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

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 118 97 85
Rank change year-on-year -21 -12 +8
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,007 758 1,079
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.13% 2.62% 2.52%
As % of the General category 3.97% 4.13% 4.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 596 398 600
10th Percentile £208 £304 £299
25th Percentile £400 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £505
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +3.96% -4.72%
75th Percentile £606 £625 £638
90th Percentile £731 £729 £726
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 19 86
10th Percentile £13.21 £14.98 £11.44
25th Percentile £15.86 £16.30 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £29.00 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -27.59% +81.25% -19.23%
75th Percentile £29.19 £61.38 £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 25,341 18,360 24,809
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.69% 63.35% 58.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,487 11,672 15,642
10th Percentile £306 £289 £275
25th Percentile £408 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.37% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £483 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +1.68% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,622 780 1,929
10th Percentile £13.74 £14.00 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.39 £17.31 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.30 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year +9.89% -9.48% -10.82%
75th Percentile £60.94 £56.00 £52.78
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £65.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £24.50 £28.50
% change year-on-year +14.29% -14.04% -1.72%

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 13 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 13 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 13 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 -10 918 £501 -4.67% 1,188
London -15 495 £525 -4.98% 407
UK excluding London -1 434 £495 -1.00% 896
Work from Home -47 250 £500 -2.44% 424
North of England -35 125 £511 +13.61% 246
South East -10 123 £444 -11.25% 274
Midlands -20 85 £495 -1.00% 150
North West +1 75 £518 +3.50% 148
East Midlands -1 49 £495 -1.00% 79
East of England -7 48 £509 -3.05% 116
Yorkshire -48 47 £513 +38.51% 87
West Midlands -48 36 £500 +11.11% 71
South West -17 29 £333 -33.50% 77
Scotland +11 21 £474 -11.08% 43
North East -19 3 £201 -73.17% 15
Northern Ireland +3 2 £190 -44.48% 8
Wales -13 1 £190 +29.52% 20

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 35 (3.48%) Confluence
2 15 (1.49%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.09%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 8 (0.79%) CMS
5 7 (0.70%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.50%) SAS
7 2 (0.20%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.20%) Magnolia
7 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.099%) CICS
8 1 (0.099%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.099%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 33 (3.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 21 (2.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 19 (1.89%) Microsoft Project
4 18 (1.79%) Microsoft Office
5 13 (1.29%) Chatbot
6 11 (1.09%) MS Visio
7 8 (0.79%) Photoshop
8 6 (0.60%) Adobe Illustrator
9 3 (0.30%) InDesign
10 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 2 (0.20%) UserZoom
11 1 (0.099%) 3ds Max
11 1 (0.099%) Adobe After Effects
11 1 (0.099%) Adobe XD
11 1 (0.099%) Maya
11 1 (0.099%) PlantUML
11 1 (0.099%) SOLIDWORKS
11 1 (0.099%) Spreadsheet
11 1 (0.099%) Trello
Business Applications
1 20 (1.99%) Shopify
2 18 (1.79%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (1.09%) Dynamics CRM
4 7 (0.70%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 7 (0.70%) Oracle Retail
4 7 (0.70%) SAP Retail
5 6 (0.60%) Finacle
5 6 (0.60%) SAP CRM
6 5 (0.50%) Oracle EBS
6 5 (0.50%) SAP MDG
7 4 (0.40%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.30%) Magento
8 3 (0.30%) NetSuite
9 2 (0.20%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.20%) Dynamics AX
