Data engineer salary
What remote US data engineer roles pay at each experience level, and where the next step up sits. All roles
Pay by experience level
Median posted pay by the experience each posting asks for. The role family is the base title plus the steps on the ladder below, 344 postings.
How pay is spread across postings
Each outline is one experience band. Taller means more postings at that pay. Dashed lines mark each band median.
Half of 5 to 10 year postings pay between $134,000 and $174,000, with a median of $150,000. The medians are $133,000 for 2 to 5 years, $150,000 for 5 to 10 years and $186,000 for 10+ years.
What each step up the ladder pays
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile within one experience band, so it holds the middle half of postings. The dot is the median. A step needs 30 postings in a band before we draw it.
Among 5 to 10 year postings, the median moves from $145,000 for Data engineer to $153,000 for Senior data engineer, a difference of $8,000.
| Step | 2 to 5 years | 5 to 10 years | 10+ years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data engineer | $125,000middle half $103,322 to $141,250, n 47 | $145,000middle half $123,000 to $170,500, n 67 | not enough postings yetn 16 |
| Senior data engineer | not enough postings yetn 10 | $153,040middle half $138,862 to $170,250, n 104 | not enough postings yetn 18 |
| Staff, principal or lead data engineer | not enough postings yetn 3 | not enough postings yetn 19 | $190,345middle half $178,125 to $209,625, n 38 |
| Data engineering manager | not enough postings yetn 2 | not enough postings yetn 5 | not enough postings yetn 10 |
| Director of data engineering | not enough postings yetn 0 | not enough postings yetn 0 | not enough postings yetn 10 |
How pay changes with job title
Each outline is one step of the ladder, and each posting counts once, in the highest step its title matches. A step needs 30 postings in the view to be drawn. Dashed lines mark medians.
For postings asking for 5 or more years, the median is $146,000 for Data engineer and $190,000 for Staff, principal or lead data engineer. Postings asking for 2 to 5 years are shown in the charts above.
| Step, 5 or more years | Median | n |
|---|---|---|
| Data engineer | $145,500 | 83 |
| Senior data engineer | $155,000 | 117 |
| Staff, principal or lead data engineer | $190,000 | 57 |
Left out with fewer than 30 postings in this view, Data engineering manager (n 15), Director of data engineering (n 10). This view combines the 5 to 10 and 10+ bands, which come from the same continuous pulls. The 2 to 5 band is never combined with them.
Where this role leads
Two kinds of next move. Steps up the ladder compare the same experience band at both ends. Nearby roles compare whole role families.
These roles list similar skills, so they are common moves. Each figure is the other role median minus this one, in the same experience band, and each role mixes every step of its ladder. It is not the raise a move would bring.
The skill groups this role asks for
Skills that tend to be listed together are grouped. The bar shows the share of this role's postings that list at least two skills from a group. Postings with no skills listed are left out.
Data engineering appears in 96% of the 344 postings that list skills, followed by cloud infrastructure at 39%.
Data engineering
96% of postings, n 330- data modeling
- data engineering
- data governance
- snowflake
- dbt
- databricks
Not enough postings on both sides, within one ladder step, to compare pay.
Cloud infrastructure
39% of postings, n 133- ci/cd
- aws
- azure
- terraform
- observability
- gcp
Among 5 to 10 year postings, those with this group have a median pay about $8,000 higher than those without, compared within the same ladder step (46 with, 58 without, Senior data engineer).
BI and reporting
10% of postings, n 35- power bi
- tableau
- data visualization
- business intelligence
- looker
- statistical analysis
Not enough postings on both sides, within one ladder step, to compare pay.
Pay comparisons show association and not cause. Postings that ask for a skill group may differ in employer, industry or the work itself, and listing a skill does not guarantee the raise. A comparison appears only for 5 to 10 years of experience, within one ladder step, with at least 30 postings with and without the group.
Top hiring employers
How wide posted pay ranges are
Median gap between the top and bottom of the range, within each experience band. Postings with a single figure are left out.
A typical 5 to 10 year posting's range spans $35,000 from bottom to top, so the top is about 1.25 times the bottom.
| Experience | Median range width | Top as a multiple of bottom | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 to 5 years | $30,000 | 1.25 | 60 |
| 5 to 10 years | $35,000 | 1.25 | 188 |
| 10+ years | $46,000 | 1.28 | 79 |
Experienced in data and analytics and looking for a remote role?
Get roles like this scored to you every morning. 7 days free.
A few remote roles each morning, scored 0 to 100 against what you told us you want. Each score shows the lines from the posting behind it.
Start free7-day free trial. No credit card.