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 15 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 129 152 142
Rank change year-on-year +23 -10 +50
Permanent jobs citing Data Engineering 1,592 1,058 1,476
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.49% 2.12% 1.78%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.03% 2.38% 2.19%
Number of salaries quoted 1,112 453 741
10th Percentile £45,484 £45,550 £42,500
25th Percentile £56,250 £55,250 £55,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £70,500 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year +13.48% +0.71% -6.67%
75th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £90,000
90th Percentile £115,000 £112,500 £105,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £75,000 £67,500 £62,500
% change year-on-year +11.11% +8.00% -

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 78,311 44,508 67,246
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 73.48% 89.25% 80.98%
Number of salaries quoted 53,938 25,218 43,343
10th Percentile £30,775 £28,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £36,750 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.71%
75th Percentile £78,750 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £97,250 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -9.09%

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 15 August 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 15 August 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 +32 1,497 £80,000 +13.48% 1,279
UK excluding London -19 765 £75,000 +11.11% 578
London +40 734 £90,000 +2.86% 865
Work from Home +12 476 £82,500 +10.00% 498
North of England +6 333 £78,500 +16.30% 170
North West -21 168 £80,000 +25.49% 105
South East -48 154 £70,000 +7.69% 159
Midlands +15 100 £70,000 +5.66% 53
Yorkshire +1 97 £80,000 +14.29% 39
South West -33 78 £60,000 -14.29% 74
West Midlands +8 70 £72,500 +20.83% 41
North East -3 68 £67,500 +42.11% 27
East of England +7 61 £70,000 +40.00% 24
East Midlands -11 30 £52,500 -22.79% 12
Scotland -17 22 £100,000 +90.48% 52
Wales -43 17 £60,000 -13.04% 9
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 38

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
1 192 (12.06%) Apache Spark
2 177 (11.12%) Apache Airflow
3 131 (8.23%) Apache
4 24 (1.51%) Palantir Foundry
5 19 (1.19%) Jupyter
5 19 (1.19%) SAS
6 11 (0.69%) SharePoint
7 9 (0.57%) Confluence
8 4 (0.25%) Luigi
8 4 (0.25%) Moodle
9 2 (0.13%) Tornado
10 1 (0.063%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 1 (0.063%) Apache Superset
10 1 (0.063%) ArcGIS
10 1 (0.063%) GeoServer
Applications
1 19 (1.19%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (0.63%) Spreadsheet
3 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.13%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.063%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 3 (0.19%) SAP SD
2 2 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.13%) IBM Planning Analytics
2 2 (0.13%) Markit EDM
2 2 (0.13%) SAP Business One
2 2 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.13%) Unit4 Business World
3 1 (0.063%) FastStats
3 1 (0.063%) Infor M3
3 1 (0.063%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.063%) Oracle Assets
3 1 (0.063%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.063%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 678 (42.59%) Azure
2 494 (31.03%) AWS
3 282 (17.71%) Power Platform
4 269 (16.90%) GCP
5 247 (15.52%) Snowflake
6 166 (10.43%) Azure Data Factory
7 153 (9.61%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 148 (9.30%) dbt
