0.76%) Wi-Fi
6 5 (0.63%) LAN
7 4 (0.51%) BGP
7 4 (0.51%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (0.51%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.51%) OSPF
7 4 (0.51%) VoIP
8 3 (0.38%) MPLS
9 2 (0.25%) SAN
9 2 (0.25%) WLAN
10 1 (0.13%) Broadband
10 1 (0.13%) FTP
10 1 (0.13%) SMS
10 1 (0.13%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (5.31%) Power BI
2 21 (2.65%) BigQuery
3 19 (2.40%) Data Warehouse
4 14 (1.77%) Metadata
4 14 (1.77%) Tableau
5 13 (1.64%) SQL Server
6 11 (1.39%) MySQL
7 10 (1.26%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.88%) Data Vault
9 6 (0.76%) Delta Lake
9 6 (0.76%) PostgreSQL
10 5 (0.63%) MongoDB
10 5 (0.63%) Oracle Reports
10 5 (0.63%) Snowflake Schema
11 4 (0.51%) Redis
11 4 (0.51%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.51%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 3 (0.38%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.38%) Oracle Database
12 3 (0.38%) Oracle OLAP
Development Applications
1 71 (8.98%) JIRA
2 13 (1.64%) Git
3 12 (1.52%) Jenkins
4 10 (1.26%) GitLab
5 5 (0.63%) ERwin
6 4 (0.51%) MLflow
7 3 (0.38%) Maven
7 3 (0.38%) Selenium
7 3 (0.38%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.25%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.25%) Mockito
8 2 (0.25%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.25%) Xcode
9 1 (0.13%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.13%) Gradle
9 1 (0.13%) JMeter
9 1 (0.13%) JUnit
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio
General
1 269 (34.01%) Social Skills
2 178 (22.50%) Finance
3 83 (10.49%) Analytical Skills
4 73 (9.23%) Banking
5 61 (7.71%) Marketing
6 39 (4.93%) Public Sector
7 33 (4.17%) Organisational Skills
7 33 (4.17%) Retail Banking
8 32 (4.05%) Manufacturing
9 31 (3.92%) Investment Banking
10 30 (3.79%) Corporate Banking
11 24 (3.03%) Influencing Skills
12 23 (2.91%) Documentation Skills
13 19 (2.40%) Presentation Skills
14 18 (2.28%) Legal
15 13 (1.64%) Telecoms
16 11 (1.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 10 (1.26%) Financial Institution
18 7 (0.88%) Pharmaceutical
18 7 (0.88%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 135 (17.07%) Analyst
2 106 (13.40%) Project Manager
3 90 (11.38%) Architect
4 89 (11.25%) Senior
5 65 (8.22%) Business Analyst
5 65 (8.22%) Lead
6 40 (5.06%) Senior Manager
7 37 (4.68%) Solutions Architect
8 34 (4.30%) Consultant
9 26 (3.29%) Technical Manager
10 23 (2.91%) Senior Project Manager
11 22 (2.78%) Developer
12 16 (2.02%) Data Analyst
12 16 (2.02%) Product Manager
12 16 (2.02%) Programme Manager
13 15 (1.90%) Data Engineer
13 15 (1.90%) Service Manager
14 14 (1.77%) Data Architect
14 14 (1.77%) Designer
14 14 (1.77%) E-Commerce Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (2.91%) REST
2 19 (2.40%) VML
3 18 (2.28%) Middleware
4 16 (2.02%) Spring
5 14 (1.77%) PySpark
5 14 (1.77%) React
6 13 (1.64%) Spring Boot
7 10 (1.26%) AngularJS
7 10 (1.26%) scikit-learn
8 9 (1.14%) .NET
9 8 (1.01%) HTML
9 8 (1.01%) PyTorch
10 7 (0.88%) CSS
10 7 (0.88%) FastAPI
10 7 (0.88%) Kafka
10 7 (0.88%) Node.js
10 7 (0.88%) OpenTelemetry
10 7 (0.88%) XML
11 6 (0.76%) JSON
11 6 (0.76%) LangChain
Miscellaneous
1 47 (5.94%) Product Ownership
2 37 (4.68%) Driving Licence
3 28 (3.54%) EPoS
4 24 (3.03%) Self-Motivation
5 23 (2.91%) Cloud Native
5 23 (2.91%) Onboarding
6 22 (2.78%) Legacy Systems
7 20 (2.53%) Management Information System
8 18 (2.28%) FMCG
9 15 (1.90%) Data Centre
9 15 (1.90%) Data Structures
9 15 (1.90%) Mobile App
10 12 (1.52%) IoT
11 11 (1.39%) Mainframe
12 9 (1.14%) Algorithms
12 9 (1.14%) Analytical Mindset
12 9 (1.14%) Virtual Team
13 7 (0.88%) Greenfield Project
13 7 (0.88%) Reference Data
13 7 (0.88%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 40 (5.06%) Windows
