Data Engineer Resume Examples | 4 Templates & Advice for 2023

Writing a Data Engineer resume?

Picture this for a moment: everyone out there is writing their resume according to the tools and technologies they use. After all, this is what recruiters want to see.

But the Director of Data Engineering at your dream company knows that tools and tech are beside the point. All he wants to see is the challenges you faced, and how you solved them.

It’s a catch-22 in tech hiring: while the Director of Data Engineering is looking at the big picture, recruiters are looking for more specific things, such your tech competence.

Here’s the obvious part: your resume has to pass both checkpoints to land an interview.

Seems like a lot? Don't worry. In this guide, we’ll show you how to nail it and stand out from the pack.

Here’s what you’ll learn from this Data Engineer resume guide:

• How to structure your resume to show both the knowledge of the tools you use and the benefits you brought the company as a result;
• How to discuss the projects, skills, and professional objectives you’ve developed;
• How to explain your Data Engineer experience and achievements on your resume;
• How to get way more job interviews by writing the perfect Data Engineer resume.

Data engineer resume samples

Below you'll find Data Engineer resume examples based on years of experience and area of specialization. You can use them as a base for your resume easily by clicking the button.

Big data engineer resume

Here's what we like about this resume, from top to bottom:

• It starts with a relevant job title, targeted to the position this Data Engineer is applying for. What's more, a link to their GitHub profile tells a lot to a technical recruiter how good of an employee they will be hiring.
• Their summary is on the short side, but it still encompasses their years of experience, favourite technology, and certifications.
• Bullet points are actionable and contain numeric achievements that put into perspective the candidate's work.

Junior data engineer resume

Apart from the obvious sections, this Junior Data Engineer resume stands out with its projects section, too. That one shows the applicant's proactivity when they completed a Peer Review at their university using proprietary tech stack.

What's more, their bullets don't read like a job descripion. You clearly see how the applicant has contributed to the company's business goals.

Finally, there's the aspect of automation. This applicant has added enough information showing that they already covered the aspect of automating in data engineering. It's rare to see a Data Engineer manually build reports.

Data acquisition engineer resume

Having in mind this candidate featured his first job from early 2008, it's impressive that she managed to keep it to one page long and yet pack it with a lot of information.

What really stands out: A GitHub profile, a professional summary, action-oriented bullet points, and grouping of skills (per technology). It's no wonder that it was a job-interview worthy submission.

Looking for more related resumes? Check out our other profiles:

• Software Engineer Resume
• Data Scientist Resume

How to write a data engineer resume

A good experience section on a Data Engineer resume will obviously show that your data pipelines aren't going to break at 3 AM.

It will also show that your abilities are going to help Data Science and Engineering teams work more efficiently.

For that reason, you definitely need to demonstrate how you continuously improve tech stack and architecture, and that your clean and testable code reduces tech debt.

You should thus focus on the following:

• Displaying a solid technical skillset;
• Communicating the challenges you faced and how you solved them;
• Showing that you're a critical thinker;
• Displaying that can you easily learn a new tech stack;
• Skills and certifications.

Tech stacks vary from company to company⁠—and that's why the first three points are the most important to a Director of Data Engineering reading your resume.

If you're an Entry Level Data Engineer, though, you need to show you know more than just the correct spelling of TeraData and SAS.

Resume summary and experience are important—and you need to show both.

To recap, your resume should have the following sections in it:

Let's now get into each of these sections, and see the best way to list them on your resume.

Don’t underestimate the importance of your Data Engineer Resume Header

Let’s pretend that you’re a Data Engineer at Apple. Your resume header probably looks something like this:

2 data engineer resume header examples

The title may look good, but there are some essential details missing.

You have to consider that the header is the first thing a recruiter sees on your Data Engineer resume—so make the most of it!

Check out the example below, and notice how small tweaks can make a massive impact.

Notice the Github link, too. It gives a pretty good insight into what you work on during your free time. And it also gives the Director of Engineer an insight on how you code.

So, always add your Github, Stackoverflow or personal portfolio to your Data Engineer resume header. Overall, it builds a real connection between you and the people reading your resume.

You’ve built a good first impression so far. Let’s ensure that you keep delivering the same level of impact everywhere on your resume.

