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

6 months to
20 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 131 96 85
Rank change year-on-year -35 -11 +3
Contract jobs citing Retail 928 787 1,072
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.01% 2.67% 2.46%
As % of the General category 3.64% 4.23% 4.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 566 420 614
10th Percentile £200 £275 £300
25th Percentile £370 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £513
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £642
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 36 19 84
10th Percentile £12.95 £14.98 £11.31
25th Percentile £15.63 £17.22 £12.15
Median hourly rate £17.50 £31.50 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -44.44% +96.88% -19.23%
75th Percentile £21.51 £61.38 £21.37
90th Percentile £46.25 £87.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £18.13 £15.29
% change year-on-year -3.47% +18.57% -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 25,466 18,593 25,434
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.05% 63.15% 58.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,777 11,901 16,084
10th Percentile £305 £300 £270
25th Percentile £406 £408 £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 £751
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,607 775 1,914
10th Percentile £13.67 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.28 £18.13 £15.40
Median hourly rate £27.72 £28.60 £28.42
Median % change year-on-year -3.08% +0.63% -18.80%
75th Percentile £59.00 £56.00 £51.25
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.20 £26.50 £26.66
% change year-on-year -4.92% -0.60% -13.29%

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 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 20 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 20 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 -33 844 £500 -4.76% 1,094
London -23 460 £525 -4.55% 386
UK excluding London -24 393 £475 -5.00% 829
Work from Home -52 226 £500 -2.44% 363
South East -20 115 £394 -25.00% 230
North of England -32 110 £500 +11.11% 229
Midlands -44 75 £495 -1.00% 160
North West -23 62 £500 - 131
East of England -11 46 £535 -2.73% 112
Yorkshire -43 44 £513 +38.51% 79
East Midlands -10 39 £495 -1.00% 82
West Midlands -57 35 £500 +12.68% 78
South West -22 22 £318 -6.62% 71
Scotland +3 21 £450 -14.89% 41
North East -16 4 £206 -72.50% 23
Northern Ireland +2 2 £190 -44.48% 8
Wales -11 2 £235 +60.19% 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 36 (3.88%) Confluence
2 18 (1.94%) SharePoint
3 13 (1.40%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 11 (1.19%) CMS
5 8 (0.86%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (0.43%) SAS
7 3 (0.32%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.22%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.22%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.22%) Magnolia
8 2 (0.22%) WordPress
9 1 (0.11%) CICS
9 1 (0.11%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.11%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 34 (3.66%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (2.05%) Microsoft Project
3 16 (1.72%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 14 (1.51%) Microsoft Office
5 13 (1.40%) Chatbot
6 11 (1.19%) MS Visio
7 7 (0.75%) Photoshop
8 5 (0.54%) Adobe Illustrator
9 3 (0.32%) InDesign
10 2 (0.22%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 2 (0.22%) Trello
10 2 (0.22%) UserZoom
11 1 (0.11%) 3ds Max
11 1 (0.11%) Adobe After Effects
11 1 (0.11%) Adobe XD
11 1 (0.11%) Maya
11 1 (0.11%) SOLIDWORKS
11 1 (0.11%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 19 (2.05%) Shopify
2 14 (1.51%) Dynamics CRM
2 14 (1.51%) SAP S/4HANA
3 8 (0.86%) Oracle Retail
4 7 (0.75%) SAP Retail
5 6 (0.65%) Finacle
5 6 (0.65%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 5 (0.54%) SAP Payroll
7 4 (0.43%) Oracle EBS
7 4 (0.43%) SAP MDG
7 4 (0.43%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.32%) SAP MM
8 3 (0.32%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.22%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.22%) NetSuite
9 2 (0.22%) Payment Gateway
9 2 (0.22%) ResourceLink
9 2 (0.22%) Sage X3
