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

6 months to
20 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 98 106 84
Rank change year-on-year +8 -22 +8
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,250 741 1,089
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.47% 2.48% 2.48%
As % of the General category 4.55% 3.91% 4.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 734 383 604
10th Percentile £247 £309 £294
25th Percentile £411 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £520 £505
Median % change year-on-year +0.96% +2.97% -5.43%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -3.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 90 32 88
10th Percentile £13.03 £14.04 £11.56
25th Percentile £15.25 £15.25 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £19.40 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +8.25% +21.25% -19.23%
75th Percentile £22.50 £51.88 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £86.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.92 £15.73 £15.90
% change year-on-year +7.57% -1.07% -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 27,482 18,963 25,015
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.26% 63.51% 57.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,589 11,965 15,633
10th Percentile £313 £281 £275
25th Percentile £413 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £626 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £769
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £490
% change year-on-year +6.38% -4.08% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,840 910 2,030
10th Percentile £13.99 £13.50 £12.78
25th Percentile £18.27 £16.57 £15.50
Median hourly rate £32.36 £28.00 £30.50
Median % change year-on-year +15.58% -8.20% -0.13%
75th Percentile £61.18 £54.00 £52.78
90th Percentile £81.05 £75.00 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.00 £24.34 £29.50
% change year-on-year +31.47% -17.49% +13.46%

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 20 June 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 20 June 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 20 June 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 +2 1,146 £525 - 1,059
London +12 660 £540 -1.82% 393
UK excluding London +1 498 £500 - 818
Work from Home -21 275 £500 - 379
South East +4 153 £525 -2.33% 272
North of England -41 135 £525 +5.00% 180
Midlands -19 95 £500 +8.11% 164
North West -5 88 £575 +15.00% 100
East of England +1 56 £544 -1.14% 95
East Midlands -1 53 £495 +7.03% 96
Yorkshire -59 44 £500 - 66
West Midlands -34 42 £514 +8.30% 68
South West -21 33 £333 -26.11% 75
Scotland -2 20 £500 -6.54% 42
Northern Ireland +3 3 £196 -64.32% 12
Wales -15 3 £190 +29.52% 12
North East -35 3 £173 -76.98% 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 34 (2.72%) Confluence
2 16 (1.28%) CMS
3 14 (1.12%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 12 (0.96%) Apache Airflow
5 7 (0.56%) SharePoint
6 5 (0.40%) SAS
7 3 (0.24%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.16%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.16%) CICS
9 1 (0.080%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 33 (2.64%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (2.00%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (1.44%) Microsoft Project
4 17 (1.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 13 (1.04%) Chatbot
6 11 (0.88%) MS Visio
7 9 (0.72%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.64%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 8 (0.64%) Adobe Illustrator
9 5 (0.40%) InDesign
10 3 (0.24%) Notion
10 3 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
11 2 (0.16%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.080%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.080%) CPLEX
12 1 (0.080%) Maya
12 1 (0.080%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.080%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 28 (2.24%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (1.84%) Shopify
3 14 (1.12%) Dynamics CRM
4 10 (0.80%) Oracle Retail
5 9 (0.72%) SAP Retail
6 7 (0.56%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 7 (0.56%) SAP CRM
7 6 (0.48%) Finacle
8 5 (0.40%) Oracle EBS
8 5 (0.40%) SAP MDG
9 4 (0.32%) Magento
9 4 (0.32%) NetSuite
