Analytics Engineer vs Data Engineer
The Analytics Engineer role emerged as a middle layer between Data Engineering and Analytics — owning the transformation and modelling logic that sits between raw data and business dashboards. Compared to Data Engineers who focus on ingestion and infrastructure, Analytics Engineers are more focused on dbt, semantic layers and making data usable for analysts. This comparison shows exactly where the two roles overlap and how they differ in the current hiring market.
Analytics Engineer
230
open roles
Data Engineer
1,922
open roles
What the data shows
Data Engineer roles account for 89% of active listings between these two roles — 1,692 more open positions than Analytics Engineer right now.
Data Engineer commands a higher median salary — $109,122 vs $103,542 — a gap of roughly 5%. Both roles show meaningful upside at the 75th percentile.
Data Engineer skews more senior — 43% of its listings target senior-level candidates, reflecting the depth of specialization the role demands.
Salary comparison
Analytics Engineer
P25
$65,000
Median
$103,542
P75
$159,000
Data Engineer
P25
$70,439
Median
$109,122
P75
$143,792
Salary estimates derived from active listings that include explicit pay ranges. Midpoint of stated range used to compute percentiles.
Shared skills
These skills appear in the top 12 for both roles — useful if you're considering a transition or working across both areas.
Data from active job listings · Updated hourly