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

6 months to
14 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 96 105 83
Rank change year-on-year +9 -22 +11
Contract jobs citing Retail 1,221 733 1,081
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.44% 2.48% 2.47%
As % of the General category 4.52% 3.90% 4.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 718 377 606
10th Percentile £252 £308 £296
25th Percentile £411 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £520 £505
Median % change year-on-year +0.96% +2.97% -6.05%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £634
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 88 30 87
10th Percentile £13.18 £13.86 £11.50
25th Percentile £15.63 £15.25 £12.15
Median hourly rate £21.00 £23.83 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.86% +48.91% -19.23%
75th Percentile £22.50 £53.13 £21.37
90th Percentile £43.75 £87.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.21 £15.90 £15.95
% change year-on-year +8.24% -0.31% -19.49%

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 27,038 18,778 24,962
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.98% 63.49% 57.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,351 11,844 15,645
10th Percentile £313 £281 £275
25th Percentile £413 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £504 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.69% -4.00% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £768
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,797 876 2,009
10th Percentile £13.99 £13.48 £12.78
25th Percentile £18.00 £16.95 £15.50
Median hourly rate £32.00 £28.00 £30.83
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% -9.16% -0.17%
75th Percentile £60.61 £54.00 £52.78
90th Percentile £80.02 £75.00 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.16 £24.50 £29.50
% change year-on-year +27.16% -16.95% +8.60%

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 14 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 14 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 14 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 1,117 £525 - 1,119
London +11 641 £550 - 410
UK excluding London +3 490 £500 - 843
Work from Home -29 274 £500 - 374
South East -1 147 £525 -1.18% 269
North of England -30 136 £513 +2.50% 224
Midlands -16 94 £495 +10.00% 155
North West -2 86 £563 +12.50% 115
East of England +1 53 £523 -4.86% 85
East Midlands -7 53 £495 +7.03% 90
Yorkshire -48 47 £500 - 82
West Midlands -31 41 £500 +12.68% 65
South West -15 33 £333 -26.11% 77
Scotland -10 21 £500 -6.10% 30
Northern Ireland +3 3 £196 -42.66% 16
Wales -17 3 £190 +29.52% 14
North East -33 3 £173 -76.98% 29

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 (2.87%) Confluence
2 15 (1.23%) CMS
3 14 (1.15%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 12 (0.98%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (0.66%) SharePoint
6 5 (0.41%) SAS
7 3 (0.25%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.16%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.16%) CICS
9 1 (0.082%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 31 (2.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (2.05%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (1.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 16 (1.31%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (1.06%) Chatbot
5 11 (0.90%) MS Visio
6 10 (0.82%) Photoshop
7 8 (0.66%) Adobe Illustrator
8 7 (0.57%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 5 (0.41%) InDesign
10 3 (0.25%) Notion
10 3 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
11 2 (0.16%) UserZoom
12 1 (0.082%) 3ds Max
12 1 (0.082%) Adobe After Effects
12 1 (0.082%) Adobe XD
12 1 (0.082%) Maya
12 1 (0.082%) PlantUML
12 1 (0.082%) SOLIDWORKS
12 1 (0.082%) Trello
Business Applications
1 24 (1.97%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (1.88%) Shopify
3 14 (1.15%) Dynamics CRM
4 9 (0.74%) SAP Retail
5 7 (0.57%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 7 (0.57%) Oracle Retail
5 7 (0.57%) SAP CRM
6 6 (0.49%) Finacle
7 5 (0.41%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.41%) Oracle EBS
7 5 (0.41%) SAP MDG
8 4 (0.33%) Magento
8 4 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
