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

6 months to
29 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 144 92 102
Rank change year-on-year -52 +10 -22
Contract jobs citing Retail 711 848 944
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.85% 2.69% 2.15%
As % of the General category 3.11% 4.35% 3.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 417 432 549
10th Percentile £206 £264 £263
25th Percentile £400 £412 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -6.98%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £625
90th Percentile £738 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 11 40
10th Percentile £12.95 £16.25 £10.96
25th Percentile £16.17 £18.13 £12.69
Median hourly rate £16.42 £32.50 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -49.48% +66.67% -1.56%
75th Percentile £19.50 £37.00 £20.89
90th Percentile £24.59 £48.75 £23.68
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.34 £18.13 £15.65
% change year-on-year -9.90% +15.85% -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 22,849 19,503 25,762
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 59.37% 61.95% 58.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,354 11,626 16,722
10th Percentile £287 £284 £265
25th Percentile £400 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £533
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.41% -3.18%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £485 £500
% change year-on-year -2.06% -3.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,388 634 1,478
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.62 £13.25
25th Percentile £16.35 £20.00 £15.32
Median hourly rate £22.85 £27.50 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -16.91% +5.77% +4.00%
75th Percentile £47.50 £53.75 £55.41
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.75 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.30 £26.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year -19.62% +6.00% +11.11%

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 29 January 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 29 January 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 29 January 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 -54 653 £500 -4.76% 1,232
London -33 350 £545 -0.91% 268
UK excluding London -46 309 £495 -1.00% 1,120
Work from Home -59 176 £525 -4.55% 450
South East -30 90 £520 -5.45% 385
North of England -55 74 £495 +10.00% 233
Midlands -49 69 £479 -4.25% 198
East Midlands -7 46 £495 -1.00% 107
Yorkshire -41 41 £506 +26.56% 91
East of England -12 37 £529 +0.71% 143
North West -26 31 £495 +10.00% 119
West Midlands -47 22 £275 -47.62% 91
Scotland -3 20 £450 -14.29% 36
South West -13 15 £183 -56.55% 115
Wales -3 3 £625 +331.03% 39
North East -16 3 £213 -64.58% 24
Northern Ireland -4 1 - - 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 34 (4.78%) Confluence
2 17 (2.39%) CMS
3 16 (2.25%) SharePoint
4 9 (1.27%) Apache Airflow
5 7 (0.98%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 5 (0.70%) Camunda
6 5 (0.70%) Jupyter
7 4 (0.56%) WordPress
8 3 (0.42%) Microsoft Exchange
9 2 (0.28%) Apache Spark
9 2 (0.28%) Magnolia
9 2 (0.28%) SAS
10 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
10 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
10 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 23 (3.23%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (1.41%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 10 (1.41%) MS Visio
3 9 (1.27%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.56%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.28%) Trello
6 1 (0.14%) Adobe After Effects
6 1 (0.14%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.14%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.14%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 22 (3.09%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.83%) Shopify
3 11 (1.55%) Dynamics CRM
3 11 (1.55%) SAP Retail
4 7 (0.98%) Oracle Retail
5 6 (0.84%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 6 (0.84%) Payment Gateway
6 5 (0.70%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.56%) Dynamics AX
7 4 (0.56%) Finacle
7 4 (0.56%) ResourceLink
7 4 (0.56%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.42%) NetSuite
