Data Engineer Salary Negotiation: How to Negotiate a Data Engineer Job Offer

Data engineers are in high demand—and for good reason. They are needed in almost every industry to make data usable and accessible. If you’re considering data engineer jobs in this growing field, don’t make the mistake of overlooking one of the most important steps in the process: negotiating your data engineer salary. 

As a data engineer, you have an incredibly valuable skill set; you know how to transform raw data into insights and information that companies can use to optimize their performance. Bringing these same problem-solving skills to a negotiation gives you the opportunity to optimize your own data engineer career trajectory and earnings.

If you’ve never negotiated a job offer before, there’s nothing to worry about. In this article, we are going to walk you through carefully curated strategies that have helped different types of engineers all over the world negotiate for better compensation. We will provide you with a list of steps that will prepare you to approach your data engineer salary negotiation with confidence and success.

Don’t want to go through the data engineer salary negotiation process alone? We have additional resources to help you navigate your data engineering salary negotiation. 

If you’re looking for specific advice from a salary negotiation professional on your data engineering salary negotiation, connect with a Salary Negotiation Coach.

Take our Salary Negotiation Courses or download our Salary Negotiation Templates to receive our strategies, preparing you for all aspects of a data engineer salary negotiation.

The first step to any negotiation requires taking a careful look at the different compensation components of your total data engineer salary package.

Even if your original offer seems great, you can’t really know how competitive it is until you spend some time breaking down each of its various elements.

While it may be tempting to only consider the base salary of your offer, there is so much more that goes into your total data engineer compensation package. In fact, many data engineers will also be offered an annual performance bonus, initial equity package, sign-on bonus, and other benefits like remote work flexibility.

Each of these elements play a significant role in the total value of your yearly compensation. It’s incredibly important to consider all these compensation components carefully so that you can evaluate your offer accurately and approach your negotiation strategically.

For example, here is what a Meta data engineer salary may look like in their initial offer:

Meta Data Engineer Salary

 
 

If you’re unsure how some of the parts of your current offer work, no worries. We are going to go over the most common data engineer salary components and break them down in more detail below.

DATA ENGINEER SALARY

To begin, let’s go over the component of your job offer that you’re probably the most familiar with: your data engineer base salary. As you most likely know, your base salary is the fixed guaranteed pay that you receive in exchange for the work you do.

What you might not know, however, is how a data engineer salary is determined.

At most companies, every individual job role will have a preset base pay range associated with it. These ranges have set minimum and maximum amounts that control what your base pay can be for that specific role.

For example, the pay range for an entry level data engineer salary would be different from the range for a senior data engineer salary at the same company. Likewise, the base pay ranges for data engineers will differ by specific company (i.e., an Amazon data engineer salary will differ from a Google data engineer salary).

DATA ENGINEER PERFORMANCE BONUS

Most data engineer job offers will also include an annual performance bonus.

An annual data engineer performance bonus is typically a percentage of your base salary that’s dependent on both company and personal performance. What this means is that your data engineer bonus could go up or down depending on the targets you or your company hit.

It’s possible that you or your company could outperform your goals and exceed the target percentages of your annual performance bonus. However, it’s not always guaranteed—so it’s best to assume the average bonus payout when evaluating and negotiating this component of your total compensation package.

The good news is that a data engineer performance bonus can make a huge difference in your total yearly compensation. The bad news is that performance bonuses are generally non-negotiable at most companies. There is often a set target percentage for each role type and level that cannot be changed (i.e., a bonus target for a data engineering director salary would be different from a VP data engineering salary or data engineering manager salary).

However, don’t forget that since your bonus is usually a percentage of your base salary, the higher you negotiate your base salary, the higher your bonus could be.

DATA ENGINEER EQUITY PACKAGES

The next element of your data engineering job offer to consider is your equity package. Data engineer equity is a highly sought-after compensation component in these types of roles.

As a data engineer, the equity you receive could be offered either as RSUs (restricted stock units or restricted stock awards) or stock options. This equity grant will include a bundle of shares or options that vest over a defined timeframe (i.e., four years), called a vesting schedule.

While data engineer equity packages can make a huge difference in your total compensation, always keep in mind that the value of your equity does fluctuate based on the market value of the company you work for.

For example, say you secure a Google data engineer salary offer—you’ll benefit if Google’s share value goes up, but you’ll take a loss if Google’s share value goes down. So when evaluating this aspect of your total compensation, don’t forget that you can’t control these fluctuations and that if you leave the company before the equity vests, you risk forgoing it altogether.

On the bright side, we’ve found that equity packages are usually negotiable for data engineers which is why you should almost always push more equity in your negotiation.