9 3 (0.25%) Payment Gateway
9 3 (0.25%) SAP CAR
9 3 (0.25%) SAP SD
10 2 (0.16%) Dynamics AX
10 2 (0.16%) Sage X3
10 2 (0.16%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.16%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 134 (10.97%) Azure
2 105 (8.60%) AWS
3 69 (5.65%) GCP
4 59 (4.83%) Power Platform
5 44 (3.60%) Snowflake
6 28 (2.29%) GitHub
7 23 (1.88%) Dynamics 365
8 20 (1.64%) Azure DevOps
9 19 (1.56%) Entra ID
9 19 (1.56%) GitHub Actions
10 17 (1.39%) Figma
11 16 (1.31%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
12 13 (1.06%) Azure Data Factory
12 13 (1.06%) dbt
13 12 (0.98%) BigCommerce
13 12 (0.98%) Microsoft 365
13 12 (0.98%) SaaS
14 11 (0.90%) Cloud Run
14 11 (0.90%) Google Workspace
15 9 (0.74%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 13 (1.06%) ATM
1 13 (1.06%) WAN
2 12 (0.98%) Firewall
3 11 (0.90%) Network Security
4 10 (0.82%) VPN
4 10 (0.82%) Wireless
5 9 (0.74%) RFID
6 7 (0.57%) LAN
7 6 (0.49%) Cisco Firepower
7 6 (0.49%) SD-WAN
7 6 (0.49%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (0.41%) Cisco ASA
8 5 (0.41%) Cisco Nexus
8 5 (0.41%) VSAN
9 4 (0.33%) BGP
9 4 (0.33%) IPsec
9 4 (0.33%) OSPF
10 3 (0.25%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 3 (0.25%) MPLS
10 3 (0.25%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 56 (4.59%) Power BI
2 29 (2.38%) BigQuery
3 21 (1.72%) Data Warehouse
4 18 (1.47%) MySQL
4 18 (1.47%) Tableau
5 17 (1.39%) SQL Server
6 15 (1.23%) Metadata
7 12 (0.98%) Data Lake
8 11 (0.90%) NoSQL
9 9 (0.74%) Relational Database
10 6 (0.49%) Data Vault
10 6 (0.49%) MongoDB
10 6 (0.49%) PostgreSQL
10 6 (0.49%) Snowflake Schema
11 4 (0.33%) Big Data
11 4 (0.33%) Looker
11 4 (0.33%) Semantic Layer
12 3 (0.25%) Amazon Redshift
12 3 (0.25%) Couchbase
12 3 (0.25%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 74 (6.06%) JIRA
2 24 (1.97%) Git
3 16 (1.31%) Jenkins
4 11 (0.90%) GitLab
5 4 (0.33%) Maven
5 4 (0.33%) Subversion
6 3 (0.25%) Cypress.io
6 3 (0.25%) Eclipse
6 3 (0.25%) ERwin
6 3 (0.25%) Hudson
6 3 (0.25%) JMeter
6 3 (0.25%) Selenium
6 3 (0.25%) 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 (0.082%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.082%) Oracle APEX
General
1 344 (28.17%) Social Skills
2 289 (23.67%) Finance
3 115 (9.42%) Analytical Skills
4 110 (9.01%) Banking
5 71 (5.81%) Marketing
6 59 (4.83%) Manufacturing
7 58 (4.75%) Organisational Skills
8 56 (4.59%) Retail Banking
9 45 (3.69%) Investment Banking
10 41 (3.36%) Corporate Banking
11 28 (2.29%) Public Sector
12 27 (2.21%) Telecoms
13 26 (2.13%) Documentation Skills
14 21 (1.72%) Legal
14 21 (1.72%) Presentation Skills
15 20 (1.64%) French Language
16 19 (1.56%) Influencing Skills
17 16 (1.31%) Advertising
18 14 (1.15%) Private Banking
18 14 (1.15%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 187 (15.32%) Architect
2 177 (14.50%) Analyst
3 149 (12.20%) Senior
4 116 (9.50%) Project Manager
5 101 (8.27%) Business Analyst
6 95 (7.78%) Lead
7 86 (7.04%) Solutions Architect
8 59 (4.83%) Senior Manager
9 48 (3.93%) Developer
10 42 (3.44%) Technical Manager
11 41 (3.36%) Designer
12 37 (3.03%) Consultant
12 37 (3.03%) Enterprise Architect
13 35 (2.87%) Product Manager
14 34 (2.78%) Senior Project Manager
15 28 (2.29%) Data Engineer
16 27 (2.21%) Data Architect
17 26 (2.13%) 2nd Line Support
18 25 (2.05%) Programme Manager
19 23 (1.88%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (3.36%) REST
2 33 (2.70%) Middleware
3 31 (2.54%) React
4 27 (2.21%) Spring
5 25 (2.05%) VML
6 21 (1.72%) Spring Boot
7 20 (1.64%) Kafka
8 19 (1.56%) Node.js
9 15 (1.23%) CSS
9 15 (1.23%) HTML
10 14 (1.15%) AngularJS
10 14 (1.15%) RESTful
11 10 (0.82%) .NET
11 10 (0.82%) J2EE
11 10 (0.82%) MACH
12 9 (0.74%) OAuth
13 8 (0.66%) Django
13 8 (0.66%) OpenTelemetry
13 8 (0.66%) SOAP
14 7 (0.57%) LangChain
Miscellaneous
1 73 (5.98%) Product Ownership
2 45 (3.69%) EPoS
3 43 (3.52%) FMCG
4 42 (3.44%) Driving Licence
5 37 (3.03%) Cloud Native
6 34 (2.78%) Onboarding
7 21 (1.72%) Data Structures
8 20 (1.64%) Data Centre
8 20 (1.64%) Mainframe
9 18 (1.47%) Legacy Systems
9 18 (1.47%) Mobile App
9 18 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
10 15 (1.23%) AI Agents
10 15 (1.23%) Management Information System
11 14 (1.15%) Greenfield Project
