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

6 months to
25 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 128 93 87
Rank change year-on-year -35 -6 +1
Contract jobs citing Retail 945 802 1,065
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.03% 2.72% 2.44%
As % of the General category 3.70% 4.30% 4.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 574 432 606
10th Percentile £202 £300 £300
25th Percentile £380 £410 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £509
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +3.19% -3.10%
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 37 21 84
10th Percentile £12.95 £15.25 £11.31
25th Percentile £15.84 £16.30 £12.15
Median hourly rate £18.85 £31.50 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -40.16% +96.88% -19.23%
75th Percentile £23.75 £55.25 £21.37
90th Percentile £46.25 £87.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £17.22 £15.29
% change year-on-year +1.66% +12.59% -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 25,523 18,645 25,420
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.74% 63.17% 58.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,795 11,922 16,091
10th Percentile £305 £300 £270
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £640 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £758
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,617 795 1,928
10th Percentile £13.72 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.50 £18.13 £15.40
Median hourly rate £29.00 £28.00 £28.42
Median % change year-on-year +3.57% -1.48% -18.80%
75th Percentile £60.00 £56.00 £51.50
90th Percentile £79.40 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.50 £25.15 £27.00
% change year-on-year +1.39% -6.85% -13.66%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 -28 860 £500 -4.76% 883
London -24 462 £525 -4.55% 235
UK excluding London -15 407 £475 -5.00% 758
Work from Home -50 234 £500 - 317
North of England -36 119 £500 +11.11% 194
South East -25 115 £394 -25.00% 239
Midlands -29 80 £495 -1.00% 139
North West -15 68 £500 +2.56% 112
East of England -19 46 £535 -2.73% 109
Yorkshire -47 46 £513 +38.51% 65
East Midlands -11 42 £495 -1.00% 82
West Midlands -50 37 £500 +11.11% 57
Scotland +12 22 £475 -10.17% 25
South West -33 22 £318 -25.73% 62
North East -16 5 £206 -72.50% 21
Northern Ireland +3 2 £190 -44.48% 11
Wales -10 1 £190 +29.52% 19

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 (4.02%) Confluence
2 18 (1.90%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 9 (0.95%) CMS
5 8 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.53%) SAS
7 3 (0.32%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.21%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.21%) Magnolia
9 1 (0.11%) CICS
9 1 (0.11%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.11%) WebSphere Application Server
9 1 (0.11%) WordPress
Applications
1 32 (3.39%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (2.01%) Microsoft Project
3 16 (1.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 13 (1.38%) Chatbot
4 13 (1.38%) Microsoft Office
5 11 (1.16%) MS Visio
6 8 (0.85%) Photoshop
7 6 (0.63%) Adobe Illustrator
8 3 (0.32%) InDesign
9 2 (0.21%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 2 (0.21%) Trello
9 2 (0.21%) UserZoom
10 1 (0.11%) 3ds Max
10 1 (0.11%) Adobe After Effects
10 1 (0.11%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.11%) Maya
10 1 (0.11%) SOLIDWORKS
10 1 (0.11%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 20 (2.12%) Shopify
2 15 (1.59%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (1.38%) Dynamics CRM
4 8 (0.85%) Oracle Retail
5 7 (0.74%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 7 (0.74%) SAP Retail
6 6 (0.63%) Finacle
7 5 (0.53%) Oracle EBS
8 4 (0.42%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.42%) Temenos T24
9 3 (0.32%) Payment Gateway
9 3 (0.32%) SAP CRM
9 3 (0.32%) SAP Payroll
9 3 (0.32%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
10 2 (0.21%) BambooHR
10 2 (0.21%) Dynamics AX
10 2 (0.21%) NetSuite
10 2 (0.21%) Sage X3
