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

6 months to
24 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 129 93 86
Rank change year-on-year -36 -7 +2
Contract jobs citing Retail 933 796 1,064
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.01% 2.69% 2.44%
As % of the General category 3.66% 4.27% 4.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 569 425 604
10th Percentile £200 £300 £300
25th Percentile £380 £409 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £509
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +3.19% -3.10%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £638
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 37 21 84
10th Percentile £12.95 £15.25 £11.31
25th Percentile £15.84 £16.30 £12.15
Median hourly rate £18.85 £31.50 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year -40.16% +96.88% -19.23%
75th Percentile £23.75 £55.25 £21.37
90th Percentile £46.25 £87.50 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £17.22 £15.29
% change year-on-year +1.66% +12.59% -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 25,486 18,638 25,438
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.85% 63.10% 58.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,770 11,909 16,090
10th Percentile £305 £300 £270
25th Percentile £406 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £639 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £756
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,614 789 1,927
10th Percentile £13.72 £14.20 £12.77
25th Percentile £17.50 £18.13 £15.41
Median hourly rate £29.00 £28.00 £28.50
Median % change year-on-year +3.57% -1.75% -18.57%
75th Percentile £60.00 £56.00 £51.50
90th Percentile £79.70 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.45 £25.29 £27.50
% change year-on-year +0.64% -8.04% -13.07%

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 24 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 24 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 24 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 -31 850 £500 -4.76% 905
London -26 456 £525 -4.55% 265
UK excluding London -10 403 £475 -5.00% 744
Work from Home -59 227 £500 -2.44% 307
North of England -33 118 £500 +11.11% 194
South East -22 114 £394 -25.00% 233
Midlands -32 78 £495 -1.00% 138
North West -12 67 £500 - 113
East of England -13 46 £535 -2.73% 106
Yorkshire -38 46 £513 +38.51% 64
East Midlands -13 40 £495 -1.00% 81
West Midlands -50 37 £500 +11.11% 57
Scotland +14 22 £475 -10.17% 28
South West -24 22 £318 -25.73% 61
North East -13 5 £206 -72.50% 21
Northern Ireland +2 2 £190 -44.48% 9
Wales -14 1 £190 +29.52% 16

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 (4.07%) Confluence
2 17 (1.82%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 10 (1.07%) CMS
5 8 (0.86%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.54%) SAS
7 3 (0.32%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.21%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.21%) Magnolia
9 1 (0.11%) CICS
9 1 (0.11%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.11%) WebSphere Application Server
9 1 (0.11%) WordPress
Applications
1 32 (3.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (2.04%) Microsoft Project
3 15 (1.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 13 (1.39%) Chatbot
5 12 (1.29%) Microsoft Office
6 11 (1.18%) MS Visio
7 8 (0.86%) Photoshop
8 6 (0.64%) Adobe Illustrator
9 3 (0.32%) InDesign
10 2 (0.21%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 2 (0.21%) Trello
10 2 (0.21%) 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 20 (2.14%) Shopify
2 14 (1.50%) Dynamics CRM
2 14 (1.50%) SAP S/4HANA
3 8 (0.86%) Oracle Retail
4 7 (0.75%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 7 (0.75%) SAP Retail
5 6 (0.64%) Finacle
6 5 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
7 4 (0.43%) SAP MDG
7 4 (0.43%) Temenos T24
8 3 (0.32%) SAP Payroll
8 3 (0.32%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.21%) BambooHR
9 2 (0.21%) Dynamics AX
9 2 (0.21%) NetSuite
