How to hire a data engineer

How to hire a data engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step data engineer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a data engineer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new data engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a data engineer do?

Post a data engineer job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   The data engineer hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A data engineer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, data engineers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list presents data engineer salaries for various positions.

   Type of Data Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Data Engineer	Software developers are the creative minds behind computer programs. Some develop the applications that allow people to do specific tasks on a computer or another device... Show more	$38-71
   Hadoop Developer	A Hadoop developer specializes in designing and developing Hadoop applications that attend to a company's data storage needs. Their responsibilities include gathering and analyzing data, creating drafts and frameworks, isolating and monitoring data, creating test structures, and coming up with data tracking and security systems... Show more	$34-56
   Software Engineer-Consultant	A software engineer consultant develops and recommends strategies to optimize a company's software engineering operations. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis to find new opportunities, performing software evaluations and risk assessments, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of existing processes, and developing solutions against problem areas... Show more	$40-73

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Python
   • Java
   • Cloud
   • ETL
   • Scala
   • Kafka
   • NoSQL
   • Data Lake
   • Visualization
   • Data Analytics
   • Redshift
   • Data Pipeline
   • Power Bi
   • EMR

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Used SQOOP to import the data from RDBMS to HDFS to achieve the reliability of data.
   • Develop automation scripts in python to automate the test, analyze, plot and report the results.
   • Used Linux shell scripts to automate the build process, and to perform regular jobs like file transfers between different hosts.
   • Increase audit efficiency by developing SAS programs to automate manual testing procedures.
   • Used Teradata database management system to manage the warehousing operations and parallel processing.
   • Configure and manage JobScope ERP system for a make-to-order/make-to-stock design and manufacturing environment.

   More data engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your data engineer job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A data engineer can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, data engineers' average salary in kansas is 35% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level data engineers 46% less than senior-level data engineers.
   • Certifications. A data engineer with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a data engineer's salary.

   Average data engineer salary

   $109,675yearly

   $52.73 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level data engineer salary

   $80,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average data engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$132,082	$64
   2	Washington	$110,694	$53
   3	New York	$105,966	$51
   4	Oregon	$99,941	$48
   5	Massachusetts	$99,677	$48
   6	Connecticut	$98,430	$47
   7	New Jersey	$95,778	$46
   8	Pennsylvania	$95,280	$46
   9	Arizona	$94,858	$46
   10	District of Columbia	$93,798	$45
   11	Virginia	$92,887	$45
   12	North Carolina	$91,649	$44
   13	Texas	$91,424	$44
   14	Maine	$89,796	$43
   15	Ohio	$88,957	$43
   16	Michigan	$88,010	$42
   17	Wisconsin	$87,731	$42
   18	Illinois	$87,133	$42
   19	Georgia	$86,943	$42
   20	Minnesota	$86,533	$42

   Average data engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	The Citadel	$179,101	$86.11	12
   2	Airbnb	$161,980	$77.88	4
   3	Credit Karma	$161,627	$77.71	2
   4	Netflix	$159,797	$76.83	24
   5	Upstart Network	$159,346	$76.61
   6	Roku	$158,262	$76.09	21
   7	Meta	$157,227	$75.59	3,667
   8	Crunchbase	$156,949	$75.46
   9	Coinbase	$156,857	$75.41	2,638
   10	LendUp	$156,790	$75.38
   11	Aspiration	$154,864	$74.45
   12	ByteDance	$154,555	$74.31	188
   13	Dotdash	$153,939	$74.01	1
   14	Zenefits	$152,801	$73.46
   15	Apple	$152,743	$73.43	663
   16	TikTok	$152,271	$73.21	237
   17	Quora	$152,073	$73.11	9
   18	Discovery	$152,028	$73.09
   19	The Knot	$151,897	$73.03	4
   20	PitchBook Data	$151,804	$72.98	4

4. Writing a data engineer job description

   A good data engineer job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a data engineer job description:

   Data engineer job description example

   Teleperformance is a strategic partner to the world's leading companies, bringing solutions and enhancing customer experience during each interaction. We are the largest interaction expert team in the market: multicultural, highly skilled, and deeply knowledgeable, with a wide range of integrated omnichannel solutions, technology, and the highest security standards. For us, each interaction needs to be treated as unique.
   Responsibilities:
   
   - Build high quality reliable, accurate, consistent, and architecturally sounds systems that are aligned and scale with our data business needs. They may be called upon to fulfill functions related to software development, such as requirements gathering,
   
   producing documentation, quality assurance testing and leading projects.
   
   - Participate in design, prototype and implementation of cloud data platforms including ETL, data processing, orchestration, and related applications.
   
   - Build and test production data pipelines from ingestion to consumption.
   
   - Identify ways to improve data reliability, efficiency, and quality in data pipeline.
   
   - Mentor and provide technical guidance to other engineers and analysts as needed to support and grow the team.
   
   - Collaborate with data analysts, operational partners, and software engineers to resolve data defects, and improve data governance within the operational data store.
   
   Qualifications:
   
   - Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Data Delta Lakes, Azure Data Factory, Azure Databricks, Azure Key Vault, Apache Spark 3.0, Azure SQL Database, and Power BI
   
   - Should be proficient in writing advanced / complex SQL statements; experience with performance tuning and optimization of SQL queries.
   
   - Ability to create functioning ETL/ELT prototypes to address quickly changing business needs.
   
   - Previous projects should display technical leadership with an emphasis on data warehouse solutions and/or business intelligence solutions.
   
   - Display excellent interpersonal/communication skills (both oral/written) with the ability to communicate at various levels with clarity & precision.
   
   - Bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in computer information systems, computer science, data management, information technology, information science, informatics, or work experience of equal value to formal education and 12+ years of experience.
   
   - Must be US citizen and pass a background check

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find data engineers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any data engineers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level data engineers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   To find data engineer candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit data engineers, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   If your interviews with data engineer applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new data engineer

   Once you have selected a candidate for the data engineer position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new data engineer. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a data engineer?