Big Data Engineer: Job Duties, Skills and Salary 2025

What does a Big Data Engineer do?

Big data engineers design and manage systems that process large volumes of data. You work on building scalable data architectures, ensuring data is collected, stored, and processed efficiently for business insights.

Big Data Engineer: Main duties

Big Data Engineers in the IT & Development field handle essential tasks and contribute significantly to achieving team and organizational goals. Here are some of their primary responsibilities:

Design, construct, install, test, and maintain highly scalable data management systems.
Ensure systems meet business requirements and industry practices.
Integrate new data management technologies and software engineering tools into existing structures.
Create high-performance algorithms, prototypes, predictive models, and proof of concepts.
Research opportunities for data acquisition and new uses for existing data.
Develop data set processes for data modeling, mining, and production.
Recommend ways to improve data reliability, efficiency, and quality.
Collaborate with data architects, modelers, and IT team members on project goals.

Big Data Engineer: Key Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Informatics, Information Systems, or another quantitative field. Master’s preferred.
Experience with big data tools: Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, etc.
Experience with relational SQL and NoSQL databases, including Postgres and Cassandra.
Experience with data pipeline and workflow management tools: Azkaban, Luigi, Airflow, etc.
Experience with AWS cloud services: EC2, EMR, RDS, Redshift.
Experience with stream-processing systems: Storm, Spark-Streaming, etc.
Knowledge of machine learning and artificial intelligence is advantageous.

Basic Skills and Requirements for Big Data Engineers

Strong analytic skills related to working with unstructured datasets.
Build processes supporting data transformation, data structures, metadata, dependency, and workload management.
A successful history of manipulating, processing, and extracting value from large disconnected datasets.
Strong project management and organizational skills.
Experience supporting and working with cross-functional teams in a dynamic environment.

Salary Expectations for Big Data Engineers

Job	Branch	Avg. US Salary
Big Data Engineer	IT & Development	124,000 USD

The average salary for a Big Data Engineer in the U.S. is approximately $124,000 per year and can vary from entry-level to senior positions. Big Data Engineers may receive a wide range of benefits.

Level	Experience	Avg. Salary per Year
Veteran	20+ years	$155,000
Senior	11+ years	$136,400
Experienced	6-10 years	$124,000
Mid Level	3-5 years	$111,600
Entry Level	0-2 years	$93,000

To explore more detailed salary information, including specific salary estimates in your country, visit the Big Data Engineer Salary Country Overview.

Career Path for Big Data Engineers

Big Data Engineers can progress to senior data roles such as Senior Data Engineer or Chief Data Officer. They may also transition into data architecture, machine learning engineering, or data science roles. As their expertise grows, they might lead teams or departments, focusing on strategic data initiatives and innovations.

Big Data Engineer: Work Environment

Big Data Engineers typically work in an office environment but may also work remotely. They often collaborate with data scientists, business analysts, and IT team members to refine data usage and enhance data systems. Their work can require long hours, especially when deploying new systems or troubleshooting existing ones.

Big Data Engineer: Job Duties, Skills and Salary 2025

Learn about the expertise of Big Data Engineers in developing scalable systems that transform complex data into actionable business intelligence.