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

6 months to
23 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 108 102 83
Rank change year-on-year -6 -19 +11
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,087 725 1,080
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.24% 2.53% 2.55%
As % of the General category 4.18% 4.01% 4.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 636 376 598
10th Percentile £244 £308 £277
25th Percentile £411 £413 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £525 £505
Median % change year-on-year -4.24% +3.96% -5.43%
75th Percentile £625 £629 £625
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 72 22 87
10th Percentile £13.05 £15.25 £11.50
25th Percentile £15.63 £16.30 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £30.25 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -30.58% +89.06% -20.99%
75th Percentile £23.21 £64.44 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £87.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £16.30 £15.90
% change year-on-year +7.36% +2.52% -19.74%

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 26,010 18,084 24,621
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.54% 63.21% 58.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,811 11,495 15,559
10th Percentile £313 £281 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% -2.29% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £491 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +3.26% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,690 770 1,929
10th Percentile £13.95 £13.78 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.50 £16.95 £15.46
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.50 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £60.00 £55.25 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £66.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.00 £24.50 £28.00
% change year-on-year +18.37% -12.50% -3.45%

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 May 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 May 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 May 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 -3 993 £525 - 1,339
London -8 547 £540 -3.05% 496
UK excluding London +6 458 £495 -1.00% 971
Work from Home -34 258 £500 -3.15% 484
North of England -37 131 £510 +10.27% 274
South East -10 127 £463 -7.50% 281
Midlands -26 91 £495 +2.59% 157
North West -1 80 £510 +7.37% 152
East Midlands +2 54 £495 -1.00% 78
East of England -3 52 £538 +7.50% 114
Yorkshire -52 49 £513 +38.51% 108
West Midlands -48 37 £500 +12.68% 79
South West -18 31 £333 -33.50% 95
Scotland +7 22 £474 -11.08% 48
Northern Ireland +1 2 £190 -44.48% 18
Wales -12 2 £190 +29.52% 19
North East -27 2 £190 -74.67% 18

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 39 (3.59%) Confluence
2 15 (1.38%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.01%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 9 (0.83%) CMS
5 8 (0.74%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.46%) SAS
7 3 (0.28%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.18%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.18%) CICS
8 2 (0.18%) Magnolia
9 1 (0.092%) Microsoft Exchange
9 1 (0.092%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 33 (3.04%) Microsoft Excel
2 22 (2.02%) Microsoft Office
3 20 (1.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 19 (1.75%) Microsoft Project
5 13 (1.20%) Chatbot
6 11 (1.01%) MS Visio
7 10 (0.92%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.74%) Adobe Illustrator
9 5 (0.46%) InDesign
10 4 (0.37%) Adobe Creative Suite
11 2 (0.18%) Notion
11 2 (0.18%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.092%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.092%) Adobe After Effects
12 1 (0.092%) Adobe XD
12 1 (0.092%) Maya
12 1 (0.092%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.092%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.092%) Spreadsheet
12 1 (0.092%) Trello
Business Applications
1 20 (1.84%) Shopify
2 19 (1.75%) SAP S/4HANA
3 10 (0.92%) Dynamics CRM
4 8 (0.74%) SAP Retail
5 7 (0.64%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 7 (0.64%) Oracle Retail
6 6 (0.55%) Finacle
6 6 (0.55%) SAP CRM
7 5 (0.46%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.46%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.37%) Magento
8 4 (0.37%) NetSuite
9 3 (0.28%) Salesforce CRM
