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

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 84 123 96
Rank change year-on-year +39 -27 +5
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,627 770 926
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.99% 2.34% 2.40%
As % of the General category 5.36% 3.67% 4.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 936 407 501
10th Percentile £325 £300 £268
25th Percentile £456 £413 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% - -
75th Percentile £675 £638 £625
90th Percentile £738 £738 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £538 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +7.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 133 66 36
10th Percentile £12.76 £15.25 £12.15
25th Percentile £13.50 £15.31 £14.81
Median hourly rate £15.24 £16.34 £16.30
Median % change year-on-year -6.70% +0.21% -17.72%
75th Percentile £22.50 £19.50 £21.37
90th Percentile £42.75 £25.15 £34.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £13.81 £16.34 £16.00
% change year-on-year -15.46% +2.09% -19.23%

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 30,365 20,972 22,349
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.81% 63.65% 58.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,805 13,001 13,375
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £419 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,530 1,207 1,105
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.50 £14.71
25th Percentile £16.33 £16.17 £17.08
Median hourly rate £30.00 £25.15 £35.36
Median % change year-on-year +19.28% -28.87% +28.58%
75th Percentile £55.00 £49.13 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.50 £70.39
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £21.30 £35.36
% change year-on-year +40.85% -39.76% +30.56%

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 18 September 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 18 September 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 18 September 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 +33 1,496 £550 +4.76% 3,526
London +46 834 £575 +4.55% 1,726
UK excluding London +7 679 £538 +7.50% 1,975
Work from Home +16 366 £550 +4.76% 1,346
North of England -12 197 £550 +10.00% 561
South East 0 169 £575 +4.55% 531
Midlands +33 155 £550 +29.41% 384
North West +6 121 £550 +10.00% 322
East Midlands +19 89 £500 +14.68% 176
East of England +9 79 £550 - 196
West Midlands +1 65 £575 +35.29% 208
Yorkshire -35 58 £500 - 193
South West -21 48 £375 +19.05% 170
Scotland -14 25 £368 -28.29% 85
North East -34 18 £525 +18.64% 52
Wales -13 4 - - 58
Northern Ireland +5 3 £203 - 31

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 52 (3.20%) Confluence
2 22 (1.35%) CMS
3 14 (0.86%) Apache Airflow
3 14 (0.86%) SharePoint
4 8 (0.49%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 5 (0.31%) SAS
6 4 (0.25%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.18%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.18%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.12%) Apache
8 2 (0.12%) CICS
8 2 (0.12%) Mule
8 2 (0.12%) WordPress
9 1 (0.061%) Mendix
9 1 (0.061%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.061%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 70 (4.30%) Microsoft Excel
2 52 (3.20%) Microsoft Office
3 23 (1.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 15 (0.92%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 12 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
5 12 (0.74%) Spreadsheet
6 10 (0.61%) MS Visio
7 9 (0.55%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.49%) Adobe Illustrator
9 6 (0.37%) CPLEX
9 6 (0.37%) InDesign
10 4 (0.25%) Chatbot
10 4 (0.25%) Notion
11 1 (0.061%) 3ds Max
11 1 (0.061%) PlantUML
11 1 (0.061%) Siemens NX
11 1 (0.061%) SOLIDWORKS
11 1 (0.061%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 54 (3.32%) SAP S/4HANA
2 27 (1.66%) Shopify
3 15 (0.92%) SAP Retail
4 12 (0.74%) Dynamics CRM
5 10 (0.61%) Oracle Retail
5 10 (0.61%) SAP CRM
6 8 (0.49%) Magento
7 6 (0.37%) NetSuite
7 6 (0.37%) Oracle EBS
7 6 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
8 5 (0.31%) Payment Gateway
8 5 (0.31%) SAP MDG
8 5 (0.31%) Workday HCM
9 4 (0.25%) SAP SD
10 3 (0.18%) Dynamics AX
10 3 (0.18%) OpenText VIM for SAP
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle Payables