9 2 (0.21%) Payment Gateway
9 2 (0.21%) Sage X3
9 2 (0.21%) Salesforce CRM
9 2 (0.21%) SAP MM
9 2 (0.21%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 94 (10.08%) Azure
2 63 (6.75%) AWS
3 55 (5.89%) Power Platform
4 54 (5.79%) GCP
5 28 (3.00%) Dynamics 365
6 26 (2.79%) Snowflake
7 21 (2.25%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (2.25%) GitHub
8 19 (2.04%) Microsoft 365
9 16 (1.71%) SaaS
10 14 (1.50%) Entra ID
10 14 (1.50%) Figma
11 13 (1.39%) GitHub Actions
11 13 (1.39%) Google Workspace
12 12 (1.29%) BigCommerce
13 11 (1.18%) Cloud Run
13 11 (1.18%) Miro
13 11 (1.18%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
14 10 (1.07%) Azure Data Factory
15 8 (0.86%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.93%) VPN
2 16 (1.71%) RFID
3 15 (1.61%) Firewall
4 14 (1.50%) WAN
5 12 (1.29%) Wireless
6 8 (0.86%) LAN
6 8 (0.86%) NFC
7 6 (0.64%) BGP
7 6 (0.64%) Cisco Nexus
7 6 (0.64%) OSPF
7 6 (0.64%) Wi-Fi
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 (0.21%) IPsec
10 2 (0.21%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (5.04%) Power BI
2 24 (2.57%) BigQuery
3 18 (1.93%) Data Warehouse
4 16 (1.71%) SQL Server
5 12 (1.29%) MySQL
5 12 (1.29%) Tableau
6 10 (1.07%) Metadata
7 8 (0.86%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.75%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.64%) Data Vault
9 6 (0.64%) 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 (0.21%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 71 (7.61%) JIRA
2 15 (1.61%) Git
3 11 (1.18%) GitLab
4 10 (1.07%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.54%) ERwin
6 4 (0.43%) Maven
7 3 (0.32%) Selenium
7 3 (0.32%) Terragrunt
8 2 (0.21%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 2 (0.21%) Hudson
8 2 (0.21%) MLflow
8 2 (0.21%) PowerDesigner
8 2 (0.21%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.11%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.11%) JMeter
9 1 (0.11%) Mockito
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle APEX
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle Forms
9 1 (0.11%) Xcode
9 1 (0.11%) Zephyr
General
1 292 (31.30%) Social Skills
2 238 (25.51%) Finance
3 109 (11.68%) Analytical Skills
4 84 (9.00%) Banking
5 56 (6.00%) Marketing
6 42 (4.50%) Manufacturing
6 42 (4.50%) Organisational Skills
7 34 (3.64%) Retail Banking
8 31 (3.32%) Documentation Skills
9 30 (3.22%) Investment Banking
10 28 (3.00%) Corporate Banking
11 27 (2.89%) Public Sector
12 26 (2.79%) Presentation Skills
13 24 (2.57%) Influencing Skills
14 20 (2.14%) Telecoms
15 17 (1.82%) Legal
16 12 (1.29%) Back Office
17 10 (1.07%) Pharmaceutical
18 8 (0.86%) Private Banking
19 6 (0.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 159 (17.04%) Analyst
2 132 (14.15%) Architect
3 115 (12.33%) Senior
4 109 (11.68%) Project Manager
5 93 (9.97%) Business Analyst
6 74 (7.93%) Lead
7 46 (4.93%) Senior Manager
7 46 (4.93%) Solutions Architect
8 36 (3.86%) Consultant
9 31 (3.32%) Technical Manager
10 29 (3.11%) Designer
11 25 (2.68%) Senior Project Manager
12 24 (2.57%) Developer
12 24 (2.57%) Enterprise Architect
13 23 (2.47%) Data Architect
14 21 (2.25%) Programme Manager
15 17 (1.82%) Data Analyst
15 17 (1.82%) Product Manager
15 17 (1.82%) Senior Analyst
16 16 (1.71%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (3.22%) Middleware
2 28 (3.00%) VML
3 25 (2.68%) REST
4 17 (1.82%) Spring
5 15 (1.61%) React
6 12 (1.29%) AngularJS
6 12 (1.29%) Spring Boot
7 10 (1.07%) CSS
7 10 (1.07%) PySpark
8 9 (0.96%) Node.js
9 8 (0.86%) .NET
10 7 (0.75%) HTML
10 7 (0.75%) Kafka
10 7 (0.75%) LangChain
11 6 (0.64%) jQuery
11 6 (0.64%) JSON
11 6 (0.64%) OAuth
11 6 (0.64%) OAuth2
11 6 (0.64%) OpenID
11 6 (0.64%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 60 (6.43%) Product Ownership
2 33 (3.54%) Driving Licence
3 31 (3.32%) Cloud Native
4 26 (2.79%) EPoS
4 26 (2.79%) Self-Motivation
5 24 (2.57%) Onboarding
6 23 (2.47%) Data Centre
7 22 (2.36%) Management Information System
8 21 (2.25%) FMCG
8 21 (2.25%) Mainframe
9 18 (1.93%) Legacy Systems
10 17 (1.82%) Data Structures
