About 1 in 2 data engineer jobs posted in the last 90 days ask you to use AI tools or work on AI.
Updated Oct 27, 2026
Jobs posted in the last 90 days, grouped by how much AI is in the work the person hired would do.
| Level | Share of postings | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| 2%32 jobs | ||
| 33%455 jobs | ||
| 5%68 jobs | ||
| 60%820 jobs |
Up from 36% in the 90 days before that: 40% of data engineer jobs posted in the last 90 days ask for AI, 5 points more.
The job is building AI systems.
The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
An ordinary role that requires AI tools.
AI is not part of the work.
Among data engineer jobs that publish a salary range in US dollars, the median starting salary is $140,000 for Works on AI, $155,000 for Uses AI and $140,000 for Little AI.
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As of October 27, 2026, About 1 in 2 data engineer jobs posted in the last 90 days ask you to use AI tools or work on AI. Out of 1,375 postings, 32 are Builds AI, 455 are Works on AI, 68 are Uses AI, 820 are Little AI. Up from 36% in the 90 days before that: 40% of data engineer jobs posted in the last 90 days ask for AI, 5 points more.
As of October 27, 2026, the AI tools and skills named most often in data engineer job postings are AI agents (10% of postings), RAG (6% of postings), Copilot (5% of postings) and MLOps (5% of postings).
As of October 27, 2026. Among data engineer jobs that publish a salary range in US dollars, the median starting salary is $140,000 for Works on AI, $155,000 for Uses AI and $140,000 for Little AI. Only postings that publish a salary range count, and the figure is the lower end of the range.
Builds AI: The job is building AI systems. Works on AI: The daily work is on AI products, without building the model. Uses AI: An ordinary role that requires AI tools. Little AI: AI is not part of the work. Each posting is rated on what the person hired would do day to day, not on what the employer sells.
Method: every job posted on Level in the last 90 days under this title is counted once, open or closed, on its posting date. Each job is rated on the work the person hired would do and placed at one of four levels, see our method. AI skills come from a fixed list of tools and skills named in the posting. Pay is the lower end of published salary ranges in dollars, median per level, shown only with at least 10 jobs. Postings change with coverage and sources, so comparisons with the earlier period describe postings, not the job itself.
Cite this page
Level (jobsbylevel.com), "AI in Data engineer jobs". Share of job postings at each AI level, last 90 days. Data measured on October 27, 2026. License CC BY 4.0. https://jobsbylevel.com/ai-in-your-job/data-engineer