9 4 (0.32%) Salesforce CRM
10 3 (0.24%) Payment Gateway
10 3 (0.24%) SAP CAR
10 3 (0.24%) SAP SD
11 2 (0.16%) Dynamics AX
11 2 (0.16%) SAP ERP
11 2 (0.16%) SAP MM
12 1 (0.080%) Cognos Controller
Cloud Services
1 140 (11.20%) Azure
2 113 (9.04%) AWS
3 70 (5.60%) GCP
4 66 (5.28%) Power Platform
5 44 (3.52%) Snowflake
6 24 (1.92%) GitHub
7 23 (1.84%) Dynamics 365
8 22 (1.76%) Azure DevOps
9 19 (1.52%) Entra ID
10 17 (1.36%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
11 16 (1.28%) Figma
12 15 (1.20%) GitHub Actions
12 15 (1.20%) SaaS
13 13 (1.04%) Azure Data Factory
13 13 (1.04%) dbt
14 11 (0.88%) BigCommerce
14 11 (0.88%) Google Workspace
14 11 (0.88%) Microsoft 365
15 9 (0.72%) Miro
15 9 (0.72%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 13 (1.04%) ATM
1 13 (1.04%) Firewall
1 13 (1.04%) WAN
2 12 (0.96%) Network Security
3 11 (0.88%) VPN
3 11 (0.88%) Wireless
4 9 (0.72%) RFID
5 7 (0.56%) LAN
6 6 (0.48%) Cisco Firepower
6 6 (0.48%) SD-WAN
6 6 (0.48%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (0.40%) BGP
7 5 (0.40%) Cisco ASA
7 5 (0.40%) Cisco Nexus
7 5 (0.40%) IPsec
7 5 (0.40%) OSPF
7 5 (0.40%) VSAN
8 4 (0.32%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 4 (0.32%) VLAN
9 3 (0.24%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 64 (5.12%) Power BI
2 25 (2.00%) BigQuery
3 23 (1.84%) Data Warehouse
4 20 (1.60%) Tableau
5 19 (1.52%) MySQL
6 16 (1.28%) Metadata
6 16 (1.28%) SQL Server
7 12 (0.96%) Data Lake
8 11 (0.88%) NoSQL
9 9 (0.72%) Relational Database
10 6 (0.48%) Data Vault
10 6 (0.48%) MongoDB
10 6 (0.48%) PostgreSQL
10 6 (0.48%) Snowflake Schema
11 5 (0.40%) Power Query
12 4 (0.32%) Big Data
12 4 (0.32%) Looker
12 4 (0.32%) SAP HANA
12 4 (0.32%) Semantic Layer
13 3 (0.24%) Couchbase
Development Applications
1 75 (6.00%) JIRA
2 24 (1.92%) Git
3 12 (0.96%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.40%) GitLab
5 4 (0.32%) Maven
5 4 (0.32%) Subversion
6 3 (0.24%) Cypress.io
6 3 (0.24%) Eclipse
6 3 (0.24%) ERwin
6 3 (0.24%) Hudson
6 3 (0.24%) JMeter
6 3 (0.24%) Oracle Forms
6 3 (0.24%) Selenium
6 3 (0.24%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.16%) git-flow
7 2 (0.16%) MLflow
7 2 (0.16%) Postman
7 2 (0.16%) WebDriver
7 2 (0.16%) webpack
8 1 (0.080%) Gatling
General
1 354 (28.32%) Social Skills
2 295 (23.60%) Finance
3 120 (9.60%) Analytical Skills
4 114 (9.12%) Banking
5 72 (5.76%) Marketing
6 62 (4.96%) Manufacturing
7 59 (4.72%) Organisational Skills
7 59 (4.72%) Retail Banking
8 46 (3.68%) Investment Banking
9 42 (3.36%) Corporate Banking
10 27 (2.16%) Telecoms
11 26 (2.08%) Documentation Skills
12 25 (2.00%) Public Sector
13 22 (1.76%) French Language
13 22 (1.76%) Presentation Skills
14 21 (1.68%) Legal
15 20 (1.60%) Influencing Skills
16 17 (1.36%) Advertising
16 17 (1.36%) Spanish Language
17 15 (1.20%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 200 (16.00%) Architect
2 179 (14.32%) Analyst
3 150 (12.00%) Senior
4 114 (9.12%) Project Manager
5 103 (8.24%) Business Analyst
6 98 (7.84%) Lead
7 94 (7.52%) Solutions Architect
8 61 (4.88%) Senior Manager
9 49 (3.92%) Developer
10 42 (3.36%) Designer
11 41 (3.28%) Technical Manager
12 38 (3.04%) Consultant
12 38 (3.04%) Enterprise Architect
13 36 (2.88%) Product Manager
14 34 (2.72%) Senior Project Manager
15 28 (2.24%) 2nd Line Support
15 28 (2.24%) Data Engineer
16 27 (2.16%) Data Analyst
17 26 (2.08%) Data Architect
17 26 (2.08%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (3.92%) REST
2 34 (2.72%) Middleware
3 27 (2.16%) React
4 25 (2.00%) VML
5 23 (1.84%) Spring
6 20 (1.60%) Kafka
7 17 (1.36%) Spring Boot
8 16 (1.28%) Node.js
9 15 (1.20%) CSS
9 15 (1.20%) HTML
9 15 (1.20%) RESTful
10 11 (0.88%) .NET
10 11 (0.88%) J2EE
10 11 (0.88%) MACH
11 10 (0.80%) OAuth
11 10 (0.80%) SOAP
12 9 (0.72%) AngularJS
13 8 (0.64%) Django
13 8 (0.64%) OAuth2
13 8 (0.64%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 76 (6.08%) Product Ownership
2 46 (3.68%) EPoS
2 46 (3.68%) FMCG
3 41 (3.28%) Driving Licence
4 36 (2.88%) Onboarding
5 35 (2.80%) Cloud Native
6 21 (1.68%) Data Centre
6 21 (1.68%) Data Structures
7 20 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
8 19 (1.52%) Mainframe
8 19 (1.52%) Mobile App
9 17 (1.36%) Marketing Technology
9 17 (1.36%) Self-Motivation
10 16 (1.28%) Greenfield Project
10 16 (1.28%) Management Information System