9 2 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
9 2 (0.22%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 93 (10.02%) Azure
2 62 (6.68%) AWS
3 56 (6.03%) GCP
3 56 (6.03%) Power Platform
4 28 (3.02%) Dynamics 365
5 26 (2.80%) Snowflake
6 21 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
7 20 (2.16%) GitHub
8 19 (2.05%) Microsoft 365
9 16 (1.72%) SaaS
10 14 (1.51%) Entra ID
11 13 (1.40%) Figma
11 13 (1.40%) GitHub Actions
11 13 (1.40%) Google Workspace
12 12 (1.29%) BigCommerce
13 11 (1.19%) Cloud Run
13 11 (1.19%) Miro
13 11 (1.19%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
14 10 (1.08%) Azure Data Factory
15 9 (0.97%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 17 (1.83%) VPN
2 16 (1.72%) RFID
3 14 (1.51%) Firewall
3 14 (1.51%) WAN
4 11 (1.19%) Wireless
5 8 (0.86%) LAN
5 8 (0.86%) NFC
6 6 (0.65%) Cisco Nexus
6 6 (0.65%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (0.54%) BGP
7 5 (0.54%) OSPF
8 4 (0.43%) EIGRP
8 4 (0.43%) 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 (0.22%) Cisco ASA
10 2 (0.22%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (5.17%) Power BI
2 24 (2.59%) BigQuery
3 18 (1.94%) Data Warehouse
4 16 (1.72%) SQL Server
5 12 (1.29%) MySQL
5 12 (1.29%) Tableau
6 10 (1.08%) Metadata
7 8 (0.86%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.75%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.65%) Data Vault
9 6 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
10 5 (0.54%) NoSQL
11 4 (0.43%) Delta Lake
11 4 (0.43%) 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 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 70 (7.54%) JIRA
2 14 (1.51%) Git
3 11 (1.19%) GitLab
4 9 (0.97%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.54%) ERwin
6 4 (0.43%) Maven
7 3 (0.32%) Selenium
7 3 (0.32%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.22%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.22%) Hudson
8 2 (0.22%) MLflow
8 2 (0.22%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.22%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.11%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.11%) Gatling
9 1 (0.11%) HP UFT
9 1 (0.11%) JMeter
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.11%) Xcode
9 1 (0.11%) Zephyr
General
1 296 (31.90%) Social Skills
2 232 (25.00%) Finance
3 107 (11.53%) Analytical Skills
4 81 (8.73%) Banking
5 59 (6.36%) Marketing
6 43 (4.63%) Manufacturing
7 42 (4.53%) Organisational Skills
8 33 (3.56%) Retail Banking
9 31 (3.34%) Investment Banking
10 30 (3.23%) Documentation Skills
10 30 (3.23%) Public Sector
11 29 (3.13%) Corporate Banking
12 27 (2.91%) Presentation Skills
13 24 (2.59%) Influencing Skills
14 20 (2.16%) Telecoms
15 16 (1.72%) Legal
16 11 (1.19%) Back Office
17 10 (1.08%) Pharmaceutical
18 8 (0.86%) Private Banking
19 7 (0.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 158 (17.03%) Analyst
2 124 (13.36%) Architect
3 113 (12.18%) Senior
4 112 (12.07%) Project Manager
5 89 (9.59%) Business Analyst
6 75 (8.08%) Lead
7 46 (4.96%) Senior Manager
8 45 (4.85%) Solutions Architect
9 37 (3.99%) Consultant
10 31 (3.34%) Technical Manager
11 26 (2.80%) Designer
12 25 (2.69%) Senior Project Manager
13 24 (2.59%) Developer
13 24 (2.59%) Enterprise Architect
14 23 (2.48%) Data Architect
15 21 (2.26%) Programme Manager
16 18 (1.94%) Product Manager
17 17 (1.83%) Data Analyst
17 17 (1.83%) IT Manager
18 16 (1.72%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (3.02%) Middleware
1 28 (3.02%) VML
2 25 (2.69%) REST
3 17 (1.83%) Spring
4 15 (1.62%) React
5 12 (1.29%) AngularJS
5 12 (1.29%) Spring Boot
6 10 (1.08%) CSS
6 10 (1.08%) PySpark
7 9 (0.97%) Node.js
8 8 (0.86%) .NET
8 8 (0.86%) HTML
9 7 (0.75%) Kafka
9 7 (0.75%) LangChain
9 7 (0.75%) scikit-learn
10 6 (0.65%) JSON
10 6 (0.65%) OAuth2
10 6 (0.65%) OpenID
10 6 (0.65%) OpenTelemetry
10 6 (0.65%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 59 (6.36%) Product Ownership
2 33 (3.56%) Driving Licence
3 29 (3.13%) Cloud Native
4 27 (2.91%) Self-Motivation
5 26 (2.80%) EPoS
6 23 (2.48%) Onboarding
7 22 (2.37%) Data Centre
7 22 (2.37%) Management Information System
8 21 (2.26%) FMCG
9 19 (2.05%) Mainframe
10 18 (1.94%) Data Structures
10 18 (1.94%) Legacy Systems
11 14 (1.51%) Mobile App
