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

6 months to
28 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 109 105 81
Rank change year-on-year -4 -24 +12
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,107 727 1,090
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.27% 2.54% 2.55%
As % of the General category 4.21% 4.00% 4.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 647 370 605
10th Percentile £244 £312 £276
25th Percentile £411 £413 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £521 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.08% +4.25% -7.41%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £625
90th Percentile £738 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 77 23 88
10th Percentile £13.16 £15.25 £11.56
25th Percentile £15.75 £15.78 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £29.00 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -27.59% +81.25% -19.23%
75th Percentile £22.50 £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 26,273 18,154 24,669
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.80% 63.36% 57.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,928 11,519 15,575
10th Percentile £313 £281 £275
25th Percentile £413 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £760 £769
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +3.58% -3.60% -1.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,739 792 1,958
10th Percentile £13.90 £13.50 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.69 £16.73 £15.50
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 £66.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.00 £24.34 £28.25
% change year-on-year +19.17% -13.86% +2.36%

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 28 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 28 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 28 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 0 1,013 £523 -0.48% 1,410
London 0 559 £538 -2.27% 555
UK excluding London +5 465 £500 - 975
Work from Home -37 261 £500 - 529
South East -3 133 £475 -5.00% 285
North of England -36 132 £511 +2.25% 281
Midlands -18 94 £495 +7.03% 167
North West 0 82 £525 +5.00% 157
East Midlands +4 54 £495 -1.00% 83
East of England -3 50 £523 -0.33% 107
Yorkshire -54 47 £513 +25.00% 109
West Midlands -44 40 £529 +20.88% 84
South West -11 31 £333 -33.50% 85
Scotland +2 21 £500 -6.10% 42
North East -28 3 £173 -76.98% 19
Northern Ireland +3 2 £190 -44.48% 16
Wales -17 2 £190 +29.52% 22

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 38 (3.43%) Confluence
2 14 (1.26%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.99%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 11 (0.99%) CMS
4 10 (0.90%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.36%) SAS
6 3 (0.27%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.18%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.18%) CICS
7 2 (0.18%) Magnolia
8 1 (0.090%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.090%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 30 (2.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 23 (2.08%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (1.72%) Microsoft Project
4 18 (1.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 13 (1.17%) Chatbot
6 11 (0.99%) MS Visio
7 10 (0.90%) Photoshop
8 8 (0.72%) Adobe Illustrator
9 5 (0.45%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 5 (0.45%) InDesign
10 3 (0.27%) Notion
11 2 (0.18%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.090%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.090%) Adobe After Effects
12 1 (0.090%) Adobe XD
12 1 (0.090%) Maya
12 1 (0.090%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.090%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.090%) Spreadsheet
12 1 (0.090%) Trello
Business Applications
1 21 (1.90%) Shopify
2 19 (1.72%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (1.17%) Dynamics CRM
4 8 (0.72%) SAP Retail
5 7 (0.63%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 6 (0.54%) Finacle
6 6 (0.54%) Oracle Retail
6 6 (0.54%) SAP CRM