11 15 (1.20%) AI Agents
12 11 (0.88%) Operational Technology
12 11 (0.88%) Smartphone
13 10 (0.80%) Taxonomies
13 10 (0.80%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 52 (4.16%) Windows
2 24 (1.92%) Linux
3 12 (0.96%) Android
4 10 (0.80%) Unix
5 7 (0.56%) zOS
6 6 (0.48%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.40%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.40%) Windows Server
8 3 (0.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.24%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.24%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.080%) Debian
9 1 (0.080%) SUSE
9 1 (0.080%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.080%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 284 (22.72%) Agile
2 274 (21.92%) Stakeholder Management
3 187 (14.96%) Problem-Solving
4 181 (14.48%) E-Commerce
5 159 (12.72%) Migration
6 151 (12.08%) Roadmaps
7 130 (10.40%) Analytics
8 121 (9.68%) Customer Experience
9 116 (9.28%) Project Management
10 108 (8.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 104 (8.32%) AI
12 94 (7.52%) ERP
13 89 (7.12%) Project Delivery
14 88 (7.04%) Decision-Making
15 87 (6.96%) Change Management
15 87 (6.96%) User Acceptance Testing
16 86 (6.88%) Business Intelligence
17 85 (6.80%) Continuous Improvement
18 84 (6.72%) CI/CD
18 84 (6.72%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 105 (8.40%) SQL
2 79 (6.32%) Python
3 49 (3.92%) Java
4 26 (2.08%) JavaScript
5 19 (1.52%) TypeScript
6 10 (0.80%) C#
6 10 (0.80%) Shell Script
7 9 (0.72%) PowerShell
8 7 (0.56%) PL/SQL
8 7 (0.56%) SOQL
9 6 (0.48%) Apex Code
9 6 (0.48%) Bash
9 6 (0.48%) Kotlin
10 5 (0.40%) Bicep
10 5 (0.40%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (0.40%) SOSL
11 4 (0.32%) ABAP
11 4 (0.32%) R
11 4 (0.32%) Scala
12 3 (0.24%) VBA
Qualifications
1 56 (4.48%) Degree
2 40 (3.20%) Security Cleared
3 26 (2.08%) SC Cleared
4 17 (1.36%) PMP
5 10 (0.80%) DBS Check
5 10 (0.80%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.72%) CISSP
6 9 (0.72%) Computer Science Degree
7 7 (0.56%) BPSS Clearance
7 7 (0.56%) Master's Degree
8 6 (0.48%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (0.48%) CISM
9 5 (0.40%) APMP
9 5 (0.40%) CCNP
9 5 (0.40%) CCSE
9 5 (0.40%) CCSM
9 5 (0.40%) CSPO
9 5 (0.40%) MBA
10 4 (0.32%) City & Guilds
11 3 (0.24%) APMG
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (4.80%) QA
2 56 (4.48%) Data Quality
3 38 (3.04%) GDPR
4 32 (2.56%) PMO
5 18 (1.44%) Accessibility
6 15 (1.20%) PCI DSS
7 12 (0.96%) SLA
8 9 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 7 (0.56%) NIST
10 3 (0.24%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.24%) PSD2
11 2 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.16%) GAAP
11 2 (0.16%) GRC
11 2 (0.16%) IFRS
11 2 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.16%) WCAG
12 1 (0.080%) GxP
12 1 (0.080%) ISO 8583
12 1 (0.080%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 23 (1.84%) Active Directory
2 21 (1.68%) Docker
3 6 (0.48%) Virtual Desktop
3 6 (0.48%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.48%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.16%) Firmware
5 2 (0.16%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.080%) RACF
Systems Management
1 30 (2.40%) Terraform
2 22 (1.76%) Kubernetes
3 13 (1.04%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 7 (0.56%) Ansible
5 6 (0.48%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (0.40%) Grafana
6 5 (0.40%) SCCM
6 5 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.32%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.16%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.16%) MOM
8 2 (0.16%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.080%) Argo
9 1 (0.080%) CSIRT
9 1 (0.080%) Istio
9 1 (0.080%) Nagios
9 1 (0.080%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.080%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 103 (8.24%) Microsoft
2 84 (6.72%) SAP
3 75 (6.00%) Oracle
4 54 (4.32%) Salesforce
5 53 (4.24%) Google
6 43 (3.44%) Databricks
7 32 (2.56%) Adobe
8 22 (1.76%) ServiceNow
9 16 (1.28%) Cisco
10 14 (1.12%) IFS
11 13 (1.04%) IBM
11 13 (1.04%) Sitecore
11 13 (1.04%) Splunk
11 13 (1.04%) Zscaler
12 11 (0.88%) Fortinet
12 11 (0.88%) MuleSoft
12 11 (0.88%) Palo Alto
13 10 (0.80%) VMware
14 8 (0.64%) Dynatrace
15 7 (0.56%) Workday