11 14 (1.50%) Mobile App
12 10 (1.07%) Greenfield Project
12 10 (1.07%) IoT
12 10 (1.07%) Virtual Team
13 8 (0.86%) Clustering
13 8 (0.86%) Hybrid Cloud
13 8 (0.86%) Reference Data
14 7 (0.75%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 37 (3.97%) Windows
2 19 (2.04%) Linux
3 8 (0.86%) Mac OS
4 7 (0.75%) zOS
5 5 (0.54%) Android
5 5 (0.54%) Unix
5 5 (0.54%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.32%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.21%) VMS
8 1 (0.11%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 209 (22.40%) Stakeholder Management
2 205 (21.97%) Agile
3 182 (19.51%) Problem-Solving
4 122 (13.08%) E-Commerce
5 120 (12.86%) Migration
6 112 (12.00%) Project Management
7 110 (11.79%) Roadmaps
8 92 (9.86%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 91 (9.75%) Analytics
10 86 (9.22%) Customer Experience
11 82 (8.79%) ERP
12 80 (8.57%) AI
13 74 (7.93%) Workshop Facilitation
14 73 (7.82%) Project Delivery
15 71 (7.61%) Change Management
16 69 (7.40%) Continuous Improvement
16 69 (7.40%) Decision-Making
17 67 (7.18%) Scrum
18 62 (6.65%) Business Intelligence
18 62 (6.65%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 73 (7.82%) SQL
2 64 (6.86%) Python
3 29 (3.11%) Java
4 20 (2.14%) JavaScript
5 15 (1.61%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.07%) Bash
7 9 (0.96%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.75%) C#
8 7 (0.75%) Kusto Query Language
8 7 (0.75%) TypeScript
9 5 (0.54%) Kotlin
9 5 (0.54%) PL/SQL
10 4 (0.43%) VBA
11 3 (0.32%) Apex Code
11 3 (0.32%) Scala
11 3 (0.32%) SOQL
11 3 (0.32%) SOSL
12 2 (0.21%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 2 (0.21%) Google Apps Script
12 2 (0.21%) R
Qualifications
1 45 (4.82%) Degree
2 34 (3.64%) Security Cleared
3 23 (2.47%) SC Cleared
4 19 (2.04%) PMP
5 15 (1.61%) PMI Certification
6 9 (0.96%) CSPO
7 8 (0.86%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (0.75%) APMP
8 7 (0.75%) Master's Degree
9 6 (0.64%) CCNP
9 6 (0.64%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (0.64%) CISSP
9 6 (0.64%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (0.54%) MBA
11 4 (0.43%) CCIE
11 4 (0.43%) DBS Check
12 3 (0.32%) CISM
12 3 (0.32%) CRISC
12 3 (0.32%) Microsoft Certification
12 3 (0.32%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (5.47%) Data Quality
1 51 (5.47%) QA
2 34 (3.64%) GDPR
3 30 (3.22%) PMO
4 18 (1.93%) SLA
5 14 (1.50%) Accessibility
6 9 (0.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 7 (0.75%) PCI DSS
8 5 (0.54%) NIST
9 4 (0.43%) IFRS
10 3 (0.32%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.32%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.21%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.21%) GRC
11 2 (0.21%) WCAG
12 1 (0.11%) COBIT
12 1 (0.11%) GxP
12 1 (0.11%) IFRS 9
12 1 (0.11%) NCSC
12 1 (0.11%) Solvency II
System Software
1 20 (2.14%) Active Directory
2 16 (1.71%) Docker
3 5 (0.54%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (0.54%) VMware NSX
4 4 (0.43%) RACF
4 4 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.11%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 23 (2.47%) Terraform
2 13 (1.39%) 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 (0.64%) Argo
5 6 (0.64%) Istio
6 5 (0.54%) SCCM
7 3 (0.32%) Ansible
8 2 (0.21%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.21%) CA Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.21%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.21%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.21%) MOM
8 2 (0.21%) PingFederate
8 2 (0.21%) ZABBIX
9 1 (0.11%) Cacti
9 1 (0.11%) Control-M
9 1 (0.11%) zSecure
Vendors
1 79 (8.47%) Microsoft
2 66 (7.07%) SAP
3 59 (6.32%) Oracle
4 51 (5.47%) Google
5 46 (4.93%) Salesforce
6 36 (3.86%) Databricks
7 27 (2.89%) Adobe
8 19 (2.04%) ServiceNow
9 15 (1.61%) Sitecore
10 14 (1.50%) Cisco
11 13 (1.39%) IFS
12 11 (1.18%) IBM
13 9 (0.96%) Palo Alto
13 9 (0.96%) VMware
13 9 (0.96%) Workday
14 8 (0.86%) Splunk
14 8 (0.86%) Temenos
14 8 (0.86%) Zscaler
15 7 (0.75%) CheckPoint
16 6 (0.64%) GoldenSource