Data Engineering Job Trends

Data Engineering
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Data Engineering skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 22 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 132 149 159
Rank change year-on-year +17 +10 +50
Permanent jobs citing Data Engineering 1,651 1,051 1,303
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.42% 2.15% 1.71%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.95% 2.42% 2.10%
Number of salaries quoted 1,164 469 645
10th Percentile £46,217 £46,000 £42,500
25th Percentile £55,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £77,500 £70,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.71% - -6.67%
75th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £92,500
90th Percentile £112,500 £112,500 £105,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £70,000 £65,000 £62,500
% change year-on-year +7.69% +4.00% -3.85%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Data Engineering falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 84,843 43,391 61,954
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.02% 88.66% 81.33%
Number of salaries quoted 58,659 24,441 34,825
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,500 £32,250
25th Percentile £41,969 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £96,250 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +15.79% -9.52% -2.78%

Data Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Data Engineering relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Data Engineering job vacancy trend in the UK

Data Engineering
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Engineering.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Engineering

Data Engineering
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Data Engineering over the 6 months to 22 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Data Engineering in the UK

Data Engineering
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Data Engineering within the UK over the 6 months to 22 September 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +19 1,524 £79,250 +13.21% 1,849
UK excluding London -15 827 £70,000 +7.69% 874
London +21 721 £87,500 +2.94% 1,129
Work from Home 0 512 £77,500 +9.93% 829
North of England -7 377 £75,000 +11.11% 262
North West -34 176 £80,000 +36.75% 162
South East -42 153 £65,000 - 214
Midlands +6 112 £75,000 +11.11% 118
North East +20 102 £66,805 +40.64% 38
Yorkshire -9 99 £75,000 +7.14% 62
South West -15 91 £62,500 +4.17% 89
West Midlands -11 78 £75,000 +25.00% 91
East of England -20 36 £70,000 +40.00% 52
East Midlands -14 34 £75,000 +10.29% 27
Scotland -7 33 £100,000 +37.93% 82
Wales -47 28 £63,500 +26.69% 14
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 43