Let’s nail down that summary statement.

Tell your story in your data engineer professional summary.":

Professional summaries are critical to your job application. They tell your story in a nutshell, giving employers a sneak peek at your talents and how you can contribute to their organization.

For Data Engineer resumes, these professional summaries need to be specific and quantitative.

2 data engineer resume summary examples

This professional summary tells your prospective employer nothing about you or your skills. Unfortunately, this type of summary is all too common.

But check out this kind of resume summary:

The above resume summary is good for a number of reasons.

First, when they’re mining through CVs for the right Data Engineer, hiring managers are aware that very few candidates have more than five years of experience working in Data. So, when you list the number of years of experience that you have upfront, it helps you stand out from the pack.

Second, HRs also get a taste of your true passions (architecture, scale, and data intensive apps) from the summary, which is a win for you and for them.

Third, it gives the hiring manager an exact understanding of what you’re currently working on.

How to frame your data engineer resume experience.

It isn't uncommon to see Data Engineer resumes that have work experience listed like this:

• "Used Python, Scala, HTML, XML, SQL";
• "Importing and exporting files into HDFS from a….".

This is not good enough for obvious reasons. It shows that you aren't privy to what the hiring manager is looking for. If you don’t put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes, your resume is bound to be overlooked.

To get a better perspective here, let's take a look at how FAANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) hire Data Engineers. Usually, they look for the following:

1. Language specific skills;
2. Databases, ETL and Warehouses related skills;
3. Operational programming problems;
4. Algorithms and Data Structures;
5. Understanding of System Design.

It’s pretty safe to say that pretty much everyone hires Data Engineers in a similar fashion.

Now, let’s look at some specific Data Engineer resume samples.

Below, you’ll find two: one that is a typical example of Data Engineer resumes, but is unfortunately not the best practice, and another one that will help you better land that interview.

Data engineer resume experience examples

Now, let’s take a look at some more specific wording that illustrates your experience much more clearly.

Did you notice how the resume experience tells a more comprehensive story about your roles and skills?

The perfect combination of experience, skills, and achievements will grab the eye of any hiring manager.

How to describe the responsibilities of a data engineer on your resume:

Expounding on your rules and responsibilities is key to your resume. Here are some sample work experience responsibilities to consider for your Data Engineer resume:

• Designed, tested, and maintained data management and processing systems (list specific ones).
• Worked closely with team members, stakeholders, and solution architects.
• Ensured architecture met business requirements.
• Built scalable and fault-tolerant systems
• Oversaw the complete ETL process.
• Uncovered data acquisition and analysis opportunities.
• Found ways to find value out of our existing data, such as …
• Integrated a variety of programming languages and tools together, such as …
• Created data models to increase efficiency and reduce costs by X%.
• Introduced new data management tools and technologies such as …

If you’re writing a more entry-level Data Engineer resume, be creative on how to present your limited working experience.

If you have empty space or gaps, consider the following:

• Give an example of how you’ve delivered data to a business client in the most efficient and compliant way possible in the past.
• Give examples of how you verify your results—input vs output in terms of aggregative amounts, or a sample of rows.
• Give an example of how you use data structures, and how you grain/split/join data and create synthetic keys.
• Explain your proficiency with SQL, ODBC in MS Access, and ETL batch scripts.
• Discuss personal projects that highlight the above if you have no specific work-related examples.

What skills are employers looking for in a Data Engineer resume?"

Hard skills are important for any IT-related resume, especially Data Engineering.

Any courses, certifications, programming languages, and software tools that you’re familiar with should make up your Data Engineer skills section.

How to include certifications on your resume.

Certifications tell a recruiter what no amount of words can: that you've been officially certified in a certain skill set.

They’re incredibly important for technical positions like Data Engineering, and should be included in any resume you write for any position in the field.

Key takeaways: what makes a great data engineer resume

• Build a reverse chronological resume.
• Write a resume header that has links to your portfolio.
• Show your passion and specific achievements in your resume summary.
• Write work experience that is both actionable and quantitative.
• List your skills and certifications in seperate sections.
• Include certifications, but focus more on coursework and projects that are specific to the role.