Data Engineer vs Software Engineer
Both roles build the systems companies depend on, but the focus splits early. Data Engineers own the infrastructure that moves and transforms data at scale — pipelines, warehouses and orchestration. Software Engineers ship the products and services users interact with — APIs, frontends and distributed systems. This comparison draws on live job listing data to show where the two roles differ in pay, skills and hiring volume.
Data Engineer
1,882
open roles
Software Engineer
8,202
open roles
What the data shows
Software Engineer roles account for 81% of active listings between these two roles — 6,320 more open positions than Data Engineer right now.
Software Engineer commands a higher median salary — $140,074 vs $109,727 — a gap of roughly 28%. Both roles show meaningful upside at the 75th percentile.
Software Engineer skews more remote-friendly — 22% of listings offer remote work vs 14% for Data Engineer, a 8-point difference.
Software Engineer skews more senior — 59% of its listings target senior-level candidates, reflecting the depth of specialization the role demands.
Salary comparison
Data Engineer
P25
$70,000
Median
$109,727
P75
$143,858
Software Engineer
P25
$90,000
Median
$140,074
P75
$183,500
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