11 14 (1.15%) Marketing Technology
12 11 (0.90%) Operational Technology
12 11 (0.90%) Smartphone
13 10 (0.82%) Virtual Team
14 9 (0.74%) Mobile Payment
Operating Systems
1 51 (4.18%) Windows
2 24 (1.97%) Linux
3 11 (0.90%) Android
4 7 (0.57%) Unix
4 7 (0.57%) zOS
5 6 (0.49%) Mac OS
6 5 (0.41%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.33%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.25%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.25%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.082%) Debian
9 1 (0.082%) SUSE
9 1 (0.082%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.082%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 273 (22.36%) Agile
2 264 (21.62%) Stakeholder Management
3 187 (15.32%) Problem-Solving
4 176 (14.41%) E-Commerce
5 151 (12.37%) Migration
6 144 (11.79%) Roadmaps
7 124 (10.16%) Analytics
8 119 (9.75%) Customer Experience
9 116 (9.50%) Project Management
10 104 (8.52%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 103 (8.44%) AI
12 95 (7.78%) ERP
13 87 (7.13%) Change Management
13 87 (7.13%) Project Delivery
14 86 (7.04%) Decision-Making
15 84 (6.88%) Continuous Improvement
15 84 (6.88%) User Acceptance Testing
16 83 (6.80%) CI/CD
17 82 (6.72%) Scrum
18 78 (6.39%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 95 (7.78%) SQL
2 72 (5.90%) Python
3 46 (3.77%) Java
4 26 (2.13%) JavaScript
5 18 (1.47%) TypeScript
6 9 (0.74%) C#
6 9 (0.74%) PowerShell
6 9 (0.74%) Shell Script
7 7 (0.57%) SOQL
8 6 (0.49%) Kotlin
9 5 (0.41%) Apex Code
9 5 (0.41%) Bash
9 5 (0.41%) Bicep
9 5 (0.41%) PL/SQL
9 5 (0.41%) SOSL
10 4 (0.33%) Scala
11 3 (0.25%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 3 (0.25%) Groovy
11 3 (0.25%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.25%) R
Qualifications
1 53 (4.34%) Degree
2 41 (3.36%) Security Cleared
3 29 (2.38%) SC Cleared
4 18 (1.47%) PMP
5 10 (0.82%) DBS Check
5 10 (0.82%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.74%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (0.74%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (0.66%) CISSP
8 7 (0.57%) APMP
8 7 (0.57%) Master's Degree
9 5 (0.41%) CCNP
9 5 (0.41%) CCSE
9 5 (0.41%) CCSM
9 5 (0.41%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (0.41%) CISM
9 5 (0.41%) CSPO
9 5 (0.41%) MBA
10 4 (0.33%) City & Guilds
10 4 (0.33%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (4.91%) QA
2 55 (4.50%) Data Quality
3 38 (3.11%) GDPR
4 32 (2.62%) PMO
5 16 (1.31%) Accessibility
6 15 (1.23%) PCI DSS
7 12 (0.98%) SLA
8 8 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 6 (0.49%) NIST
10 3 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.25%) 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 (0.082%) Basel III
12 1 (0.082%) COBIT
12 1 (0.082%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 26 (2.13%) Docker
2 23 (1.88%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.49%) Virtual Desktop
3 6 (0.49%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.41%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.16%) RACF
5 2 (0.16%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.082%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 32 (2.62%) Terraform
2 24 (1.97%) Kubernetes
3 12 (0.98%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 6 (0.49%) Ansible
4 6 (0.49%) Argo
4 6 (0.49%) Istio
4 6 (0.49%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.41%) Grafana
5 5 (0.41%) SCCM
5 5 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.25%) FortiGate
7 2 (0.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (0.16%) CA Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.16%) MOM
7 2 (0.16%) PingFederate
8 1 (0.082%) CSIRT
8 1 (0.082%) Nagios
8 1 (0.082%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.082%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 101 (8.27%) Microsoft
2 83 (6.80%) SAP
3 73 (5.98%) Oracle
4 57 (4.67%) Google
5 54 (4.42%) Salesforce
6 44 (3.60%) Databricks
7 33 (2.70%) Adobe
8 21 (1.72%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.23%) Cisco
9 15 (1.23%) IFS
10 14 (1.15%) Sitecore
11 13 (1.06%) IBM
12 12 (0.98%) Splunk
12 12 (0.98%) Zscaler
13 10 (0.82%) Fortinet
13 10 (0.82%) MuleSoft
13 10 (0.82%) Palo Alto
13 10 (0.82%) VMware
14 8 (0.66%) Dynatrace
15 7 (0.57%) Workday