7 5 (0.45%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.45%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.45%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.36%) Magento
9 3 (0.27%) 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
1 115 (10.39%) Azure
2 88 (7.95%) AWS
3 65 (5.87%) GCP
4 48 (4.34%) Power Platform
5 36 (3.25%) Snowflake
6 24 (2.17%) Dynamics 365
6 24 (2.17%) GitHub
7 20 (1.81%) Azure DevOps
8 18 (1.63%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
9 17 (1.54%) Microsoft 365
10 16 (1.45%) Figma
10 16 (1.45%) GitHub Actions
11 14 (1.26%) Entra ID
11 14 (1.26%) SaaS
12 12 (1.08%) Azure Data Factory
12 12 (1.08%) BigCommerce
13 11 (0.99%) Cloud Run
13 11 (0.99%) Google Workspace
14 10 (0.90%) dbt
14 10 (0.90%) Miro
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.26%) WAN
2 13 (1.17%) ATM
2 13 (1.17%) Firewall
3 12 (1.08%) VPN
4 9 (0.81%) Wireless
5 8 (0.72%) Network Security
5 8 (0.72%) RFID
6 7 (0.63%) Cisco Nexus
6 7 (0.63%) LAN
6 7 (0.63%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (0.54%) Cisco Firepower
8 5 (0.45%) BGP
8 5 (0.45%) Cisco ASA
8 5 (0.45%) OSPF
8 5 (0.45%) SD-WAN
8 5 (0.45%) VSAN
9 4 (0.36%) MPLS
10 3 (0.27%) Broadband
10 3 (0.27%) EIGRP
10 3 (0.27%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 45 (4.07%) Power BI
2 28 (2.53%) BigQuery
3 20 (1.81%) Data Warehouse
4 15 (1.36%) MySQL
4 15 (1.36%) SQL Server
5 12 (1.08%) Tableau
6 10 (0.90%) Data Lake
6 10 (0.90%) Metadata
7 7 (0.63%) NoSQL
7 7 (0.63%) Relational Database
8 6 (0.54%) Data Vault
8 6 (0.54%) MongoDB
9 5 (0.45%) PostgreSQL
9 5 (0.45%) Snowflake Schema
10 4 (0.36%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.36%) Looker
10 4 (0.36%) Oracle Reports
10 4 (0.36%) Semantic Layer
11 3 (0.27%) OLAP
11 3 (0.27%) Oracle OLAP
Development Applications
1 76 (6.87%) JIRA
2 22 (1.99%) Git
3 16 (1.45%) Jenkins
4 11 (0.99%) GitLab
5 4 (0.36%) JMeter
5 4 (0.36%) Maven
5 4 (0.36%) Subversion
6 3 (0.27%) ERwin
6 3 (0.27%) Selenium
6 3 (0.27%) Terragrunt
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%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.090%) HP UFT
8 1 (0.090%) Toad
General
1 320 (28.91%) Social Skills
2 275 (24.84%) Finance
3 109 (9.85%) Analytical Skills
4 103 (9.30%) Banking
5 67 (6.05%) Marketing
6 53 (4.79%) Retail Banking
7 51 (4.61%) Manufacturing
8 49 (4.43%) Organisational Skills
9 44 (3.97%) Investment Banking
10 40 (3.61%) Corporate Banking
11 27 (2.44%) Public Sector
11 27 (2.44%) Telecoms
12 25 (2.26%) Documentation Skills
13 21 (1.90%) Influencing Skills
13 21 (1.90%) Legal
13 21 (1.90%) Presentation Skills
14 15 (1.36%) Advertising
14 15 (1.36%) French Language
15 13 (1.17%) Back Office
15 13 (1.17%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 165 (14.91%) Analyst
1 165 (14.91%) Architect
2 138 (12.47%) Senior
3 116 (10.48%) Project Manager
4 96 (8.67%) Business Analyst
5 84 (7.59%) Lead
6 70 (6.32%) Solutions Architect
7 60 (5.42%) Senior Manager
8 44 (3.97%) Technical Manager
9 38 (3.43%) Designer
9 38 (3.43%) Developer
10 33 (2.98%) Product Manager
10 33 (2.98%) Senior Project Manager
11 31 (2.80%) Consultant
11 31 (2.80%) Enterprise Architect
12 27 (2.44%) Data Architect
13 24 (2.17%) Data Engineer
13 24 (2.17%) Service Manager
14 21 (1.90%) 2nd Line Support
14 21 (1.90%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (2.98%) Middleware
2 31 (2.80%) REST
3 27 (2.44%) VML
4 25 (2.26%) React
5 23 (2.08%) Spring
6 18 (1.63%) Node.js
7 17 (1.54%) Spring Boot
8 14 (1.26%) AngularJS
9 13 (1.17%) Kafka
10 12 (1.08%) CSS
11 11 (0.99%) RESTful
12 9 (0.81%) HTML
13 8 (0.72%) .NET
13 8 (0.72%) OpenTelemetry
13 8 (0.72%) PySpark
14 7 (0.63%) LangChain
14 7 (0.63%) MACH
14 7 (0.63%) OAuth
14 7 (0.63%) OAuth2
14 7 (0.63%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 73 (6.59%) Product Ownership
2 42 (3.79%) EPoS
3 40 (3.61%) Driving Licence
4 32 (2.89%) Cloud Native
4 32 (2.89%) FMCG
5 29 (2.62%) Onboarding
6 22 (1.99%) Data Centre
7 21 (1.90%) Mainframe
8 19 (1.72%) Data Structures
8 19 (1.72%) Management Information System
9 18 (1.63%) Self-Motivation
10 16 (1.45%) Legacy Systems
10 16 (1.45%) Mobile App
11 12 (1.08%) Greenfield Project
12 11 (0.99%) AI Agents
