Career guide 2026
The complete guide: skills, salary, training and career opportunities. The invisible architect who makes data science possible.
38-95K
Gross salary range (APEC)
100%
CPF / OPCO fundable
0 €
Via apprenticeship
48h
Admission response
The role
A Data Engineer is the architect of data infrastructure. They design, build and maintain pipelines that collect, transform and store data at scale. Without them, Data Scientists and Data Analysts couldn't work. It's a highly technical and in-demand profile, at the intersection of development and Big Data.
Required skills
Compensation
Annual gross salaries in France (indicative ranges — public APEC studies and recruitment firm surveys)
Junior (0-2 yrs)
Annual gross
38-45K EUR
Mid (2-5 yrs)
Annual gross
48-58K EUR
Senior (5-8 yrs)
Annual gross
58-75K EUR
Lead / Staff (8+ yrs)
Annual gross
70-95K EUR
Career path
Step 1
Master's in computer science, engineering school or specialized MSc. Strong foundations in programming, databases and distributed systems.
Step 2
Building ETL pipelines, database maintenance, automation scripts. Discovering the Big Data ecosystem.
Step 3
Data lake architecture, orchestration with Airflow, performance optimization. Technical lead on data infrastructure.
Step 4
Global data architecture design, strategic technology choices, technical management. Bridge between data science and production.
Your training
Our MSc Data Science & AI includes a complete Data Engineering path: advanced Python, SQL, Spark, Docker, Cloud and orchestration. You build real data pipelines in real conditions, through projects and internal hackathons.
100% funded training, salary from day 1
Projects on AWS, GCP, Spark pipelines in real conditions
Free application, response within 48h
Job market
Strong
Demand growth (APEC studies)
10+
Hiring sectors (tech, banking, industry...)
Top 3
Most sought-after data profiles
FAQ
Join AI2 and launch your Data Engineering career. Certified training, work-study available, personalized support.
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