9 93 (5.84%) Amazon S3
10 85 (5.34%) Serverless
11 83 (5.21%) Azure DevOps
11 83 (5.21%) Azure Machine Learning
12 69 (4.33%) Azure AI
13 57 (3.58%) GitHub
14 54 (3.39%) SaaS
15 43 (2.70%) Microsoft Purview
16 41 (2.58%) AWS Lambda
17 31 (1.95%) Amazon EMR
18 24 (1.51%) GitHub Actions
19 23 (1.44%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 29 (1.82%) Broadband
2 7 (0.44%) Internet
3 5 (0.31%) 5G
4 2 (0.13%) 4G
4 2 (0.13%) DAB
4 2 (0.13%) Firewall
4 2 (0.13%) HTTP
4 2 (0.13%) MQTT
5 1 (0.063%) ATM
5 1 (0.063%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 297 (18.66%) Data Warehouse
2 270 (16.96%) Power BI
3 224 (14.07%) Data Lake
4 145 (9.11%) SQL Server
5 128 (8.04%) Tableau
6 126 (7.91%) BigQuery
7 108 (6.78%) Amazon Redshift
8 97 (6.09%) Metadata
9 86 (5.40%) Big Data
10 66 (4.15%) Relational Database
11 62 (3.89%) NoSQL
12 60 (3.77%) Azure SQL Database
13 58 (3.64%) PostgreSQL
14 54 (3.39%) Semantic Layer
14 54 (3.39%) Star Schema
15 53 (3.33%) Delta Lake
16 52 (3.27%) Looker
17 49 (3.08%) Elasticsearch
18 47 (2.95%) Spark SQL
19 45 (2.83%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 108 (6.78%) Git
2 32 (2.01%) Jenkins
2 32 (2.01%) MLflow
3 23 (1.44%) GitLab
4 20 (1.26%) JIRA
5 12 (0.75%) IBM UrbanCode
6 8 (0.50%) Claude Code
7 4 (0.25%) Bitbucket
7 4 (0.25%) Selenium
8 3 (0.19%) Visual Studio Code
9 2 (0.13%) ERwin
9 2 (0.13%) VSS/SourceSafe
10 1 (0.063%) RStudio
10 1 (0.063%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 1 (0.063%) Visual Studio
10 1 (0.063%) Yeoman
General
1 414 (26.01%) Finance
2 373 (23.43%) Social Skills
3 272 (17.09%) Analytical Skills
4 108 (6.78%) Public Sector
5 101 (6.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 75 (4.71%) Banking
7 60 (3.77%) Retail
8 51 (3.20%) Marketing
9 49 (3.08%) Legal
10 45 (2.83%) Influencing Skills
11 36 (2.26%) Law
12 27 (1.70%) Financial Institution
13 25 (1.57%) Advertising
14 24 (1.51%) Manufacturing
15 18 (1.13%) Games
16 12 (0.75%) Investment Banking
17 11 (0.69%) Aerospace
17 11 (0.69%) Presentation Skills
18 9 (0.57%) Front Office
19 8 (0.50%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 585 (36.75%) Data Engineer
2 347 (21.80%) Senior
3 288 (18.09%) Lead
4 162 (10.18%) Senior Data Engineer
5 139 (8.73%) Architect
6 111 (6.97%) Data Manager
7 100 (6.28%) Data Architect
8 93 (5.84%) Lead Data Engineer
9 76 (4.77%) Analyst
10 71 (4.46%) Consultant
11 69 (4.33%) Engineering Manager
12 65 (4.08%) Principal Engineer
13 56 (3.52%) Developer
14 49 (3.08%) Data Consultant
14 49 (3.08%) Head of Engineering
15 43 (2.70%) Python Engineer
16 42 (2.64%) Data Scientist
17 41 (2.58%) Software Engineer
18 37 (2.32%) Platform Engineer
18 37 (2.32%) Principal Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 155 (9.74%) PySpark
2 102 (6.41%) Kafka
3 44 (2.76%) scikit-learn
4 43 (2.70%) LangChain
4 43 (2.70%) PyTorch
4 43 (2.70%) TensorFlow
5 36 (2.26%) LlamaIndex
6 35 (2.20%) REST
7 28 (1.76%) pgvector
8 27 (1.70%) Node.js
9 24 (1.51%) Pandas
10 21 (1.32%) .NET
11 18 (1.13%) SpaCy
12 17 (1.07%) Apache NiFi
12 17 (1.07%) JSON
13 15 (0.94%) RESTful
14 12 (0.75%) ARM Templates
15 11 (0.69%) FastAPI
15 11 (0.69%) YAML
16 10 (0.63%) Flask
Miscellaneous
1 173 (10.87%) Cloud Native
2 70 (4.40%) Data Structures
3 65 (4.08%) Product Ownership
4 55 (3.45%) Distributed Systems
5 34 (2.14%) Onboarding
6 27 (1.70%) e-Learning
7 26 (1.63%) AI Agents
7 26 (1.63%) Public Cloud
8 25 (1.57%) Clustering
8 25 (1.57%) Low-Code
9 22 (1.38%) Analytical Mindset
10 20 (1.26%) Management Information System
11 19 (1.19%) Distributed Computing