DATA ENGINEER SIGN-ON BONUS

It might take some negotiating, but most data engineers should also receive a sign-on bonus as part of their job offers. A data engineer sign-on bonus is a one-time bonus that works as an incentive to join the company or to cover any lost bonuses or unvested equity at your current job.

Knowing how to negotiate for a sign-on bonus is incredibly important since not all companies will provide them in their initial offers. Fortunately, we’ve had countless successes securing large data engineer signing bonuses—even when the job seeker wasn’t walking away from money at their current company. 

Most often, data engineering sign-on bonuses are paid in one lump sum within the first 30 days of employment. However, you’ll typically need to pay the bonus back if you leave the company within your first year (or other designated timeframe).

However, other companies might approach sign-on bonuses differently. For example, the sign-on bonus for an IBM data engineer salary package will differ from that of an Snowflake data engineer salary.

DATA ENGINEER EQUITY REFRESHER

Another component of your offer to look into is whether you’ll receive a data engineer equity refresher, which is an additional equity grant that you might receive each year.

While it’s possible to receive equity in your initial offer, you’ll find that most recruiters try to withhold if there will be a stock refresher or how much it will be. This practice is common for Apple data engineer salary offers and other industries that offer this annual equity perk.

During your negotiation, we recommend you ask the hiring team to provide more details about the amount and timeline of the stock refresher. However, be prepared for them to shy away from specific details. Since it’s often challenging to compare this benefit across different data engineer salaries, we don’t include this component in our total compensation calculation.

BENEFITS AND PERKS FOR DATA ENGINEERS

Like any job, benefits will look different for data engineers depending on the company they work for. However, some of the most common benefits you should look for in your compensation package are things like health insurance, 401K match, parental leave, or even fitness memberships.

Many data engineers will also be offered the opportunity to work remotely (which we recommend bringing up during the interview process). Unfortunately, most other benefits and perks for data engineers are usually non-negotiable and standard for most employees.

However, it’s possible in some cases to get changes approved via an under-the-table agreement with your future hiring manager (i.e., your manager will be more flexible with your vacation time or remote flexibility).

Five Steps to Negotiate a Data Engineer Salary

Now that you have a good understanding of the different compensation components of a data engineer salary, it’s time to go over how you can negotiate for an improved job offer.

However, keep in mind that you should only ever follow these negotiation strategies when you have a job offer in hand. Based on years of experience negotiating hundreds of job offers, we’ve found that not negotiating until you have the actual offer will give you more leverage to negotiate. You’ll also be less likely to make mistakes like disclosing your salary expectations to the recruiter too early.

So once you’ve received an official offer, the steps below can guide you through the process of negotiating your data engineer salary. If you’re looking for help negotiating, you can also reach out to our team for professional Salary Negotiation Coaching.

1) UNDERSTAND THE COMPONENTS OF YOUR DATA ENGINEER SALARY

This first step should be an easy one since we’ve covered it already. As a quick reminder, make sure to review your data engineering salary package for a base salary, performance bonus, equity, sign-on bonus, and any benefits and perks. You can also use our Total Compensation Calculator to calculate your compensation components if needed.

2) COMPLETE DUE DILIGENCE ON A DATA ENGINEER JOB OFFER BY ASKING Strategic QUESTIONS

Once you’ve reviewed your job offer carefully, your next step should be to begin asking strategic questions. Asking the right questions can help you establish an effective data engineer counteroffer while also communicating to the recruiting team that you are serious about the job offer.

Start by asking for clarity on any items that the recruiter may have been vague about (i.e., What is the expected equity refresher each year for this role?). Each of the answers you collect will include important data points you can use in your data engineer counteroffer.

Even if you think you already understand everything there is to know about the offer, we still recommend that you ask questions. If you’re not sure what to ask, you can check out our list of Strategic Questions to Build Negotiation Leverage. We suggest starting this phase of the negotiation right after you receive the data engineer job offer.

3) RESEARCH TO IDENTIFY WHAT DATA ENGINEER SALARY SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Since the data engineer salaries will vary by company, part of the negotiation process will require you to spend some time researching data engineering salary ranges.

Doing this research will help you understand the strength of your current offer and help you identify how much you should counter for. It’s important to make sure that your comp research is specific to your exact role type and level (i.e., is it a senior data engineer salary or an entry level data engineer salary) and where it’s located (i.e., is it a data engineer salary NYC or a data engineer salary Seattle), whether that be in-person, hybrid, or remote.

There are many online resources you can use in your data engineer salary research, such as PayScale or Salary.com. However, make sure to keep in mind that ranges on these types of sites are publicly reported by current or past engineers—meaning the pay they indicate could be different from what is now offered to new engineers. Comparing data engineer pay data across multiple different sites can help you pull together the most accurate information. You can use our Total Compensation Research Comparison Tool to help you with your compensation research and identifying the pay ranges.