10 2 (0.21%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.21%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 93 (9.84%) Azure
2 64 (6.77%) AWS
3 54 (5.71%) GCP
3 54 (5.71%) Power Platform
4 27 (2.86%) Dynamics 365
4 27 (2.86%) Snowflake
5 21 (2.22%) GitHub
6 20 (2.12%) Azure DevOps
7 19 (2.01%) Microsoft 365
8 16 (1.69%) SaaS
9 15 (1.59%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
10 14 (1.48%) Entra ID
10 14 (1.48%) Figma
11 13 (1.38%) GitHub Actions
11 13 (1.38%) Google Workspace
12 12 (1.27%) BigCommerce
13 11 (1.16%) Cloud Run
13 11 (1.16%) Miro
14 10 (1.06%) Azure Data Factory
15 8 (0.85%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.90%) VPN
2 16 (1.69%) RFID
3 15 (1.59%) Firewall
4 14 (1.48%) WAN
5 12 (1.27%) Wireless
6 8 (0.85%) LAN
6 8 (0.85%) NFC
7 6 (0.63%) BGP
7 6 (0.63%) Cisco Nexus
7 6 (0.63%) OSPF
7 6 (0.63%) Wi-Fi
8 4 (0.42%) EIGRP
8 4 (0.42%) 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 (0.21%) IPsec
10 2 (0.21%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (4.97%) Power BI
2 24 (2.54%) BigQuery
3 18 (1.90%) Data Warehouse
4 15 (1.59%) SQL Server
5 12 (1.27%) MySQL
5 12 (1.27%) Tableau
6 10 (1.06%) Metadata
7 8 (0.85%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.74%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.63%) Data Vault
9 6 (0.63%) PostgreSQL
10 5 (0.53%) NoSQL
11 4 (0.42%) Delta Lake
11 4 (0.42%) 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 (0.21%) Redis
Development Applications
1 71 (7.51%) JIRA
2 15 (1.59%) Git
3 11 (1.16%) GitLab
4 10 (1.06%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.53%) ERwin
6 4 (0.42%) Maven
7 3 (0.32%) Selenium
7 3 (0.32%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.21%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.21%) Hudson
8 2 (0.21%) MLflow
8 2 (0.21%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.21%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.11%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.11%) Gatling
9 1 (0.11%) IBM UrbanCode
9 1 (0.11%) JMeter
9 1 (0.11%) Mockito
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.11%) Zephyr
General
1 295 (31.22%) Social Skills
2 238 (25.19%) Finance
3 109 (11.53%) Analytical Skills
4 84 (8.89%) Banking
5 56 (5.93%) Marketing
6 42 (4.44%) Manufacturing
6 42 (4.44%) Organisational Skills
7 35 (3.70%) Retail Banking
8 30 (3.17%) Documentation Skills
9 29 (3.07%) Investment Banking
9 29 (3.07%) Public Sector
10 28 (2.96%) Corporate Banking
11 26 (2.75%) Presentation Skills
12 24 (2.54%) Influencing Skills
13 20 (2.12%) Telecoms
14 17 (1.80%) Legal
15 13 (1.38%) Back Office
16 10 (1.06%) Pharmaceutical
17 9 (0.95%) Private Banking
18 6 (0.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 159 (16.83%) Analyst
2 133 (14.07%) Architect
3 117 (12.38%) Senior
4 111 (11.75%) Project Manager
5 93 (9.84%) Business Analyst
6 73 (7.72%) Lead
7 47 (4.97%) Senior Manager
8 46 (4.87%) Solutions Architect
9 37 (3.92%) Consultant
10 31 (3.28%) Technical Manager
11 30 (3.17%) Designer
12 26 (2.75%) Developer
12 26 (2.75%) Senior Project Manager
13 24 (2.54%) Enterprise Architect
14 23 (2.43%) Data Architect
15 22 (2.33%) Programme Manager
16 17 (1.80%) Data Analyst
16 17 (1.80%) Product Manager
16 17 (1.80%) Senior Analyst
17 16 (1.69%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (3.17%) Middleware
2 28 (2.96%) VML
3 27 (2.86%) REST
4 17 (1.80%) React
4 17 (1.80%) Spring
5 12 (1.27%) AngularJS
5 12 (1.27%) Node.js
5 12 (1.27%) Spring Boot
6 10 (1.06%) CSS
6 10 (1.06%) PySpark
7 7 (0.74%) .NET
7 7 (0.74%) HTML
7 7 (0.74%) Kafka
7 7 (0.74%) LangChain
8 6 (0.63%) jQuery
8 6 (0.63%) JSON
8 6 (0.63%) OAuth
8 6 (0.63%) OpenID
8 6 (0.63%) SAML
8 6 (0.63%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 60 (6.35%) Product Ownership
2 33 (3.49%) Driving Licence
3 31 (3.28%) Cloud Native
4 26 (2.75%) EPoS
4 26 (2.75%) Self-Motivation
5 25 (2.65%) Onboarding
6 23 (2.43%) Data Centre
7 22 (2.33%) Management Information System
8 21 (2.22%) FMCG
8 21 (2.22%) Mainframe
9 17 (1.80%) Data Structures
9 17 (1.80%) Legacy Systems
10 14 (1.48%) Mobile App
11 10 (1.06%) Greenfield Project