9 2 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
9 2 (0.20%) Sage X3
9 2 (0.20%) Salesforce CRM
9 2 (0.20%) SAP ERP
9 2 (0.20%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 94 (9.33%) Azure
2 76 (7.55%) AWS
3 58 (5.76%) GCP
4 50 (4.97%) Power Platform
5 30 (2.98%) Snowflake
6 25 (2.48%) Dynamics 365
7 20 (1.99%) GitHub
8 19 (1.89%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
9 18 (1.79%) Microsoft 365
10 15 (1.49%) Azure DevOps
11 13 (1.29%) BigCommerce
11 13 (1.29%) Figma
11 13 (1.29%) SaaS
12 12 (1.19%) Entra ID
12 12 (1.19%) GitHub Actions
13 11 (1.09%) Cloud Run
14 10 (0.99%) Azure Data Factory
14 10 (0.99%) Google Workspace
14 10 (0.99%) Miro
15 8 (0.79%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 16 (1.59%) VPN
2 15 (1.49%) Firewall
3 14 (1.39%) WAN
4 12 (1.19%) RFID
5 11 (1.09%) Wireless
6 8 (0.79%) ATM
6 8 (0.79%) Cisco Nexus
7 7 (0.70%) LAN
7 7 (0.70%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (0.60%) BGP
8 6 (0.60%) OSPF
9 5 (0.50%) Cisco Firepower
9 5 (0.50%) Network Security
10 4 (0.40%) Cisco ASA
10 4 (0.40%) EIGRP
10 4 (0.40%) NFC
10 4 (0.40%) VoIP
10 4 (0.40%) VSAN
11 3 (0.30%) MPLS
11 3 (0.30%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (4.57%) Power BI
2 27 (2.68%) BigQuery
3 16 (1.59%) Data Warehouse
4 12 (1.19%) MySQL
4 12 (1.19%) SQL Server
4 12 (1.19%) Tableau
5 9 (0.89%) Data Lake
5 9 (0.89%) Metadata
6 5 (0.50%) Data Vault
6 5 (0.50%) NoSQL
6 5 (0.50%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.50%) Relational Database
7 4 (0.40%) Delta Lake
7 4 (0.40%) Semantic Layer
8 3 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
8 3 (0.30%) Looker
8 3 (0.30%) OLAP
8 3 (0.30%) Oracle OLAP
8 3 (0.30%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (0.30%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 73 (7.25%) JIRA
2 19 (1.89%) Git
3 12 (1.19%) Jenkins
4 11 (1.09%) GitLab
5 4 (0.40%) Maven
6 3 (0.30%) ERwin
6 3 (0.30%) Subversion
7 2 (0.20%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 2 (0.20%) Gatling
7 2 (0.20%) Hudson
7 2 (0.20%) JMeter
7 2 (0.20%) MLflow
7 2 (0.20%) Selenium
7 2 (0.20%) Terragrunt
7 2 (0.20%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.099%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.099%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.099%) IBM UrbanCode
8 1 (0.099%) Mockito
8 1 (0.099%) webpack
General
1 300 (29.79%) Social Skills
2 258 (25.62%) Finance
3 103 (10.23%) Analytical Skills
4 94 (9.33%) Banking
5 57 (5.66%) Marketing
6 47 (4.67%) Organisational Skills
6 47 (4.67%) Retail Banking
7 41 (4.07%) Manufacturing
8 40 (3.97%) Investment Banking
9 38 (3.77%) Corporate Banking
10 27 (2.68%) Presentation Skills
11 26 (2.58%) Documentation Skills
11 26 (2.58%) Public Sector
12 24 (2.38%) Telecoms
13 22 (2.18%) Influencing Skills
14 17 (1.69%) Legal
15 13 (1.29%) Back Office
16 11 (1.09%) Advertising
16 11 (1.09%) French Language
17 10 (0.99%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 155 (15.39%) Analyst
2 145 (14.40%) Architect
3 124 (12.31%) Senior
4 109 (10.82%) Project Manager
5 92 (9.14%) Business Analyst
6 78 (7.75%) Lead
7 54 (5.36%) Senior Manager
8 53 (5.26%) Solutions Architect
9 38 (3.77%) Technical Manager
10 34 (3.38%) Developer
11 33 (3.28%) Consultant
12 32 (3.18%) Designer
13 29 (2.88%) Enterprise Architect
13 29 (2.88%) Senior Project Manager
14 27 (2.68%) Data Architect
15 23 (2.28%) Product Manager
16 21 (2.09%) Service Manager
17 20 (1.99%) Programme Manager
18 18 (1.79%) Data Engineer
19 17 (1.69%) Data Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (3.18%) Middleware
2 30 (2.98%) VML
3 26 (2.58%) REST
4 24 (2.38%) React
5 19 (1.89%) Spring
6 17 (1.69%) Node.js
7 13 (1.29%) Spring Boot
8 12 (1.19%) AngularJS
9 10 (0.99%) CSS
9 10 (0.99%) PySpark
10 9 (0.89%) Kafka
11 7 (0.70%) HTML
11 7 (0.70%) LangChain
11 7 (0.70%) SOAP
12 6 (0.60%) GraphQL
12 6 (0.60%) jQuery
12 6 (0.60%) MACH
12 6 (0.60%) OpenTelemetry
13 5 (0.50%) JSON
13 5 (0.50%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 69 (6.85%) Product Ownership
2 36 (3.57%) Driving Licence
2 36 (3.57%) EPoS
3 31 (3.08%) Cloud Native
4 26 (2.58%) Onboarding
5 25 (2.48%) Data Centre
6 21 (2.09%) FMCG
6 21 (2.09%) Mainframe
6 21 (2.09%) Management Information System