10 2 (0.18%) BambooHR
10 2 (0.18%) Dynamics AX
10 2 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
10 2 (0.18%) Sage X3
10 2 (0.18%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.18%) SAP MM
10 2 (0.18%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 106 (9.75%) Azure
2 84 (7.73%) AWS
3 61 (5.61%) GCP
4 49 (4.51%) Power Platform
5 34 (3.13%) Snowflake
6 24 (2.21%) Dynamics 365
7 23 (2.12%) GitHub
8 18 (1.66%) Azure DevOps
8 18 (1.66%) Microsoft 365
8 18 (1.66%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
9 15 (1.38%) Figma
9 15 (1.38%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (1.20%) Entra ID
10 13 (1.20%) SaaS
11 12 (1.10%) BigCommerce
12 11 (1.01%) Azure Data Factory
12 11 (1.01%) Cloud Run
12 11 (1.01%) Google Workspace
13 10 (0.92%) Miro
14 8 (0.74%) dbt
Communications & Networking
1 15 (1.38%) WAN
2 14 (1.29%) Firewall
2 14 (1.29%) VPN
3 10 (0.92%) ATM
4 9 (0.83%) Wireless
5 8 (0.74%) Network Security
5 8 (0.74%) RFID
5 8 (0.74%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (0.64%) Cisco Nexus
6 7 (0.64%) LAN
7 6 (0.55%) BGP
7 6 (0.55%) OSPF
8 5 (0.46%) Cisco Firepower
8 5 (0.46%) SD-WAN
9 4 (0.37%) Cisco ASA
9 4 (0.37%) EIGRP
9 4 (0.37%) MPLS
9 4 (0.37%) VSAN
10 3 (0.28%) IPsec
10 3 (0.28%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (4.14%) Power BI
2 28 (2.58%) BigQuery
3 18 (1.66%) Data Warehouse
4 14 (1.29%) MySQL
4 14 (1.29%) SQL Server
5 13 (1.20%) Tableau
6 10 (0.92%) Data Lake
6 10 (0.92%) Metadata
7 7 (0.64%) NoSQL
7 7 (0.64%) Relational Database
8 6 (0.55%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.46%) Data Vault
9 5 (0.46%) PostgreSQL
10 4 (0.37%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.37%) Oracle Reports
10 4 (0.37%) Semantic Layer
10 4 (0.37%) Snowflake Schema
11 3 (0.28%) Looker
11 3 (0.28%) OLAP
11 3 (0.28%) Oracle OLAP
Development Applications
1 77 (7.08%) JIRA
2 22 (2.02%) Git
3 16 (1.47%) Jenkins
4 11 (1.01%) GitLab
5 4 (0.37%) JMeter
5 4 (0.37%) Maven
5 4 (0.37%) Subversion
6 3 (0.28%) ERwin
6 3 (0.28%) Selenium
7 2 (0.18%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.18%) Cypress.io
7 2 (0.18%) Eclipse
7 2 (0.18%) Gatling
7 2 (0.18%) git-flow
7 2 (0.18%) Hudson
7 2 (0.18%) MLflow
7 2 (0.18%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.18%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.092%) HP UFT
8 1 (0.092%) Toad
General
1 312 (28.70%) Social Skills
2 269 (24.75%) Finance
3 108 (9.94%) Analytical Skills
4 103 (9.48%) Banking
5 64 (5.89%) Marketing
6 55 (5.06%) Retail Banking
7 47 (4.32%) Organisational Skills
8 45 (4.14%) Manufacturing
9 44 (4.05%) Investment Banking
10 40 (3.68%) Corporate Banking
11 27 (2.48%) Public Sector
12 26 (2.39%) Telecoms
13 25 (2.30%) Documentation Skills
14 24 (2.21%) Presentation Skills
15 21 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
16 20 (1.84%) Legal
17 15 (1.38%) Advertising
18 14 (1.29%) French Language
19 13 (1.20%) Back Office
19 13 (1.20%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 161 (14.81%) Analyst
1 161 (14.81%) Architect
2 136 (12.51%) Senior
3 114 (10.49%) Project Manager
4 96 (8.83%) Business Analyst
5 81 (7.45%) Lead
6 66 (6.07%) Solutions Architect
7 59 (5.43%) Senior Manager
8 42 (3.86%) Technical Manager
9 37 (3.40%) Developer
10 35 (3.22%) Designer
11 33 (3.04%) Consultant
11 33 (3.04%) Senior Project Manager
12 31 (2.85%) Enterprise Architect
13 30 (2.76%) Product Manager
14 27 (2.48%) Data Architect
15 24 (2.21%) Service Manager
16 22 (2.02%) Data Engineer
17 21 (1.93%) Programme Manager
18 19 (1.75%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (3.04%) Middleware
2 30 (2.76%) REST
3 29 (2.67%) VML
4 25 (2.30%) React
5 23 (2.12%) Spring
6 18 (1.66%) Node.js
7 17 (1.56%) Spring Boot
8 13 (1.20%) AngularJS
8 13 (1.20%) Kafka
9 10 (0.92%) CSS
9 10 (0.92%) RESTful
10 8 (0.74%) OpenTelemetry
10 8 (0.74%) PySpark
11 7 (0.64%) HTML
11 7 (0.64%) LangChain
11 7 (0.64%) MACH
11 7 (0.64%) OAuth
11 7 (0.64%) OAuth2
11 7 (0.64%) OpenID
11 7 (0.64%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 73 (6.72%) Product Ownership
2 39 (3.59%) EPoS
3 38 (3.50%) Driving Licence
4 32 (2.94%) Cloud Native
5 28 (2.58%) Onboarding
6 26 (2.39%) FMCG
7 22 (2.02%) Data Centre
8 21 (1.93%) Mainframe
9 19 (1.75%) Data Structures
9 19 (1.75%) Management Information System
10 18 (1.66%) Self-Motivation
11 16 (1.47%) Mobile App
12 13 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
13 12 (1.10%) Greenfield Project
