Big Data: market
A Big Data Engineer processes data that does not fit on one machine: distributed batch and streaming computation, data lakes and platforms on Spark, Kafka and the Hadoop ecosystem. We currently track 626 open positions for this role, 596 of them fresh. The core is Spark (PySpark or Scala), Kafka and streaming, storage formats (Parquet, Delta, Iceberg), orchestration, SQL and cloud data-processing services. By co-occurrence in requirements, Spark, Python, Hadoop and Java appear most often. 42% of the postings allow fully remote work. Below is a live slice of the Big Data Engineer market: geography, seniority, adjacent stack and sources.
The Big Data market currently has 626 open roles, 596 of them freshly observed. Median salary $6,195/mo.
42% of Big Data Engineer postings allow fully remote work; the share counts only postings that state the format.
⚠ salary known for 98 of 626 jobs; remote share from 449 with a stated format; 596 counted as fresh observations; trend and hiring difficulty are not shown
Demand and observed supply: Big Data
| Open demand | 626 |
| Observed supply | — not published |
⚠ candidates matching a vacancy are not counted yet: demand and the observed pool are shown
Salary distribution: Big Data
One in ten earns under $3,464, one in ten over $16,666. Half the market falls between $5,643 and $7,687. Sample: 98.
The range histogram for Big Data Engineer uses only postings with an explicit compensation range; the median is computed over the same sample.
Demand geography: Big Data
| country | jobs |
|---|---|
| PL | 153 |
| US | 125 |
| IN | 40 |
| SG | 26 |
| RU | 17 |
| ZA | 17 |
| FR | 16 |
| ES | 16 |
| CA | 15 |
| MX | 9 |
The top country for Big Data Engineer demand is Poland (153 positions).
⚠ job counts only: salary by country is not published
Used together with
In Big Data Engineer requirements the most frequently named skills and technologies are Spark, Python, Hadoop and Java.
Demand by grade: Big Data
| grade | jobs |
|---|---|
| senior | 165 |
| lead | 51 |
| middle | 45 |
| principal | 21 |
| junior | 8 |
Senior-and-above is about 82% of 290 Big Data Engineer postings with an explicit grade.
⚠ demand side only: the grade of the observed pool is unknown for most of it
Employers: Big Data
Demand is spread across 266 employers. The largest accounts for 9.8%, the top ten for 29.8%; the remaining 70.2% is long tail.
| share | value |
|---|---|
| top-1 | 9.8% |
| top-3 | 18.1% |
| top-10 | 29.8% |
| long tail | 70.2% |
Big Data Engineer openings come from 266 distinct employers; the largest one accounts for only 9.8% of postings — the market is not tied to a single hirer.
⚠ names are not shown: staffing agencies and end employers are not yet told apart by the classifier
Where Zorky sees this market
Observed across 61 sources; the largest accounts for 21.9% — this market does not rest on a single channel.
Big Data Engineer postings arrive mostly from ATS & career sites and job boards & aggregators.
Recent openings: Big Data
- Java Spark Developer · IN
- Big Data Engineer · US · $7,500
- Senior Analista de Dados (Databricks e PySpark.) · BR
- Analyst Programmer - Data Base Revamp, AWS, Spark, Python, Relational Data Model · HK
- Senior PySpark Developer · PL
- Senior Data Engineer (Databricks/PySpark/SQL) - Portugal or Spain Full Remote · PT · $2,908
- Software Engineer - Big Data (Compute/Data Distiller), Adobe Experience Platform · RO
- Intermediate Data Scientist (Python, Databricks, Spark, ML), financial institution, Montreal (hybrid) · CA
Adjacent markets
⚠ adjacent markets for comparison are not defined yet
How this is measured
- Vacancy
- an open job that cleared the quality gate and lists at least two technologies
- Observed candidate
- a candidate whose stack contains this technology; an aggregate — not a single record leaves the perimeter
- Matchable candidate
- not counted yet
- Window
- jobs open at the moment the snapshot was built
About the data
- Some breakdowns are hidden: their data coverage is not yet sufficient.
- Statistics are shown only where the sample clears a quality gate.
- A missing block does not mean a value of zero.
Breakdowns currently hidden: 8.
Data as of 2026-10-26
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about the Big Data Engineer role — short answers from the same data slice.
What does a Big Data Engineer do?
A Big Data Engineer processes data that does not fit on one machine: distributed batch and streaming computation, data lakes and platforms on Spark, Kafka and the Hadoop ecosystem.
Which skills do Big Data Engineer postings require?
The core is Spark (PySpark or Scala), Kafka and streaming, storage formats (Parquet, Delta, Iceberg), orchestration, SQL and cloud data-processing services. In the current slice, Spark, Python, Hadoop and Java appear in requirements most often.
Is Hadoop still needed?
As a classic stack — less and less: cloud storage and lakehouses took its place. The understanding of distributed processing it built remains the foundation of the role.
How remote-friendly are Big Data Engineer jobs?
42% of postings with an explicit format allow fully remote work; the slice tracks 626 open positions.
Get the full Big Data market details
Full role analytics — salary bands, employers, trends and available candidates. Leave a contact and we'll send the details.