Data Engineering
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
1 165 (9.99%) Apache Spark
2 134 (8.12%) Apache Airflow
3 129 (7.81%) Apache
4 21 (1.27%) Jupyter
4 21 (1.27%) Palantir Foundry
5 12 (0.73%) SAS
6 11 (0.67%) Confluence
7 10 (0.61%) SharePoint
8 9 (0.55%) Oracle Workflow
9 4 (0.24%) Luigi
10 2 (0.12%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 2 (0.12%) Apache Superset
10 2 (0.12%) Tornado
11 1 (0.061%) ArcGIS
11 1 (0.061%) CMS
11 1 (0.061%) GeoServer
11 1 (0.061%) Moodle
Applications
1 19 (1.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
3 6 (0.36%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.12%) Microsoft Office
5 1 (0.061%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.061%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.061%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.30%) IBM Planning Analytics
2 4 (0.24%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.12%) SAP Business One
4 1 (0.061%) Academy Revenues and Benefits
4 1 (0.061%) FastStats
4 1 (0.061%) Infor M3
4 1 (0.061%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.061%) Oracle Assets
4 1 (0.061%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.061%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.061%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 674 (40.82%) Azure
2 471 (28.53%) AWS
3 280 (16.96%) Power Platform
4 265 (16.05%) GCP
5 188 (11.39%) Azure Data Factory
6 183 (11.08%) Snowflake
7 129 (7.81%) dbt
8 128 (7.75%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 105 (6.36%) Azure DevOps
10 100 (6.06%) Amazon S3
11 97 (5.88%) Serverless
12 68 (4.12%) Azure Machine Learning
13 66 (4.00%) AWS Lambda
14 65 (3.94%) GitHub
15 63 (3.82%) SaaS
16 52 (3.15%) Azure AI
17 51 (3.09%) Amazon EMR
18 49 (2.97%) Azure Databricks
19 47 (2.85%) Microsoft Purview
20 41 (2.48%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 17 (1.03%) Broadband
2 7 (0.42%) Internet
3 4 (0.24%) 5G
4 2 (0.12%) Firewall
4 2 (0.12%) HTTP
4 2 (0.12%) MQTT
5 1 (0.061%) 4G
5 1 (0.061%) ATM
5 1 (0.061%) DAB
5 1 (0.061%) SMS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 288 (17.44%) Data Warehouse
2 271 (16.41%) Power BI
3 208 (12.60%) Data Lake
4 117 (7.09%) SQL Server
5 107 (6.48%) BigQuery
6 106 (6.42%) Metadata
7 101 (6.12%) Amazon Redshift
8 97 (5.88%) Tableau
9 85 (5.15%) Big Data
10 71 (4.30%) Azure SQL Database
11 64 (3.88%) NoSQL
12 60 (3.63%) Semantic Layer
13 59 (3.57%) Relational Database
14 57 (3.45%) Delta Lake
15 56 (3.39%) Star Schema
16 50 (3.03%) Amazon Athena
16 50 (3.03%) PostgreSQL
17 47 (2.85%) Spark SQL
18 35 (2.12%) Data Vault
19 34 (2.06%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 127 (7.69%) Git
2 36 (2.18%) Jenkins
3 28 (1.70%) GitLab
4 23 (1.39%) JIRA
5 10 (0.61%) Claude Code
6 9 (0.55%) MLflow
7 5 (0.30%) Poetry
8 4 (0.24%) Octopus Deploy
8 4 (0.24%) Visual Studio Code
9 3 (0.18%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.18%) Selenium
10 2 (0.12%) ERwin
10 2 (0.12%) VSS/SourceSafe
11 1 (0.061%) kappa
11 1 (0.061%) RStudio
11 1 (0.061%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 1 (0.061%) Visual Studio
11 1 (0.061%) Yeoman
General
1 425 (25.74%) Finance
2 423 (25.62%) Social Skills
3 279 (16.90%) Analytical Skills
4 144 (8.72%) Public Sector
5 108 (6.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 73 (4.42%) Banking
7 59 (3.57%) Retail
8 53 (3.21%) Marketing
9 46 (2.79%) Legal
10 37 (2.24%) Influencing Skills
10 37 (2.24%) Law
11 32 (1.94%) Financial Institution
12 26 (1.57%) Manufacturing
13 21 (1.27%) Advertising
14 13 (0.79%) Games
14 13 (0.79%) Presentation Skills
15 12 (0.73%) Aerospace
15 12 (0.73%) Organisational Skills
16 10 (0.61%) Pharmaceutical
16 10 (0.61%) Police
Job Titles
1 662 (40.10%) Data Engineer
2 361 (21.87%) Senior
3 299 (18.11%) Lead
4 192 (11.63%) Senior Data Engineer
5 139 (8.42%) Architect
6 105 (6.36%) Data Manager
7 98 (5.94%) Data Architect
8 97 (5.88%) Lead Data Engineer
9 76 (4.60%) Analyst
10 73 (4.42%) Principal Engineer
11 71 (4.30%) Developer
12 63 (3.82%) Software Engineer
13 62 (3.76%) Engineering Manager
14 61 (3.69%) Consultant
15 54 (3.27%) Databricks Engineer
16 46 (2.79%) Head of Engineering
17 45 (2.73%) Principal Data Engineer
18 44 (2.67%) Data Scientist
18 44 (2.67%) Databricks Data Engineer
19 42 (2.54%) Data Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 185 (11.21%) PySpark