12 10 (1.08%) IoT
12 10 (1.08%) Virtual Team
13 9 (0.97%) Greenfield Project
14 8 (0.86%) Algorithms
14 8 (0.86%) Reference Data
15 7 (0.75%) Enterprise Software
15 7 (0.75%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 35 (3.77%) Windows
2 19 (2.05%) Linux
3 8 (0.86%) Mac OS
4 6 (0.65%) zOS
5 5 (0.54%) Android
5 5 (0.54%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.43%) Unix
7 3 (0.32%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.22%) VMS
9 1 (0.11%) Kali Linux
9 1 (0.11%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 208 (22.41%) Stakeholder Management
2 203 (21.88%) Agile
3 177 (19.07%) Problem-Solving
4 119 (12.82%) E-Commerce
5 116 (12.50%) Project Management
6 114 (12.28%) Migration
7 105 (11.31%) Roadmaps
8 93 (10.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 91 (9.81%) Analytics
10 84 (9.05%) Customer Experience
11 82 (8.84%) AI
12 78 (8.41%) ERP
13 71 (7.65%) Project Delivery
13 71 (7.65%) Workshop Facilitation
14 69 (7.44%) Change Management
14 69 (7.44%) Continuous Improvement
14 69 (7.44%) Decision-Making
15 66 (7.11%) Scrum
16 63 (6.79%) Business Intelligence
17 60 (6.47%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 72 (7.76%) SQL
2 62 (6.68%) Python
3 29 (3.13%) Java
4 20 (2.16%) JavaScript
5 15 (1.62%) PowerShell
6 9 (0.97%) Bash
6 9 (0.97%) Shell Script
7 7 (0.75%) C#
7 7 (0.75%) Kusto Query Language
7 7 (0.75%) TypeScript
8 5 (0.54%) Kotlin
9 4 (0.43%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.43%) VBA
10 3 (0.32%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.32%) Scala
10 3 (0.32%) SOQL
10 3 (0.32%) SOSL
11 2 (0.22%) Bicep
11 2 (0.22%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 2 (0.22%) R
Qualifications
1 48 (5.17%) Degree
2 33 (3.56%) Security Cleared
3 23 (2.48%) SC Cleared
4 20 (2.16%) PMP
5 16 (1.72%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.97%) CSPO
7 8 (0.86%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (0.86%) CISSP
8 7 (0.75%) APMP
8 7 (0.75%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.65%) CCNP
9 6 (0.65%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (0.65%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (0.54%) MBA
11 4 (0.43%) CCIE
11 4 (0.43%) CISM
11 4 (0.43%) CRISC
11 4 (0.43%) DBS Check
12 3 (0.32%) Azure Certification
12 3 (0.32%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (5.50%) Data Quality
2 49 (5.28%) QA
3 34 (3.66%) GDPR
4 31 (3.34%) PMO
5 18 (1.94%) SLA
6 14 (1.51%) Accessibility
7 9 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 7 (0.75%) PCI DSS
9 6 (0.65%) NIST
10 4 (0.43%) IFRS
11 3 (0.32%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.32%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.22%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.22%) GRC
12 2 (0.22%) NCSC
12 2 (0.22%) WCAG
13 1 (0.11%) COBIT
13 1 (0.11%) GAAP
13 1 (0.11%) IFRS 9
13 1 (0.11%) Solvency II
System Software
1 20 (2.16%) Active Directory
2 16 (1.72%) Docker
3 5 (0.54%) VMware NSX
4 4 (0.43%) RACF
4 4 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.11%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 22 (2.37%) Terraform
2 13 (1.40%) Kubernetes
3 8 (0.86%) Microsoft Intune
4 7 (0.75%) Grafana
4 7 (0.75%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (0.75%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 6 (0.65%) Argo
5 6 (0.65%) Istio
6 4 (0.43%) SCCM
7 2 (0.22%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (0.22%) CA Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.22%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (0.22%) MOM
7 2 (0.22%) PingFederate
8 1 (0.11%) Ansible
8 1 (0.11%) Cacti
8 1 (0.11%) Control-M
8 1 (0.11%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.11%) Nmap
8 1 (0.11%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 83 (8.94%) Microsoft
2 68 (7.33%) SAP
3 56 (6.03%) Oracle
4 53 (5.71%) Google
5 43 (4.63%) Salesforce
6 36 (3.88%) Databricks
7 28 (3.02%) Adobe
8 20 (2.16%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.62%) Sitecore
10 13 (1.40%) Cisco
11 12 (1.29%) IFS
12 10 (1.08%) IBM
13 9 (0.97%) Splunk
13 9 (0.97%) VMware
13 9 (0.97%) Workday
14 8 (0.86%) Palo Alto
14 8 (0.86%) Temenos
15 7 (0.75%) CheckPoint
15 7 (0.75%) Zscaler
16 6 (0.65%) GoldenSource