Data Engineer salaries and job demand
Last updated
Data Engineer roles typically advertise around £75,000 a year. Here's the current salary range, hiring demand, and the skills employers ask for most.
What do Data Engineer roles pay in 2026?
As of October 2026, the typical advertised salary is £75,000 (≈ $95k) a year, with most postings between £55,779 and £97,500.
| 25th percentile | £55,779 |
|---|---|
| Median (50th percentile) | £75,000 |
| 75th percentile | £97,500 |
Advertised base salary, from 535 job postings with pay data, as of October 2026.
Disclosed base wage (H-1B/LCA)
Employers disclose a median base wage of US$128,346 on H-1B/LCA visa filings for this role, between US$101,636 and US$155,999.
| 25th percentile | US$101,636 |
|---|---|
| Median (50th percentile) | US$128,346 |
| 75th percentile | US$155,999 |
Disclosed base wage, from 19,491 H-1B/LCA filings, U.S. DOL OFLC, as of Q4 2025.
| Period | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2024 | US$106,000 | US$130,450 | US$160,000 |
| Q4 2024 | US$110,000 | US$135,000 | US$162,550 |
| Q1 2025 | US$108,826 | US$135,000 | US$160,000 |
| Q2 2025 | US$92,040 | US$116,150 | US$145,102 |
| Q3 2025 | US$110,000 | US$135,200 | US$163,239 |
| Q4 2025 | US$111,692 | US$133,289 | US$160,160 |
How strong is hiring demand for Data Engineer roles in 2026?
Tarmac tracked 1,136 postings in September 2026, the most recent month we tracked from start to finish.
We're not publishing a month-by-month series yet: the number of postings Tarmac collects each month is still growing, so a month-on-month change would measure our coverage rather than the job market.
Skills employers ask for
- python5126
- databases-sql4907
- aws3571
- data-engineering3225
- apache-spark3073
- dbt2200
- snowflake2027
- databricks1637
- apache-airflow1485
- azure1018
- docker944
- ci-cd-pipelines694
Postings for this role that named each skill, out of the postings we could parse. Bars run to 5126, the most-asked skill here.
Which skills to study first
These skills matter most for this role, scored together on how often employers ask for them, what they pay, and how often people pass them when they practise.
| Skill | Market demand | Median pay | Pass rate | Leverage | Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Python | 55% of postings44,668 postings | US$167,500+26% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Databases & SQL | 47% of postings38,689 postings | US$162,913+22% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| AWS | 42% of postings34,123 postings | US$172,500+30% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Docker | 21% of postings17,105 postings | £77,500+3% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| CI-CD Pipelines | 20% of postings16,267 postings | £76,840+2% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Microsoft Azure | 10% of postings8,041 postings | £75,000 | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Data Engineering | 8% of postings6,336 postings | £77,500+3% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Apache Spark | 6% of postings5,210 postings | £77,500+3% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Snowflake | 5% of postings4,118 postings | £77,500+3% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| dbt | 5% of postings4,103 postings | £80,000+7% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Apache Airflow | 4% of postings3,169 postings | £82,500+10% | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
| Databricks | 4% of postings2,935 postings | £75,000 | Not enough data yet | — | Practice |
Pass rate is the share of correct answers among people who practised that skill on Tarmac, a self-selected group rather than every developer, so read it as relative difficulty, not a universal stat. It comes from how people actually scored, not what anyone claimed, and a dash in that column means not enough people have practised the skill here yet. Leverage scores demand, pay, and difficulty together (out of 100); a higher score means a skill is both worth learning and worth your study time.
Pay by level and city in United States
These figures cover United States postings only, as of October 2026. The median above pools every level and every city; these split it, so you can read the rung you are actually applying for.
| Level | 25th | Median | 75th | Postings with pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior | US$61,813 | US$99,750 | US$104,500 | 6 |
| Mid-level | US$125,438 | US$155,725 | US$178,147 | 46 |
| Senior | US$135,487 | US$163,188 | US$191,788 | 190 |
| Staff+ | US$185,625 | US$209,500 | US$232,800 | 24 |
| City | 25th | Median | 75th | Postings with pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, CA | US$156,450 | US$186,500 | US$232,750 | 49 |
| Chicago, IL | US$135,200 | US$156,000 | US$192,050 | 45 |
| New York, NY | US$135,541 | US$166,700 | US$200,000 | 40 |
| Seattle, WA | US$145,000 | US$181,550 | US$212,825 | 32 |
| Austin, TX | US$148,436 | US$156,000 | US$180,925 | 23 |
| Los Angeles, CA | US$139,050 | US$166,750 | US$181,500 | 16 |
Advertised base salary. A level or city with too few postings quoting pay is left out rather than shown on a thin sample.
What it takes
The entry bar and required skills employers ask for. Most job ads reach us as a short summary rather than the full posting, and the percentages below count only the ones we have in full — so they skew toward employers who publish a fuller description. Every bar runs 0 to 60% of those postings: solid is required, outlined is preferred, dashed is the posting's own words.
Australia
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
In the postings’ own words
Not enough postings state a years-of-experience figure for Staff / lead yet.
United States
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
- Years asked up 1 year over the last 6 weeks.
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
- Years asked down 7 years over the last 4 weeks.
United Kingdom
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
- Data Engineering now required in 60% of postings, was 40% 4 weeks ago.
- Python required in only 40% of postings, was 80% 4 weeks ago.
- Microsoft Azure required in only 20% of postings, was 60% 4 weeks ago.
- Databases & SQL required in only 60% of postings, was 80% 4 weeks ago.
Required
Preferred
In the postings’ own words
- Microsoft Azure now required in 47% of postings, was 8% 4 weeks ago.
- CI-CD Pipelines now required in 53% of postings, was 31% 4 weeks ago.
- Data Engineering now required in 18% of postings, was 8% 4 weeks ago.
- Databases & SQL required in only 77% of postings, was 92% 4 weeks ago.
- Google Cloud Platform required in only 24% of postings, was 39% 4 weeks ago.
- Terraform required in only 12% of postings, was 23% 4 weeks ago.
Required
Practice interview questions
Jobs data powered by Adzuna.
Disclosed wage data from the U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC.
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