8 3 (0.42%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.42%) SAP MDG
8 3 (0.42%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.28%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.28%) Magento
9 2 (0.28%) SAP GTS
9 2 (0.28%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 90 (12.66%) Azure
2 49 (6.89%) AWS
3 48 (6.75%) Power Platform
4 36 (5.06%) GCP
5 25 (3.52%) Dynamics 365
6 21 (2.95%) Azure DevOps
7 18 (2.53%) Snowflake
8 16 (2.25%) GitHub
8 16 (2.25%) Microsoft 365
9 15 (2.11%) SaaS
10 13 (1.83%) Figma
11 11 (1.55%) GitHub Actions
11 11 (1.55%) OCI
11 11 (1.55%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 9 (1.27%) Power Automate
13 8 (1.13%) dbt
13 8 (1.13%) Entra ID
13 8 (1.13%) SuccessFactors
13 8 (1.13%) Vertex AI
14 7 (0.98%) BigCommerce
Communications & Networking
1 21 (2.95%) RFID
2 18 (2.53%) NFC
2 18 (2.53%) Wireless
3 12 (1.69%) Firewall
4 10 (1.41%) VPN
5 7 (0.98%) WAN
6 6 (0.84%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (0.56%) BGP
7 4 (0.56%) Cisco Nexus
7 4 (0.56%) EIGRP
7 4 (0.56%) OSPF
7 4 (0.56%) VoIP
8 3 (0.42%) LAN
9 2 (0.28%) MPLS
9 2 (0.28%) SAN
9 2 (0.28%) WLAN
10 1 (0.14%) FTP
10 1 (0.14%) HTTPS
10 1 (0.14%) SMS
10 1 (0.14%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (5.63%) Power BI
2 20 (2.81%) BigQuery
2 20 (2.81%) Data Warehouse
3 15 (2.11%) Metadata
3 15 (2.11%) SQL Server
4 14 (1.97%) Tableau
5 8 (1.13%) Data Lake
5 8 (1.13%) MySQL
6 7 (0.98%) Data Vault
7 6 (0.84%) PostgreSQL
8 5 (0.70%) MongoDB
8 5 (0.70%) Oracle Reports
8 5 (0.70%) Relational Database
8 5 (0.70%) Snowflake Schema
9 4 (0.56%) Delta Lake
9 4 (0.56%) Power Query
9 4 (0.56%) Redis
9 4 (0.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.42%) Oracle Database
10 3 (0.42%) Oracle OLAP
Development Applications
1 71 (9.99%) JIRA
2 13 (1.83%) Jenkins
3 10 (1.41%) GitLab
4 9 (1.27%) Git
5 5 (0.70%) ERwin
5 5 (0.70%) Selenium
6 4 (0.56%) Storybook
7 3 (0.42%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.28%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.28%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.28%) JMeter
8 2 (0.28%) JUnit
8 2 (0.28%) MLflow
8 2 (0.28%) Mockito
8 2 (0.28%) Oracle Forms
8 2 (0.28%) Postman
8 2 (0.28%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.28%) SoapUI
8 2 (0.28%) Xcode
8 2 (0.28%) Zephyr
General
1 246 (34.60%) Social Skills
2 153 (21.52%) Finance
3 79 (11.11%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (8.86%) Banking
5 50 (7.03%) Marketing
6 41 (5.77%) Organisational Skills
7 40 (5.63%) Public Sector
8 34 (4.78%) Manufacturing
9 30 (4.22%) Retail Banking
10 25 (3.52%) Corporate Banking
11 24 (3.38%) Documentation Skills
12 23 (3.23%) Influencing Skills
12 23 (3.23%) Investment Banking
13 21 (2.95%) Legal
14 18 (2.53%) Presentation Skills
15 13 (1.83%) Telecoms
16 11 (1.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 6 (0.84%) Financial Institution
17 6 (0.84%) Publishing
18 5 (0.70%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 137 (19.27%) Analyst
2 84 (11.81%) Project Manager
3 76 (10.69%) Architect
4 68 (9.56%) Senior
5 63 (8.86%) Business Analyst
6 59 (8.30%) Lead
7 36 (5.06%) Solutions Architect
8 30 (4.22%) Consultant
9 29 (4.08%) Senior Manager
10 21 (2.95%) Developer
10 21 (2.95%) Technical Manager
11 19 (2.67%) Product Manager
12 18 (2.53%) Programme Manager
13 14 (1.97%) Support Analyst
14 13 (1.83%) Data Analyst
14 13 (1.83%) Help Desk Analyst
14 13 (1.83%) SAP Consultant
14 13 (1.83%) Senior Project Manager
15 12 (1.69%) Data Engineer
15 12 (1.69%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (3.09%) React
2 19 (2.67%) VML
3 15 (2.11%) Node.js
3 15 (2.11%) REST
4 13 (1.83%) PySpark
5 10 (1.41%) HTML
6 9 (1.27%) AngularJS
7 8 (1.13%) .NET
7 8 (1.13%) Spring
7 8 (1.13%) Spring Boot
8 7 (0.98%) FastAPI
8 7 (0.98%) Kafka
8 7 (0.98%) Middleware
8 7 (0.98%) OpenTelemetry
8 7 (0.98%) scikit-learn
8 7 (0.98%) XML
9 6 (0.84%) CSS
9 6 (0.84%) JSON
9 6 (0.84%) LangChain
9 6 (0.84%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 37 (5.20%) Product Ownership
2 29 (4.08%) Legacy Systems
3 23 (3.23%) Onboarding
3 23 (3.23%) Self-Motivation
4 22 (3.09%) EPoS
5 19 (2.67%) FMCG
5 19 (2.67%) IoT
6 18 (2.53%) Management Information System