11 19 (1.19%) Greenfield Project
12 18 (1.13%) Legacy Systems
12 18 (1.13%) Self-Motivation
13 14 (0.88%) Distributed Architecture
13 14 (0.88%) Social Media
14 13 (0.82%) IoT
15 12 (0.75%) Algorithms
Operating Systems
1 7 (0.44%) Linux
1 7 (0.44%) Windows
2 1 (0.063%) Apple iOS
2 1 (0.063%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 774 (48.62%) Analytics
2 620 (38.94%) AI
3 570 (35.80%) Data Pipeline
4 507 (31.85%) Data Modelling
5 444 (27.89%) ETL
6 437 (27.45%) Data Governance
7 404 (25.38%) Business Intelligence
8 388 (24.37%) Machine Learning
9 387 (24.31%) CI/CD
10 373 (23.43%) Agile
11 358 (22.49%) Decision-Making
12 353 (22.17%) Data Architecture
13 287 (18.03%) DevOps
14 282 (17.71%) Mentoring
15 273 (17.15%) Data Science
16 242 (15.20%) Problem-Solving
17 239 (15.01%) Roadmaps
18 191 (12.00%) Continuous Improvement
19 164 (10.30%) Technical Leadership
20 157 (9.86%) Data Strategy
Programming Languages
1 811 (50.94%) Python
2 799 (50.19%) SQL
3 114 (7.16%) Java
4 69 (4.33%) Scala
5 46 (2.89%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 41 (2.58%) JavaScript
7 29 (1.82%) R
8 22 (1.38%) TypeScript
9 19 (1.19%) Bash
10 17 (1.07%) C#
10 17 (1.07%) Go
11 16 (1.01%) PowerShell
12 15 (0.94%) C++
12 15 (0.94%) T-SQL
13 8 (0.50%) Bicep
13 8 (0.50%) Groovy
14 7 (0.44%) VBA
15 6 (0.38%) Julia
16 5 (0.31%) PL/SQL
17 4 (0.25%) Rust
Qualifications
1 181 (11.37%) Degree
2 143 (8.98%) Security Cleared
3 90 (5.65%) SC Cleared
4 56 (3.52%) Computer Science Degree
5 53 (3.33%) Master's Degree
6 40 (2.51%) DV Cleared
7 38 (2.39%) Azure Certification
8 31 (1.95%) DBS Check
9 25 (1.57%) BPSS Clearance
10 20 (1.26%) AWS Certification
11 19 (1.19%) PhD
12 12 (0.75%) ACCA
12 12 (0.75%) CIMA
13 11 (0.69%) Microsoft Certification
14 6 (0.38%) Numerate Degree
15 5 (0.31%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
16 4 (0.25%) CCA
17 3 (0.19%) CBAP
17 3 (0.19%) CISSP
17 3 (0.19%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 442 (27.76%) Data Quality
2 100 (6.28%) GDPR
3 54 (3.39%) Accessibility
4 40 (2.51%) QA
5 35 (2.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 16 (1.01%) GRC
7 12 (0.75%) HIPAA
8 8 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
9 7 (0.44%) PERC
10 6 (0.38%) SLA
11 4 (0.25%) PMO
11 4 (0.25%) Solvency II
12 3 (0.19%) EU AI Act
12 3 (0.19%) NCSC
12 3 (0.19%) PCI DSS
12 3 (0.19%) PSD2
13 2 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 42001
14 1 (0.063%) ISO/IEC 27001
14 1 (0.063%) NIST
System Software
1 93 (5.84%) Docker
2 56 (3.52%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (0.44%) Active Directory
4 3 (0.19%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.13%) NDS
6 1 (0.063%) Apache Flume
6 1 (0.063%) Embedded Firmware
6 1 (0.063%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 124 (7.79%) Terraform
2 62 (3.89%) Kubernetes
3 16 (1.01%) Grafana
4 7 (0.44%) Prometheus
5 6 (0.38%) Ansible
6 4 (0.25%) Argo
7 3 (0.19%) Kibana
7 3 (0.19%) Microsoft Intune
7 3 (0.19%) SCCM
8 2 (0.13%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 2 (0.13%) Computer Incident Response Team
8 2 (0.13%) Control-M
9 1 (0.063%) CASB
Vendors
1 465 (29.21%) Databricks
2 291 (18.28%) Microsoft
3 84 (5.28%) Google
4 50 (3.14%) Oracle
5 49 (3.08%) Dell
6 45 (2.83%) Informatica
7 38 (2.39%) Palantir
8 34 (2.14%) Foundry
9 32 (2.01%) SAP
10 28 (1.76%) Salesforce
11 27 (1.70%) Cloudera
12 26 (1.63%) OpenAI
12 26 (1.63%) Teradata
13 24 (1.51%) Denodo
14 12 (0.75%) Red Hat
15 10 (0.63%) Alteryx
15 10 (0.63%) Sage
16 6 (0.38%) MicroStrategy
17 5 (0.31%) Cognos
17 5 (0.31%) Talend