7 19 (1.89%) Data Structures
7 19 (1.89%) Self-Motivation
8 16 (1.59%) Mobile App
9 14 (1.39%) Legacy Systems
10 11 (1.09%) Greenfield Project
11 10 (0.99%) AI Agents
11 10 (0.99%) Virtual Team
12 8 (0.79%) Clustering
13 7 (0.70%) CCTV
13 7 (0.70%) Enterprise Cloud
13 7 (0.70%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 44 (4.37%) Windows
2 21 (2.09%) Linux
3 7 (0.70%) Android
3 7 (0.70%) Mac OS
3 7 (0.70%) Unix
3 7 (0.70%) zOS
4 5 (0.50%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.30%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.20%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.099%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 218 (21.65%) Agile
2 215 (21.35%) Stakeholder Management
3 183 (18.17%) Problem-Solving
4 145 (14.40%) E-Commerce
5 124 (12.31%) Migration
6 115 (11.42%) Roadmaps
7 112 (11.12%) Project Management
8 101 (10.03%) Analytics
9 96 (9.53%) Customer Experience
10 90 (8.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 85 (8.44%) ERP
12 77 (7.65%) Continuous Improvement
13 76 (7.55%) AI
13 76 (7.55%) Project Delivery
14 75 (7.45%) Decision-Making
15 71 (7.05%) Change Management
15 71 (7.05%) Scrum
16 68 (6.75%) User Acceptance Testing
17 65 (6.45%) Workshop Facilitation
18 64 (6.36%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 73 (7.25%) SQL
2 58 (5.76%) Python
3 30 (2.98%) Java
4 24 (2.38%) JavaScript
5 12 (1.19%) TypeScript
6 10 (0.99%) PowerShell
6 10 (0.99%) Shell Script
7 7 (0.70%) Bash
8 5 (0.50%) Apex Code
8 5 (0.50%) Kotlin
8 5 (0.50%) Kusto Query Language
8 5 (0.50%) SOQL
8 5 (0.50%) SOSL
9 4 (0.40%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.40%) Scala
9 4 (0.40%) VBA
10 2 (0.20%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.20%) Korn
10 2 (0.20%) R
10 2 (0.20%) REXX
Qualifications
1 47 (4.67%) Degree
2 38 (3.77%) Security Cleared
3 25 (2.48%) SC Cleared
4 15 (1.49%) PMP
5 10 (0.99%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.89%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (0.89%) CSPO
7 8 (0.79%) CCNP
7 8 (0.79%) Cisco Certification
8 7 (0.70%) APMP
8 7 (0.70%) DBS Check
8 7 (0.70%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.60%) CISSP
9 6 (0.60%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (0.50%) MBA
11 4 (0.40%) CCIE
11 4 (0.40%) CCSE
11 4 (0.40%) CCSM
11 4 (0.40%) ITIL Certification
12 3 (0.30%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (5.06%) QA
2 50 (4.97%) Data Quality
3 35 (3.48%) GDPR
4 31 (3.08%) PMO
5 17 (1.69%) SLA
6 14 (1.39%) Accessibility
7 10 (0.99%) PCI DSS
8 8 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.50%) NIST
10 4 (0.40%) IFRS
11 3 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 2 (0.20%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.20%) GRC
12 2 (0.20%) WCAG
13 1 (0.099%) COBIT
13 1 (0.099%) GAAP
13 1 (0.099%) IFRS 9
13 1 (0.099%) NCSC
13 1 (0.099%) Solvency II
System Software
1 20 (1.99%) Active Directory
2 17 (1.69%) Docker
3 6 (0.60%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.50%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (0.50%) VMware NSX
5 4 (0.40%) RACF
5 4 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 21 (2.09%) Terraform
2 13 (1.29%) Kubernetes
3 9 (0.89%) Microsoft Intune
4 8 (0.79%) Single Sign-On
5 7 (0.70%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
6 6 (0.60%) Argo
6 6 (0.60%) Grafana
6 6 (0.60%) Istio
7 5 (0.50%) SCCM
8 3 (0.30%) Ansible
9 2 (0.20%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.20%) CA Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.20%) FortiGate
9 2 (0.20%) MOM
9 2 (0.20%) PingFederate
10 1 (0.099%) Control-M
10 1 (0.099%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.099%) Nagios
10 1 (0.099%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.099%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 83 (8.24%) Microsoft
2 74 (7.35%) SAP
3 62 (6.16%) Oracle
4 51 (5.06%) Salesforce
5 46 (4.57%) Google
6 41 (4.07%) Databricks
7 24 (2.38%) Adobe
8 16 (1.59%) Cisco
8 16 (1.59%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.49%) IFS
9 15 (1.49%) Sitecore
10 13 (1.29%) VMware
11 11 (1.09%) IBM
11 11 (1.09%) Palo Alto
12 9 (0.89%) CheckPoint
12 9 (0.89%) Splunk
13 8 (0.79%) Fortinet
13 8 (0.79%) Temenos
13 8 (0.79%) Workday
13 8 (0.79%) Zscaler