7 16 (2.25%) Cloud Native
8 15 (2.11%) Data Structures
8 15 (2.11%) Driving Licence
9 13 (1.83%) Data Centre
10 10 (1.41%) Mobile App
11 9 (1.27%) Analytical Mindset
12 8 (1.13%) Algorithms
13 7 (0.98%) Mainframe
13 7 (0.98%) Social Media
14 6 (0.84%) CMDB
14 6 (0.84%) Reference Data
14 6 (0.84%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 37 (5.20%) Windows
2 11 (1.55%) Linux
3 7 (0.98%) Mac OS
4 6 (0.84%) Android
5 5 (0.70%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.42%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.28%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.14%) Kali Linux
8 1 (0.14%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.14%) VMS
8 1 (0.14%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 170 (23.91%) Stakeholder Management
2 169 (23.77%) Agile
3 117 (16.46%) Problem-Solving
4 90 (12.66%) Project Management
5 80 (11.25%) Migration
6 78 (10.97%) Analytics
7 76 (10.69%) E-Commerce
8 70 (9.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 63 (8.86%) Continuous Improvement
10 62 (8.72%) Roadmaps
11 58 (8.16%) Workshop Facilitation
12 55 (7.74%) Scrum
13 53 (7.45%) AI
14 52 (7.31%) Business Intelligence
14 52 (7.31%) Decision-Making
15 49 (6.89%) Data Modelling
16 48 (6.75%) DevOps
17 47 (6.61%) Project Delivery
18 46 (6.47%) CRM
19 44 (6.19%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 71 (9.99%) SQL
2 61 (8.58%) Python
3 19 (2.67%) Java
4 14 (1.97%) JavaScript
5 11 (1.55%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.41%) Bash
7 9 (1.27%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.98%) Kusto Query Language
8 7 (0.98%) TypeScript
9 6 (0.84%) C#
10 5 (0.70%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.28%) ABAP
11 2 (0.28%) PHP
11 2 (0.28%) Swift
11 2 (0.28%) VBA
12 1 (0.14%) JCL
12 1 (0.14%) Objective-C
12 1 (0.14%) ProC
12 1 (0.14%) REXX
12 1 (0.14%) VB
Qualifications
1 37 (5.20%) Degree
2 23 (3.23%) PMP
3 19 (2.67%) Security Cleared
4 17 (2.39%) PMI Certification
5 10 (1.41%) Master's Degree
6 7 (0.98%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (0.98%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (0.98%) MBA
6 7 (0.98%) SC Cleared
7 6 (0.84%) APMP
7 6 (0.84%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.70%) CISSP
9 4 (0.56%) CCIE
9 4 (0.56%) CCNP
9 4 (0.56%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.56%) CISM
9 4 (0.56%) CRISC
9 4 (0.56%) CSPO
10 3 (0.42%) GIAC
10 3 (0.42%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (4.22%) Data Quality
2 28 (3.94%) QA
3 20 (2.81%) PMO
4 17 (2.39%) GDPR
5 15 (2.11%) Accessibility
6 13 (1.83%) SLA
7 6 (0.84%) COBIT
8 5 (0.70%) Actionable Recommendations
9 4 (0.56%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.42%) IFRS
10 3 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.42%) NCSC
11 2 (0.28%) NIST
12 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials
12 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.14%) IFRS 9
12 1 (0.14%) MiFID
12 1 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.14%) Solvency II
12 1 (0.14%) WCAG
System Software
1 12 (1.69%) Docker
2 10 (1.41%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.56%) RACF
4 3 (0.42%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.42%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.14%) Varnish
5 1 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 23 (3.23%) Terraform
2 12 (1.69%) Kubernetes
3 6 (0.84%) Ansible
3 6 (0.84%) Argo
3 6 (0.84%) Istio
4 4 (0.56%) Grafana
4 4 (0.56%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (0.42%) Jamf Pro
5 3 (0.42%) SCCM
5 3 (0.42%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.14%) AirWatch
6 1 (0.14%) Cacti
6 1 (0.14%) Control-M
6 1 (0.14%) HP ALM
6 1 (0.14%) Nmap
6 1 (0.14%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.14%) ZABBIX
6 1 (0.14%) zSecure
Vendors
1 76 (10.69%) Microsoft
2 61 (8.58%) SAP
3 49 (6.89%) Oracle
4 43 (6.05%) Salesforce
5 32 (4.50%) Google
6 21 (2.95%) Databricks
7 19 (2.67%) Adobe
8 12 (1.69%) Dell
9 11 (1.55%) HP
10 10 (1.41%) CheckPoint
10 10 (1.41%) F5
10 10 (1.41%) ServiceNow
11 9 (1.27%) Dynatrace
12 8 (1.13%) Cisco
12 8 (1.13%) Sitecore
13 6 (0.84%) Apple
13 6 (0.84%) BMC
13 6 (0.84%) Temenos
14 5 (0.70%) Meraki
14 5 (0.70%) MicroStrategy