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle Receivables
10 3 (0.18%) SAP ERP
10 3 (0.18%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 209 (12.85%) Azure
2 145 (8.91%) AWS
3 79 (4.86%) Power Platform
4 73 (4.49%) GCP
5 56 (3.44%) Snowflake
6 47 (2.89%) GitHub
7 36 (2.21%) Azure DevOps
8 35 (2.15%) Entra ID
9 28 (1.72%) GitHub Actions
10 27 (1.66%) Dynamics 365
10 27 (1.66%) SaaS
11 25 (1.54%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 20 (1.23%) Figma
13 19 (1.17%) Azure Data Factory
13 19 (1.17%) dbt
14 17 (1.04%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 16 (0.98%) OCI
16 14 (0.86%) Microsoft 365
17 13 (0.80%) Salesforce Service Cloud
18 11 (0.68%) Algolia
Communications & Networking
1 22 (1.35%) Firewall
1 22 (1.35%) WAN
2 16 (0.98%) ATM
2 16 (0.98%) VPN
3 14 (0.86%) Network Security
3 14 (0.86%) Wireless
4 13 (0.80%) LAN
5 12 (0.74%) Wi-Fi
6 8 (0.49%) BGP
6 8 (0.49%) IPsec
6 8 (0.49%) OSPF
6 8 (0.49%) Structured Cabling
7 7 (0.43%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 7 (0.43%) Internet
7 7 (0.43%) SD-WAN
7 7 (0.43%) VLAN
8 5 (0.31%) DNS
9 4 (0.25%) Broadband
9 4 (0.25%) Cisco Firepower
9 4 (0.25%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 79 (4.86%) Power BI
2 53 (3.26%) Data Warehouse
3 33 (2.03%) BigQuery
4 30 (1.84%) Data Lake
5 23 (1.41%) Metadata
6 21 (1.29%) SQL Server
7 20 (1.23%) Tableau
8 19 (1.17%) MongoDB
9 18 (1.11%) NoSQL
10 13 (0.80%) Amazon Redshift
10 13 (0.80%) Power Query
10 13 (0.80%) Relational Database
11 12 (0.74%) PostgreSQL
12 11 (0.68%) MySQL
12 11 (0.68%) Redis
12 11 (0.68%) Star Schema
13 10 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 9 (0.55%) SAP BW
14 9 (0.55%) SAP HANA
15 8 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 79 (4.86%) JIRA
2 24 (1.48%) Git
3 21 (1.29%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.49%) Subversion
5 7 (0.43%) Claude Code
6 5 (0.31%) Cypress.io
6 5 (0.31%) Hudson
6 5 (0.31%) JMeter
7 4 (0.25%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.25%) GitLab
8 3 (0.18%) Postman
9 2 (0.12%) git-flow
9 2 (0.12%) MLflow
9 2 (0.12%) Oracle Forms
9 2 (0.12%) Selenium
9 2 (0.12%) Terragrunt
9 2 (0.12%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.12%) webpack
10 1 (0.061%) Moq
10 1 (0.061%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 470 (28.89%) Social Skills
2 383 (23.54%) Finance
3 169 (10.39%) Analytical Skills
4 130 (7.99%) Marketing
5 124 (7.62%) Banking
6 109 (6.70%) Manufacturing
7 74 (4.55%) Organisational Skills
8 64 (3.93%) Retail Banking
9 43 (2.64%) Corporate Banking
10 42 (2.58%) Investment Banking
11 37 (2.27%) Influencing Skills
12 35 (2.15%) Public Sector
13 29 (1.78%) Telecoms
14 28 (1.72%) Advertising
14 28 (1.72%) Legal
15 23 (1.41%) Presentation Skills
16 22 (1.35%) French Language
17 18 (1.11%) Back Office
17 18 (1.11%) Spanish Language
18 17 (1.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 273 (16.78%) Architect
2 236 (14.51%) Analyst
3 179 (11.00%) Senior
4 153 (9.40%) Solutions Architect
5 137 (8.42%) Business Analyst
6 121 (7.44%) Project Manager
7 117 (7.19%) Lead
8 84 (5.16%) Developer
9 56 (3.44%) Consultant
10 54 (3.32%) Product Manager
11 49 (3.01%) Designer
12 47 (2.89%) Data Analyst
12 47 (2.89%) Senior Manager
13 42 (2.58%) Supply Chain Architect
14 35 (2.15%) Service Manager
15 34 (2.09%) Data Architect
15 34 (2.09%) Senior Developer
15 34 (2.09%) Service Transition Manager
15 34 (2.09%) Transition Manager
16 33 (2.03%) Enterprise Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 67 (4.12%) REST
2 52 (3.20%) Terraform
3 42 (2.58%) React
4 37 (2.27%) Kafka
5 30 (1.84%) Node.js
6 27 (1.66%) Spring
7 24 (1.48%) Middleware
7 24 (1.48%) Spring Boot
8 21 (1.29%) MACH
9 20 (1.23%) Django
9 20 (1.23%) RESTful
9 20 (1.23%) SOAP
9 20 (1.23%) VML
10 16 (0.98%) HTML
10 16 (0.98%) Next.js
11 12 (0.74%) OAuth
11 12 (0.74%) SAP Fiori
12 11 (0.68%) CSS
13 10 (0.61%) .NET
13 10 (0.61%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 86 (5.29%) Product Ownership
2 70 (4.30%) FMCG
3 58 (3.56%) Onboarding
4 56 (3.44%) EPoS
5 50 (3.07%) Cloud Native
6 36 (2.21%) Legacy Systems
7 35 (2.15%) Driving Licence
8 30 (1.84%) Management Information System
9 28 (1.72%) Mobile App
10 27 (1.66%) Marketing Technology
11 26 (1.60%) Data Centre
12 25 (1.54%) Greenfield Project
13 24 (1.48%) Data Structures
14 22 (1.35%) Mainframe
