Hiring a data engineer in Seattle? Across 69 live data engineer postings in Seattle, the market pays a $200K median salary (typically $160K–$223K). Recruiting from Scratch is the contingency technical recruiting firm for these hires — a 29-day average time to hire, 300+ placements, and a 2M+ candidate network.
A data engineer builds and maintains the data pipelines, warehouses, and infrastructure the business runs on. Hiring one in Seattle means competing with the companies below.
What employers actually screen for, aggregated across 69 active data engineer postings in Seattle:
| Percentile | Base salary |
|---|---|
| 25th | $160K |
| Median | $200K |
| 75th | $223K |
Based on 41 data engineer postings in Seattle that disclose pay. Base only — equity is typically on top.
Seattle pays about 18% above the US median for this role ($170K).
The companies with the most live data engineer openings in Seattle, with what each pays and screens for (medians shown only where at least 3 postings disclose pay):
| Company | Open data engineer roles | Median pay (disclosed) | Top skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 9 | $132K | AWS, SQL, Redshift |
| Microsoft | 5 | — | — |
| Apple | 4 | — | Data Pipelines, Python, Java |
| CoreWeave | 3 | $212K | Python, Java, Scala |
| Okta | 3 | $223K | Python, Go, AWS |
| SpaceX | 3 | $193K | Python, Angular, Django |
| 3 | — | — | |
| The Trade Desk | 2 | — | Python, Java, Scala |
| Anthropic | 2 | — | Python, Dbt, SQL |
| Mactores | 2 | — | AWS |
Where the data engineer demand sits across funding stages, across the 41 companies with the most live openings in Seattle:
| Stage | Companies hiring | Open roles | Median pay (disclosed) | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | 1 | 1 | — | Monks |
| Series B | 5 | 7 | — | Instagram, Auger, Otter |
| Series C | 1 | 1 | — | Nscale |
| Series D+ | 10 | 14 | $224K | SpaceX, Anthropic, Otter.ai |
| Public | 14 | 35 | $189K | Amazon, Microsoft, Apple |
A further 10 of those companies have no funding stage on file and are not shown above.
Recruiting from Scratch is a contingency technical recruiting firm — no retainer and no upfront cost, so you pay only when you make a hire. The process: align on the role and must-haves → a curated shortlist of 3–5 genuinely qualified data engineers (not resume volume) → a 29-day average time to hire versus the 49-day industry average → a 90-day replacement guarantee. Backed by 300+ placements, a 2M+ candidate network, and named hires at companies like Decagon and Mercor.
A data engineer builds and maintains the data pipelines, warehouses, and infrastructure the business runs on.
What salary does a data engineer in Seattle command in 2026?Across 69 live postings in Seattle, a $200K median salary (typically $160K–$223K) — base only; equity is typically on top. Most postings expect 5+ years of experience.
What should you look for when hiring a data engineer?Depth in the skills these postings require (Python, SQL, AWS, Java, Scala, Airflow, data pipelines, Redshift), plus pipeline and warehouse experience, strong SQL, and distributed-data fluency. Recruiting from Scratch sends a shortlist of 3–5 genuinely qualified candidates, not resume volume.
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