Data engineer job description: template and real figures
A template for hiring a data engineer, with what employers in today’s 393 open postings for this work ask for and offer. Copy it, fill in the brackets, then post the job free.
- Open postings today
- 393
- Experience asked, median
- 5 years
- Postings that state pay
- 52%
- Median advertised pay
- $208K
- Open to remote work
- 26%
Data Engineer [Company] · [City, or Remote and the countries it is open to] · [Full-time] About us [Two sentences: what the company does, for whom, and one number that shows where it is now.] About the role Our Data Engineer builds the pipelines that collect a company’s data and put it where analysts can use it. You will report to [manager’s title] and work with [team]. What you will do - [The most important result of the first year, with a number] - Data modelling: [what this means in your team] - Pipelines: [what this means in your team] - Data quality: [what this means in your team] - [One more duty that is specific to this job] What we are looking for - [5]+ years of experience as a data engineer - Experience with SQL - Experience with Python - Experience with dbt - Experience with Airflow - [One or two must-haves that are specific to this job] Pay and benefits - Pay range: $[lowest] – $[highest] a year, [plus equity or bonus if any] - Parental leave - Equity - Learning budget - [Paid time off, health cover and the rest of your benefits] How to apply [What to send, the interview steps and how long they take. Name the date you will reply by.]
What today’s data engineer postings say
| Experience asked | Median 5 years; the middle half ask 3–6 years (247 postings name a number) |
|---|---|
| Pay advertised | $184K – $250K for the middle half; median $208K (183 postings with a yearly US-dollar range) |
| Skills named most | SQL (76%), Python (72%), dbt (48%), Airflow (42%) |
| Benefits named most | Parental leave (28%), Equity (21%), Learning budget (7%) |
| Most common level | Senior (37% of postings) |
| Titles employers use | Data Engineer, Senior Data Engineer, Analytics Engineer, Senior Analytics Engineer, Staff Data Engineer, Senior AI Data & Analytics Engineer II |
Counted from the 393 open postings for this work on Nov 14, 2026, read from employers’ own careers pages. Recounted on every update.
Questions about hiring a data engineer
- What should a data engineer job description include?
- What the person will achieve in the first year, the duties, the must-have experience, the pay range and how the hiring steps work. For this work, today’s postings name SQL, Python, dbt most often.
- Should a data engineer job posting show the salary?
- Yes, if you can: 52% of today’s 393 open data engineer postings here do. A range filters out people who would turn the offer down, and several US states and EU countries now require it.
- How many years of experience should I ask for?
- The median in today’s data engineer postings is 5 years. Ask for what the work needs: every extra year you require shrinks the pool of applicants.
Everything about data engineer work
See also: 393 open data engineer jobs · data engineer pay · how to hire a data engineer · all job description templates