2 16 (2.02%) Linux
3 9 (1.14%) Mac OS
4 6 (0.76%) Windows Server
5 5 (0.63%) Android
5 5 (0.63%) zOS
6 4 (0.51%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.38%) Unix
8 1 (0.13%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.13%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 185 (23.39%) Stakeholder Management
2 177 (22.38%) Agile
3 150 (18.96%) Problem-Solving
4 103 (13.02%) Project Management
5 99 (12.52%) E-Commerce
6 85 (10.75%) Migration
7 83 (10.49%) Analytics
8 79 (9.99%) Roadmaps
9 73 (9.23%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 67 (8.47%) Continuous Improvement
11 64 (8.09%) Customer Experience
11 64 (8.09%) Workshop Facilitation
12 61 (7.71%) Decision-Making
13 60 (7.59%) Scrum
14 59 (7.46%) AI
15 58 (7.33%) DevOps
15 58 (7.33%) ERP
16 56 (7.08%) Customer Service
16 56 (7.08%) Project Delivery
17 55 (6.95%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 78 (9.86%) SQL
2 70 (8.85%) Python
3 27 (3.41%) Java
4 17 (2.15%) JavaScript
5 14 (1.77%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.39%) Bash
7 9 (1.14%) Shell Script
7 9 (1.14%) TypeScript
8 8 (1.01%) Kusto Query Language
9 7 (0.88%) C#
10 6 (0.76%) Kotlin
11 5 (0.63%) PL/SQL
12 4 (0.51%) VBA
13 2 (0.25%) Bicep
13 2 (0.25%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.25%) Google Apps Script
13 2 (0.25%) PHP
13 2 (0.25%) R
13 2 (0.25%) Swift
14 1 (0.13%) JCL
Qualifications
1 45 (5.69%) Degree
2 23 (2.91%) PMP
3 19 (2.40%) Security Cleared
4 18 (2.28%) PMI Certification
5 9 (1.14%) Master's Degree
6 8 (1.01%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (1.01%) CISSP
6 8 (1.01%) SC Cleared
7 7 (0.88%) APMP
7 7 (0.88%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (0.88%) MBA
8 5 (0.63%) CISM
8 5 (0.63%) CRISC
8 5 (0.63%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (0.51%) CCIE
9 4 (0.51%) CCNP
9 4 (0.51%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.51%) CSPO
10 3 (0.38%) GIAC
10 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (5.18%) QA
2 40 (5.06%) Data Quality
3 26 (3.29%) PMO
4 23 (2.91%) GDPR
5 17 (2.15%) Accessibility
6 15 (1.90%) SLA
7 6 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 6 (0.76%) PCI DSS
8 5 (0.63%) Actionable Recommendations
8 5 (0.63%) COBIT
9 4 (0.51%) IFRS
10 3 (0.38%) NCSC
10 3 (0.38%) NIST
11 2 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.13%) GAAP
12 1 (0.13%) IFRS 9
12 1 (0.13%) MiFID
12 1 (0.13%) Solvency II
12 1 (0.13%) WCAG
System Software
1 16 (2.02%) Docker
2 14 (1.77%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.51%) RACF
4 3 (0.38%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.38%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.13%) Varnish
5 1 (0.13%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 25 (3.16%) Terraform
2 15 (1.90%) Kubernetes
3 9 (1.14%) Grafana
4 7 (0.88%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.76%) Argo
5 6 (0.76%) Istio
5 6 (0.76%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.51%) Ansible
7 3 (0.38%) SCCM
7 3 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.25%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.25%) MOM
9 1 (0.13%) Cacti
9 1 (0.13%) Control-M
9 1 (0.13%) HP ALM
9 1 (0.13%) Nmap
9 1 (0.13%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.13%) ZABBIX
9 1 (0.13%) zSecure
Vendors
1 74 (9.36%) Microsoft
2 59 (7.46%) SAP
3 52 (6.57%) Google
3 52 (6.57%) Oracle
4 31 (3.92%) Salesforce
5 30 (3.79%) Databricks
6 20 (2.53%) Adobe
7 14 (1.77%) ServiceNow
8 10 (1.26%) Dell
9 9 (1.14%) IBM
9 9 (1.14%) Sitecore
10 8 (1.01%) CheckPoint
10 8 (1.01%) Cisco
10 8 (1.01%) Dynatrace
10 8 (1.01%) F5
10 8 (1.01%) HP
11 7 (0.88%) Splunk
11 7 (0.88%) Temenos
12 6 (0.76%) Workday
13 5 (0.63%) Zscaler