11 10 (1.06%) IoT
11 10 (1.06%) Virtual Team
12 8 (0.85%) Clustering
12 8 (0.85%) Hybrid Cloud
12 8 (0.85%) Reference Data
13 7 (0.74%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 37 (3.92%) Windows
2 19 (2.01%) Linux
3 8 (0.85%) Mac OS
4 7 (0.74%) zOS
5 5 (0.53%) Android
5 5 (0.53%) Unix
5 5 (0.53%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.21%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.21%) VMS
7 1 (0.11%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 211 (22.33%) Stakeholder Management
2 206 (21.80%) Agile
3 185 (19.58%) Problem-Solving
4 127 (13.44%) E-Commerce
5 122 (12.91%) Migration
6 114 (12.06%) Project Management
7 111 (11.75%) Roadmaps
8 93 (9.84%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 92 (9.74%) Analytics
10 86 (9.10%) Customer Experience
11 84 (8.89%) ERP
12 81 (8.57%) AI
13 74 (7.83%) Workshop Facilitation
14 73 (7.72%) Project Delivery
15 71 (7.51%) Change Management
16 69 (7.30%) Continuous Improvement
16 69 (7.30%) Decision-Making
16 69 (7.30%) Scrum
17 62 (6.56%) Business Intelligence
17 62 (6.56%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 74 (7.83%) SQL
2 65 (6.88%) Python
3 29 (3.07%) Java
4 22 (2.33%) JavaScript
5 15 (1.59%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.06%) Bash
7 9 (0.95%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.74%) Kusto Query Language
8 7 (0.74%) TypeScript
9 6 (0.63%) C#
10 5 (0.53%) Kotlin
10 5 (0.53%) PL/SQL
11 4 (0.42%) Apex Code
11 4 (0.42%) SOQL
11 4 (0.42%) SOSL
11 4 (0.42%) VBA
12 3 (0.32%) Scala
13 2 (0.21%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.21%) Google Apps Script
13 2 (0.21%) R
Qualifications
1 45 (4.76%) Degree
2 34 (3.60%) Security Cleared
3 23 (2.43%) SC Cleared
4 19 (2.01%) PMP
5 15 (1.59%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.95%) CSPO
7 8 (0.85%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (0.74%) APMP
8 7 (0.74%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.63%) CCNP
9 6 (0.63%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (0.63%) CISSP
9 6 (0.63%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (0.53%) MBA
11 4 (0.42%) CCIE
11 4 (0.42%) 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 (5.40%) Data Quality
1 51 (5.40%) QA
2 36 (3.81%) GDPR
3 30 (3.17%) PMO
4 18 (1.90%) SLA
5 14 (1.48%) Accessibility
6 10 (1.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (0.95%) PCI DSS
8 5 (0.53%) NIST
9 4 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
9 4 (0.42%) IFRS
10 3 (0.32%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.21%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.21%) GRC
11 2 (0.21%) 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 20 (2.12%) Active Directory
2 16 (1.69%) Docker
3 5 (0.53%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (0.53%) VMware NSX
4 4 (0.42%) RACF
4 4 (0.42%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.11%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 23 (2.43%) Terraform
2 13 (1.38%) Kubernetes
3 8 (0.85%) Microsoft Intune
4 7 (0.74%) Grafana
4 7 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (0.74%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.63%) Argo
5 6 (0.63%) Istio
6 5 (0.53%) SCCM
7 3 (0.32%) Ansible
8 2 (0.21%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.21%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.21%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.21%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.21%) MOM
8 2 (0.21%) PingFederate
8 2 (0.21%) ZABBIX
9 1 (0.11%) Control-M
9 1 (0.11%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.11%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 80 (8.47%) Microsoft
2 69 (7.30%) SAP
3 59 (6.24%) Oracle
4 51 (5.40%) Google
5 50 (5.29%) Salesforce
6 36 (3.81%) Databricks
7 27 (2.86%) Adobe
8 19 (2.01%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.59%) Sitecore
10 14 (1.48%) Cisco
11 13 (1.38%) IFS
12 11 (1.16%) IBM
13 9 (0.95%) Palo Alto
13 9 (0.95%) VMware
13 9 (0.95%) Workday
14 8 (0.85%) Splunk
14 8 (0.85%) Temenos
14 8 (0.85%) Zscaler
15 7 (0.74%) CheckPoint
16 6 (0.63%) GoldenSource