14 11 (1.01%) AI Agents
15 10 (0.92%) Virtual Team
16 9 (0.83%) CCTV
16 9 (0.83%) Smartphone
17 8 (0.74%) Clustering
18 7 (0.64%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 47 (4.32%) Windows
2 22 (2.02%) Linux
3 9 (0.83%) Android
4 7 (0.64%) Unix
4 7 (0.64%) zOS
5 6 (0.55%) Mac OS
6 5 (0.46%) Windows Server
7 3 (0.28%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.28%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.092%) Debian
8 1 (0.092%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.092%) SUSE
8 1 (0.092%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.092%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.092%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 240 (22.08%) Agile
2 225 (20.70%) Stakeholder Management
3 185 (17.02%) Problem-Solving
4 156 (14.35%) E-Commerce
5 133 (12.24%) Migration
6 123 (11.32%) Roadmaps
7 114 (10.49%) Project Management
8 107 (9.84%) Analytics
9 105 (9.66%) Customer Experience
10 92 (8.46%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 86 (7.91%) ERP
12 82 (7.54%) Continuous Improvement
13 80 (7.36%) Change Management
13 80 (7.36%) Decision-Making
13 80 (7.36%) Project Delivery
14 79 (7.27%) Scrum
15 78 (7.18%) AI
16 73 (6.72%) User Acceptance Testing
17 70 (6.44%) CI/CD
18 67 (6.16%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 80 (7.36%) SQL
2 60 (5.52%) Python
3 36 (3.31%) Java
4 25 (2.30%) JavaScript
5 14 (1.29%) TypeScript
6 10 (0.92%) PowerShell
6 10 (0.92%) Shell Script
7 6 (0.55%) Bash
7 6 (0.55%) SOQL
8 5 (0.46%) Apex Code
8 5 (0.46%) C#
8 5 (0.46%) Kotlin
8 5 (0.46%) SOSL
9 4 (0.37%) Bicep
9 4 (0.37%) Kusto Query Language
9 4 (0.37%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.37%) Scala
9 4 (0.37%) VBA
10 2 (0.18%) Korn
10 2 (0.18%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 52 (4.78%) Degree
2 41 (3.77%) Security Cleared
3 26 (2.39%) SC Cleared
4 17 (1.56%) PMP
5 11 (1.01%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.83%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (0.74%) CISSP
7 8 (0.74%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (0.74%) CSPO
8 7 (0.64%) APMP
8 7 (0.64%) CCNP
8 7 (0.64%) Cisco Certification
8 7 (0.64%) DBS Check
8 7 (0.64%) Master's Degree
9 5 (0.46%) CISM
9 5 (0.46%) ITIL Certification
9 5 (0.46%) MBA
10 4 (0.37%) CCSE
10 4 (0.37%) CCSM
10 4 (0.37%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 54 (4.97%) QA
2 53 (4.88%) Data Quality
3 36 (3.31%) GDPR
4 34 (3.13%) PMO
5 15 (1.38%) SLA
6 14 (1.29%) Accessibility
7 10 (0.92%) PCI DSS
8 8 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.46%) NIST
10 4 (0.37%) IFRS
11 2 (0.18%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.18%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.18%) GRC
11 2 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.18%) WCAG
12 1 (0.092%) COBIT
12 1 (0.092%) GAAP
12 1 (0.092%) GxP
12 1 (0.092%) ISO 8583
12 1 (0.092%) NCSC
System Software
1 23 (2.12%) Docker
2 19 (1.75%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (0.46%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (0.37%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.28%) RACF
6 3 (0.28%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.18%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 23 (2.12%) Terraform
2 17 (1.56%) Kubernetes
3 8 (0.74%) Microsoft Intune
4 7 (0.64%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.55%) Argo
5 6 (0.55%) Grafana
5 6 (0.55%) Istio
5 6 (0.55%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.46%) SCCM
7 3 (0.28%) Ansible
8 2 (0.18%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.18%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.18%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.18%) MOM
8 2 (0.18%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.092%) Control-M
9 1 (0.092%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.092%) Nagios
9 1 (0.092%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.092%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 90 (8.28%) Microsoft
2 76 (6.99%) SAP
3 67 (6.16%) Oracle
4 51 (4.69%) Salesforce
5 49 (4.51%) Google
6 41 (3.77%) Databricks
7 26 (2.39%) Adobe
8 17 (1.56%) ServiceNow
9 16 (1.47%) Cisco
10 15 (1.38%) IFS
11 14 (1.29%) Sitecore
12 12 (1.10%) IBM
13 11 (1.01%) Splunk
14 10 (0.92%) VMware
15 9 (0.83%) Palo Alto
16 8 (0.74%) CheckPoint
16 8 (0.74%) Fortinet
16 8 (0.74%) MuleSoft
16 8 (0.74%) Workday
16 8 (0.74%) Zscaler