When researching this pay data, here’s something key to remember: in any job offer you accept, you’ll ultimately be expected to manage the same responsibilities as anyone hired for that same position. Because of this, we recommend that you should push for at least the mid- to top-end of the total pay range for your specific data engineering role—regardless of your experience or background.

4) SEND A DATA ENGINEER COUNTEROFFER TO THE RECRUITER

It’s finally time for the part you’ve been waiting for: sending over a data engineer counteroffer.

If you followed the first three steps, you should now be prepared to present your data engineer counteroffer to the recruiter by referencing your pay range data you’ve identified and how the benefits in your offer differ from other companies and/or your current role.

While you can present your counteroffer over the phone, we highly recommend that you present your new ask via email. Why? Drafting an email gives you the time and freedom to write exactly what you want to say, helping to keep you on track while also giving the recruiter something they can easily forward on and share internally with their team.

As always, present your counteroffer professionally and graciously—this is your first chance to showcase what you would be like to work alongside. To ensure proper communication, use our Counteroffer Drafts for examples to help you formulate a strategic counteroffer.

5) HANDLE ANY OBJECTIONS AND ACHIEVE A Competitive DATA ENGINEER SALARY

While the hiring team might respond immediately with an updated offer package, it’s more likely that they’ll come back to you with a list of reasons as to why they can’t make any increases to the data engineer salary.

If this happens, don’t panic—this is a common recruiter tactic in salary negotiation and our Objection Handling Scripts will help. If you’re faced with these objections, respond professionally by stating you understand their constraints, but ask again if they could take your data engineer counter back to their team for one last look.

Once they agree to take your data engineer salary thoughts back to their team, they should return with an improved offer. If the updated compensation package aligns with the pay bands you researched and meets your needs, you should be ready to lock it in with an offer acceptance email!

Mistakes to Avoid During Your Data Engineer Salary Negotiation

Now that we’ve covered what you should do during your data engineer salary negotiation, it’s time to quickly go over a few things you shouldn’t do.

There are a few common mistakes career professionals make during the data engineer jobs search and negotiation process. Below we’ve listed some of the top things you should make sure you avoid when you negotiate your data engineering salary.

AVOID SHARING SALARY EXPECTATIONS BEFORE YOU GET A JOB OFFER IN DATA ENGINEERING

Sharing your salary expectations too early often typically works against engineers when trying to receive a fair job offer.

Here’s what might happen if you share your data engineer salary expectations before you have an offer in hand: If you share a lower compensation than what the company could offer, they will be incentivized to now offer you that lower compensation. On the other hand, if you share a number higher than what they could offer, there is a chance that they could become disinterested and choose a different engineer over you. Never forget that recruiting teams are working for the company, not you, and they are ultimately trying to get the best deal for that company.

Realistically, it also doesn’t make much sense to discuss data engineering salary expectations before you learn more about the specific role, its total compensation package, and whether those aspects feel like a good fit for you. After all, you’re also interviewing them to see if this role is something you want to pursue so be sure to overcome these tactics by responding like this. 

DON'T BE AFRAID TO NEGOTIATE A DATA ENGINEERING Salary

Many job seekers shy away from negotiating even if it means increasing their total data engineering career earnings.

In many cases, engineers don’t negotiate out of fear of offending the recruiting team or losing the job offer altogether. However, we’ve helped facilitate hundreds of successful salary negotiations over many years and we’ve never seen a company rescind an engineering job offer because of an attempted negotiation. Don’t let salary negotiation concerns keep you from negotiating for a better data engineering salary.

BE REALISTIC BY DOING YOUR DATA ENGINEER SALARY RESEARCH

Even though data engineering roles are in high demand and pay well, you should still be realistic about what compensation you ask for.

Make sure that you conduct thorough and in-depth research so that you only push for compensation that the company can realistically provide. For example, the compensation package for a TikTok data engineer salary will look different from a Microsoft data engineer salary.

The Bottom Line: Negotiate Your Data Engineer Salary

We believe that all data engineers can and should negotiate their job offers. Our tried-and-true strategies can help you navigate your data engineer salary negotiation to receive a competitive compensation package and increase your total career earnings.

If you think you’d benefit from personalized advice on how to negotiate your data engineer salary from a professional salary negotiation coach, Book a Free Consultation today. Our team has years of experience helping engineers of all kinds negotiate for improved compensation packages.

We also have our How to Negotiate Your Job Offer and How to Negotiate Your Current Salary courses, and Salary Negotiation Templates if you prefer to learn at your own pace and want to gain the confidence and tools to negotiate your job offer successfully. With downloadable email templates and job offer negotiation resources, you will be prepared for all aspects of your data engineer offer negotiation.

Brandon Bramley