2 131 (7.93%) Terraform
3 80 (4.85%) Kafka
4 41 (2.48%) .NET
5 35 (2.12%) REST
6 33 (2.00%) LangChain
7 28 (1.70%) Pandas
8 27 (1.64%) Node.js
9 26 (1.57%) LlamaIndex
10 25 (1.51%) PyTorch
10 25 (1.51%) scikit-learn
10 25 (1.51%) TensorFlow
11 23 (1.39%) SpaCy
12 21 (1.27%) JSON
13 16 (0.97%) Apache NiFi
14 14 (0.85%) RESTful
15 12 (0.73%) React
15 12 (0.73%) YAML
16 11 (0.67%) FastAPI
17 10 (0.61%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 179 (10.84%) Cloud Native
2 66 (4.00%) Data Structures
3 60 (3.63%) Product Ownership
4 55 (3.33%) Distributed Systems
5 48 (2.91%) Onboarding
6 36 (2.18%) AI Agents
7 25 (1.51%) e-Learning
8 21 (1.27%) Self-Motivation
9 20 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
10 18 (1.09%) Distributed Computing
10 18 (1.09%) Legacy Systems
11 17 (1.03%) Hedge funds
12 16 (0.97%) Greenfield Project
12 16 (0.97%) Hybrid Cloud
12 16 (0.97%) Management Information System
13 15 (0.91%) Low-Code
14 14 (0.85%) Distributed Architecture
14 14 (0.85%) IoT
15 11 (0.67%) Sports Betting
16 10 (0.61%) Cyberattack
Operating Systems
1 7 (0.42%) Windows
2 4 (0.24%) Linux
3 1 (0.061%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 784 (47.49%) Analytics
2 590 (35.74%) AI
2 590 (35.74%) Data Pipeline
3 512 (31.01%) Data Modelling
4 479 (29.01%) ETL
5 441 (26.71%) CI/CD
6 412 (24.95%) Business Intelligence
7 394 (23.86%) Decision-Making
8 393 (23.80%) Agile
9 390 (23.62%) Data Governance
10 368 (22.29%) Machine Learning
11 348 (21.08%) Data Architecture
12 316 (19.14%) DevOps
13 308 (18.66%) Mentoring
14 275 (16.66%) Problem-Solving
15 263 (15.93%) Data Science
16 225 (13.63%) Roadmaps
17 211 (12.78%) Technical Leadership
18 191 (11.57%) Lakehouse
19 190 (11.51%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 836 (50.64%) SQL
2 818 (49.55%) Python
3 123 (7.45%) Java
4 74 (4.48%) Scala
5 60 (3.63%) JavaScript
6 50 (3.03%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 35 (2.12%) C#
8 33 (2.00%) C++
9 32 (1.94%) TypeScript
10 28 (1.70%) R
11 20 (1.21%) Bash
12 16 (0.97%) T-SQL
13 14 (0.85%) PowerShell
14 10 (0.61%) Go
15 9 (0.55%) Bicep
16 7 (0.42%) Groovy
17 5 (0.30%) PL/SQL
17 5 (0.30%) VBA
18 4 (0.24%) Rust
19 2 (0.12%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 179 (10.84%) Security Cleared
2 164 (9.93%) Degree
3 121 (7.33%) SC Cleared
4 55 (3.33%) Master's Degree
5 50 (3.03%) Computer Science Degree
6 47 (2.85%) Azure Certification
7 40 (2.42%) DV Cleared
8 30 (1.82%) BPSS Clearance
9 27 (1.64%) AWS Certification
9 27 (1.64%) DBS Check
10 25 (1.51%) PhD
11 15 (0.91%) ACCA
11 15 (0.91%) CIMA
11 15 (0.91%) Microsoft Certification
12 6 (0.36%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 6 (0.36%) Numerate Degree
13 5 (0.30%) CBAP
14 4 (0.24%) CCA
15 3 (0.18%) CISSP
15 3 (0.18%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 475 (28.77%) Data Quality
2 63 (3.82%) GDPR
3 58 (3.51%) Accessibility
4 36 (2.18%) QA
5 9 (0.55%) Actionable Recommendations
5 9 (0.55%) GRC
6 8 (0.48%) NCSC
7 4 (0.24%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 4 (0.24%) PERC
7 4 (0.24%) PMO
7 4 (0.24%) SLA
8 3 (0.18%) EU AI Act
8 3 (0.18%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.18%) PSD2
9 2 (0.12%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.061%) NIST
10 1 (0.061%) Solvency II
System Software
1 97 (5.88%) Docker
2 41 (2.48%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (0.42%) Active Directory
4 3 (0.18%) NDS
4 3 (0.18%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.061%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.061%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 67 (4.06%) Kubernetes
2 13 (0.79%) Grafana
3 5 (0.30%) Prometheus
4 4 (0.24%) Argo
5 3 (0.18%) Ansible
5 3 (0.18%) Kibana
5 3 (0.18%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (0.18%) SCCM
6 2 (0.12%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
6 2 (0.12%) Computer Incident Response Team
7 1 (0.061%) CASB
Vendors
1 399 (24.17%) Databricks
2 314 (19.02%) Microsoft
3 93 (5.63%) Google
4 40 (2.42%) Oracle
5 32 (1.94%) Palantir
6 29 (1.76%) Foundry
6 29 (1.76%) SAP
7 28 (1.70%) Salesforce
8 25 (1.51%) OpenAI
9 23 (1.39%) Informatica
10 11 (0.67%) Sage
11 10 (0.61%) Dell
12 9 (0.55%) Alteryx
12 9 (0.55%) Cloudera
13 7 (0.42%) Teradata
14 5 (0.30%) IBM
14 5 (0.30%) MicroStrategy
14 5 (0.30%) Talend
14 5 (0.30%) YouTube
15 4 (0.24%) Denodo