14 22 (1.35%) Operational Technology
15 21 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
16 20 (1.23%) Distributed Systems
17 19 (1.17%) Smartphone
18 17 (1.04%) AI Agents
18 17 (1.04%) Credit Risk
Operating Systems
1 52 (3.20%) Windows
2 17 (1.04%) Linux
3 11 (0.68%) Android
4 8 (0.49%) Unix
5 7 (0.43%) Apple iOS
6 6 (0.37%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.37%) Ubuntu
7 4 (0.25%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.18%) zOS
9 2 (0.12%) Debian
9 2 (0.12%) Windows Server
10 1 (0.061%) OS/2
10 1 (0.061%) SUSE
10 1 (0.061%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.061%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 424 (26.06%) Stakeholder Management
2 375 (23.05%) Agile
3 247 (15.18%) E-Commerce
4 194 (11.92%) Migration
5 186 (11.43%) Analytics
6 185 (11.37%) Logistics
6 185 (11.37%) Problem-Solving
7 174 (10.69%) AI
8 171 (10.51%) Roadmaps
9 142 (8.73%) Customer Experience
10 141 (8.67%) Decision-Making
11 137 (8.42%) Continuous Improvement
12 134 (8.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 128 (7.87%) CRM
14 121 (7.44%) CI/CD
15 117 (7.19%) Customer Service
15 117 (7.19%) Project Management
16 115 (7.07%) Business Intelligence
17 107 (6.58%) DevOps
18 103 (6.33%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 146 (8.97%) SQL
2 110 (6.76%) Python
3 50 (3.07%) Java
4 35 (2.15%) TypeScript
5 25 (1.54%) JavaScript
6 13 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 11 (0.68%) ABAP
8 10 (0.61%) C#
8 10 (0.61%) R
9 9 (0.55%) Apex Code
9 9 (0.55%) Bash
10 7 (0.43%) PowerShell
10 7 (0.43%) SOQL
11 6 (0.37%) PL/SQL
12 5 (0.31%) Groovy
12 5 (0.31%) Scala
12 5 (0.31%) SOSL
13 4 (0.25%) Bicep
13 4 (0.25%) Shell Script
13 4 (0.25%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 59 (3.63%) Degree
2 46 (2.83%) Security Cleared
3 23 (1.41%) PMP
4 22 (1.35%) SC Cleared
5 12 (0.74%) DBS Check
5 12 (0.74%) PMI Certification
6 10 (0.61%) ITIL Certification
7 8 (0.49%) BPSS Clearance
8 6 (0.37%) CISSP
9 5 (0.31%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (0.31%) CISM
9 5 (0.31%) City & Guilds
9 5 (0.31%) Computer Science Degree
9 5 (0.31%) CSPO
9 5 (0.31%) Six Sigma Green Belt
10 3 (0.18%) APMG
10 3 (0.18%) AWS Certification
10 3 (0.18%) CCSM
10 3 (0.18%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
10 3 (0.18%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 78 (4.79%) Data Quality
2 73 (4.49%) QA
3 35 (2.15%) GDPR
4 26 (1.60%) PMO
5 23 (1.41%) Accessibility
6 14 (0.86%) PCI DSS
7 10 (0.61%) SLA
8 7 (0.43%) NIST
9 6 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 5 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
10 5 (0.31%) WCAG
11 3 (0.18%) GRC
11 3 (0.18%) PSD2
12 2 (0.12%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.12%) GAAP
12 2 (0.12%) IFRS
12 2 (0.12%) ISO 8583
12 2 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.061%) Basel III
13 1 (0.061%) GxP
System Software
1 34 (2.09%) Docker
2 28 (1.72%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.80%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.31%) Firmware
5 5 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.12%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.061%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 39 (2.40%) Kubernetes
2 12 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
3 11 (0.68%) Ansible
4 7 (0.43%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.37%) FortiGate
6 5 (0.31%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (0.25%) Bosun
7 4 (0.25%) SCCM
8 2 (0.12%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.12%) AirWatch
8 2 (0.12%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.12%) CloudHub
8 2 (0.12%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.12%) logstash
8 2 (0.12%) PingFederate
8 2 (0.12%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.061%) Kubeflow
9 1 (0.061%) Nagios
9 1 (0.061%) vMotion
9 1 (0.061%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 154 (9.47%) Microsoft
2 134 (8.24%) SAP
3 92 (5.65%) Salesforce
4 82 (5.04%) Databricks
5 73 (4.49%) Oracle
6 48 (2.95%) Google
7 37 (2.27%) Adobe
8 30 (1.84%) MuleSoft
9 25 (1.54%) Zscaler
10 20 (1.23%) Cisco
11 19 (1.17%) Workday
12 18 (1.11%) IBM
13 16 (0.98%) ServiceNow
14 13 (0.80%) Apple
15 12 (0.74%) Fortinet
15 12 (0.74%) New Relic
16 11 (0.68%) Braze
16 11 (0.68%) Palo Alto
16 11 (0.68%) Splunk
17 10 (0.61%) VMware