What Does a Data Engineer Do?
A data engineer builds and maintains the systems that collect, move and transform data so analysts and data scientists can use it reliably. That means designing pipelines, warehouses and ETL processes, and making sure data is clean, timely and available at scale.
It is a foundational, in-demand role: nothing downstream works without solid data plumbing. The work is infrastructure-heavy and remote-friendly.
Key skills
- SQL & data modelling
- Python
- ETL / ELT pipelines
- Data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake…)
- Workflow tools (Airflow, dbt)
- Cloud data services
Remote Data Engineer salary
A remote Data Engineer typically earns $95k – $175k per year (USD base salary). The range runs roughly from junior to senior — where you land depends on experience, region, and whether the employer pays by location or uses global pay.
For how remote pay is actually set, and how to negotiate it, read our remote salary guide and offer-negotiation guide.
Open remote Data Engineer jobs
- Senior Data Engineer (Python) — Proxify AB