Runs the core storage and compute: the warehouse itself, access controls, cost management.
How to get here
Salary (US) as of 2026-11
Median$136K
Typical range$103K–$197K
Sources:
- BLS OES, Software Developers (15-1252), May 2025median $135,980; 10th $82,460, 90th $214,670 (nearest BLS bucket)
- Glassdoor, Data Platform Engineer, US, 2026total pay median $158K; base $103K-151K; likely range $128K-197K (50 salaries)
- Apex Systems, Data Platform Engineer posting, Columbus OH, 2026$87K-120K (3-5 yrs, Azure/Terraform)
- United Community Bank, Senior Data Platform Engineer posting, Greenville SC, 2026$68,287-113,209 (regional bank, onsite)
Wide spread: regional employers post $70K-120K while tech total comp runs $130K-200K.
Experience to get here
Entry level2-3 years (often from DevOps, DBA or cloud admin)
Typical title3-8 years
Bachelor's in CS or related, with 'equivalent experience' accepted in both postings cited; an infrastructure or administration background is what is screened.
Typical prior roles
DevOps / Cloud EngineerDatabase AdministratorData EngineerSnowflake or Databricks administrator
Must have
- Terraform and CI/CD (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions)
- Cloud services: storage, networking, IAM/security
- Snowflake or Databricks administration (roles, RBAC, warehouses)
- Expert SQL and cost/performance monitoring
- Python or scripting for automation
Milestones people hit first
- Wrote the Terraform that provisions the warehouse, roles and storage
- Designed the RBAC model other teams request access through
- Found and killed a runaway query or cluster and put a guardrail in place
- Set up the CI/CD 'paved road' other data engineers deploy with
Certifications
Preferredin postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | $175 |
| Training | free Snowflake Hands-On Essentials badges |
| Renewal | validity period not stated on vendor page |
| Typical total | $175 (third-party figure; vendor page does not list fees) |
Time: 115-minute exam, 100 questions; 4-6 weeks of prep
Prerequisites: 6+ months of Snowflake use (candidate profile)
'SnowPro certification and badges' is listed as preferred in the senior platform posting cited.
Preferredin postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | $71 |
| Training | free HashiCorp tutorials incl. certification-prep track |
| Renewal | expires after 2 years |
| Typical total | $70-150 |
Time: 3-4 weeks
Prerequisites: none
'Terraform or Azure certifications' preferred in the Apex posting; IaC is the core skill.
Nice to havein postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | $200 |
| Training | free Databricks fundamentals videos; paid Academy courses optional |
| Renewal | $200 retake of current exam every 2 years |
| Typical total | $200-400 |
Time: 90-minute exam, 45 scored questions; ~6 weeks prep
Prerequisites: none required; related training recommended
Databricks is named in platform responsibilities; the Associate cert covers Delta Lake and workspace basics.
Nice to havein postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | not published |
| Training | free Microsoft Learn modules |
| Renewal | $0; free online renewal assessment |
| Typical total | exam fee varies by country (pricing on request) |
Time: 100-minute exam; 6-8 weeks prep
Prerequisites: SQL, PySpark and KQL familiarity expected; replaces the retired DP-203
Azure-stack platform roles; DP-700 replaced the retired DP-203 as Microsoft's data engineering credential.
Nice to havein postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | $150 |
| Training | AWS Skill Builder free tier; paid practice exams optional |
| Renewal | pass latest exam every 3 years |
| Typical total | $150-300 |
Time: 130-minute exam, 65 questions; 2-3 months prep
Prerequisites: 2-3 yrs data engineering and 1-2 yrs hands-on AWS recommended
The AWS equivalent for platform teams on S3/Redshift/Glue.
Training & learning
- Terraform Get Started tutorials (AWS, Azure, GCP) FREE
HashiCorp · learning path · free · 6-8 tutorials per cloudInfrastructure as code is a required skill in platform postings; vendor tutorials include certification prep.
- Snowflake Hands-On Essentials badges FREE
Snowflake · learning path · free · 6 workshops (hours per badge not listed)Free hands-on badges (warehousing, data lake, data engineering) that prove Snowflake skills before paying for SnowPro.
- Upskill on Databricks in 1 hour (lakehouse fundamentals) FREE
Databricks · course · free · about 1 hourFree intro to lakehouse concepts with a badge; the cheapest way to speak Databricks before interviews.
- Data Engineering Zoomcamp FREE
DataTalks.Club · bootcamp · free · 9 weeksFree, open-source course covering Docker, Terraform, orchestration, BigQuery, dbt, Spark and Kafka with a project.
- Fundamentals of Data Engineering
O'Reilly (Reis & Housley) · book · book purchase (price not shown) · 2-4 weeksThe standard overview of the data engineering lifecycle, from ingestion to serving; widely cited by practitioners.
- Airflow 101 (Airflow 3) FREE
Astronomer Academy · learning path · free · about 2.5 hoursFree modules on core concepts, the UI and building a first DAG; Airflow is the most-listed orchestrator.
Sources & notes
- BLS OOH, Software Developers (15-1252), May 2025 wages
- Glassdoor, Data Platform Engineer salaries, US, Pay Trends 2026
- Apex Systems, Data Platform Engineer posting, Columbus OH ($87-120K; Terraform/Azure certs preferred)
- United Community Bank, Senior Data Platform Engineer posting (SnowPro preferred)
- Insight Global, Data Engineer / Data Analyst posting, Bellevue WA (AWS, Databricks, Snowflake, Terraform)
- Snowflake, SnowPro Core Certification
- The Data School, How to pass SnowPro Core ($175, 115 min, 100 questions)
- Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate
- Microsoft Learn, Fabric Data Engineer Associate (DP-700)
- Microsoft Learn, Azure Data Engineer Associate (DP-203) - retired 03/31/2025
- AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate
- HashiCorp Terraform tutorials
- Snowflake Hands-On Essentials track (free badges)
- Databricks free training: lakehouse fundamentals
- DataTalks.Club Data Engineering Zoomcamp (GitHub)
- O'Reilly, Fundamentals of Data Engineering (Reis & Housley, 2022)
- Astronomer Academy, Airflow 101 learning path
Terraform Associate exam fee ($70.50) is HashiCorp's published price. SnowPro validity period is not stated on Snowflake's page; the $175 fee comes from a third-party guide. No senior figure sourced.
Figures are US, from the sources listed, and change often; verify before deciding.