12 11 (0.99%) Smartphone
13 10 (0.90%) Virtual Team
14 9 (0.81%) CCTV
15 8 (0.72%) Clustering
16 7 (0.63%) Mobile Payment
Operating Systems
1 47 (4.25%) Windows
2 22 (1.99%) Linux
3 9 (0.81%) Android
4 7 (0.63%) Unix
4 7 (0.63%) zOS
5 5 (0.45%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.36%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.27%) Apple iOS
7 3 (0.27%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.090%) Debian
8 1 (0.090%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.090%) SUSE
8 1 (0.090%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.090%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.090%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 245 (22.13%) Agile
2 231 (20.87%) Stakeholder Management
3 185 (16.71%) Problem-Solving
4 163 (14.72%) E-Commerce
5 134 (12.10%) Migration
6 129 (11.65%) Roadmaps
7 120 (10.84%) Project Management
8 109 (9.85%) Analytics
9 107 (9.67%) Customer Experience
10 92 (8.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 87 (7.86%) ERP
12 84 (7.59%) Project Delivery
13 83 (7.50%) Continuous Improvement
14 82 (7.41%) Change Management
15 81 (7.32%) Decision-Making
16 79 (7.14%) Scrum
17 77 (6.96%) AI
18 76 (6.87%) User Acceptance Testing
19 72 (6.50%) CI/CD
20 70 (6.32%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 81 (7.32%) SQL
2 58 (5.24%) Python
3 35 (3.16%) Java
4 24 (2.17%) JavaScript
5 14 (1.26%) TypeScript
6 10 (0.90%) Shell Script
7 9 (0.81%) PowerShell
8 7 (0.63%) C#
9 6 (0.54%) SOQL
10 5 (0.45%) Apex Code
10 5 (0.45%) Bash
10 5 (0.45%) Kotlin
10 5 (0.45%) SOSL
11 4 (0.36%) Bicep
11 4 (0.36%) Scala
12 3 (0.27%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.27%) PL/SQL
12 3 (0.27%) R
12 3 (0.27%) VBA
13 2 (0.18%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 50 (4.52%) Degree
2 41 (3.70%) Security Cleared
3 26 (2.35%) SC Cleared
4 18 (1.63%) PMP
5 11 (0.99%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.81%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (0.72%) CISSP
7 8 (0.72%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (0.72%) DBS Check
8 7 (0.63%) APMP
8 7 (0.63%) CCNP
8 7 (0.63%) Cisco Certification
8 7 (0.63%) CSPO
8 7 (0.63%) Master's Degree
9 5 (0.45%) CCSE
9 5 (0.45%) CCSM
9 5 (0.45%) CISM
9 5 (0.45%) ITIL Certification
9 5 (0.45%) MBA
10 4 (0.36%) City & Guilds
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (5.15%) QA
2 56 (5.06%) Data Quality
3 36 (3.25%) GDPR
4 33 (2.98%) PMO
5 16 (1.45%) SLA
6 15 (1.36%) Accessibility
7 10 (0.90%) PCI DSS
8 8 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 5 (0.45%) NIST
10 2 (0.18%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.18%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 2 (0.18%) GRC
10 2 (0.18%) IFRS
10 2 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.18%) WCAG
11 1 (0.090%) COBIT
11 1 (0.090%) GAAP
11 1 (0.090%) GxP
11 1 (0.090%) ISO 8583
11 1 (0.090%) NCSC
System Software
1 23 (2.08%) Docker
2 21 (1.90%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.54%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.54%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.45%) VMware ESXi
5 4 (0.36%) Virtual Desktop
6 3 (0.27%) RACF
6 3 (0.27%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 24 (2.17%) Terraform
2 18 (1.63%) Kubernetes
3 9 (0.81%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 7 (0.63%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.54%) Argo
5 6 (0.54%) Grafana
5 6 (0.54%) Istio
5 6 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.45%) SCCM
7 3 (0.27%) 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 (0.090%) Nagios
9 1 (0.090%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.090%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 92 (8.31%) Microsoft
2 75 (6.78%) SAP
3 66 (5.96%) Oracle
4 54 (4.88%) Salesforce
5 49 (4.43%) Google
6 41 (3.70%) Databricks
7 27 (2.44%) Adobe
8 20 (1.81%) ServiceNow
9 16 (1.45%) Cisco
10 15 (1.36%) IFS
11 14 (1.26%) Sitecore
12 12 (1.08%) IBM
13 11 (0.99%) Splunk
13 11 (0.99%) VMware
14 10 (0.90%) Palo Alto
15 9 (0.81%) Fortinet
15 9 (0.81%) Zscaler
16 8 (0.72%) CheckPoint
16 8 (0.72%) Temenos
16 8 (0.72%) Workday