What do Data & AI Engineering Talent Really want in 2025?
Through a quite extensive recent survey of our Data Engineering community in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, we took a deep dive into what top talent truly wants in 2025. We broke down the responses into key themes—spanning career growth, work-life balance, engineering culture, and more—to understand the factors that make a role stand out. Hiring Data Engineers today requires more than just offering a job—it’s about creating an environment where they can thrive, grow, and contribute to meaningful projects.
Career growth:
Engineers are looking for meaningful work, the chance to grow, and cutting-edge technology to work with. So, what exactly are they after?
Today’s engineers are heavily invested in working with modern, scalable systems. They want to work on cutting-edge tools that enable them to do high-impact work. Cloud-native technologies are crucial for their day-to-day tasks, and engineers are particularly interested in roles that involve building real-time data pipelines. If you’re embracing more flexible data architectures or adopting forward-thinking practices, that’s a significant draw. Plus, with the rise of AI integration in data workflows, engineers want to know they’re part of a team that’s advancing with AI capabilities—just be sure you’re offering real, practical applications and not simply following the hype.
When it comes to career growth, engineers are looking for more than just a job title. They want a clear roadmap to progress from Mid-Level to Senior and even into leadership roles like Lead Engineer or Principal Engineer. Offering opportunities for learning and development—whether through certifications, conference tickets, or mentorship—is crucial for attracting top talent. Engineers are also keen to diversify their skill sets and are interested in gaining exposure to fields like MLOps, DevOps, or Analytics Engineering. Providing this kind of cross-functional experience not only broadens their skill set but also increases their value within the company.
Compensation remains an important factor, but engineers today expect transparency. Be clear about base salary, performance bonuses, and equity or profit-sharing—especially if you’re a startup or in a high-growth phase. Upfront details about compensation build trust and show that you respect their time and expertise.
Work-life balance:
Hybrid work arrangements are becoming the preferred choice for many engineers. While they appreciate the flexibility of remote-roles, engineers value the opportunity to connect with their team and the business in-person for important whiteboard strategy sessions or team discussions. Being able to collaborate directly on critical architectural decisions and problem-solving is a significant benefit. Having face-to-face interaction allows for deeper, more meaningful connections and ensures that engineers have access to team insights and business priorities. A hybrid work culture, with a balance of remote work and in-person collaboration, helps maintain a strong, connected team while still offering the flexibility to manage their personal lives and work.
Engineering culture:
When it comes to the engineering culture, it’s essential that the team embraces best practices. Engineers want to feel that they are building high-quality, scalable solutions. They also want to be part of a culture that embraces product thinking, where they understand the "why" behind building the pipeline, not just the "how." Strong leadership is another key factor—engineers want to work with leaders who listen, empower their teams, and create an environment where collaboration thrives. They want to feel like they are making a real impact.
Speaking of impact, today’s engineers want to have ownership of their work. They want to influence architectural decisions and make key choices about the tools and technologies used. Having a direct line of sight between their work and the business outcomes is crucial—they need to know that their contributions are driving meaningful change within the company. For engineers, the work itself matters deeply. They want to solve interesting and challenging problems, from building real-time fraud detection systems to personalising user experiences at scale. Opportunities to work on greenfield projects, where they can innovate and build new systems from scratch, are far more appealing than maintaining legacy systems. Engineers are also focused on building systems with strong data governance practices, ensuring that their work is robust and scalable over time.
As we see more engineers aligning with purpose-driven missions, many want to work at companies whose values align with their own. Whether it’s in sustainability, healthcare, or fintech-for-good, engineers are increasingly looking to contribute to a larger cause. They also want to be part of teams that prioritise diversity and inclusion, ensuring that everyone feels valued and safe. Ethical data practices, particularly around privacy and AI, are a big deal too.
Effective Hiring Processes:
Finally, the hiring process is crucial in attracting top talent. Engineers are tired of lengthy, irrelevant interview rounds. They prefer role-relevant tasks, like take-home projects or live pair programming, to demonstrate their skills. Efficiency is key, so don’t stretch out the process unnecessarily—keep the number of interview rounds to a minimum and ensure that feedback is provided in a timely manner. To attract and retain top Data Engineers in 2025, companies need to go beyond competitive pay. Offer an environment that supports growth, encourages innovation, and gives engineers the autonomy to make an impact. If you’re doing this, you’ll not only attract the best talent but also create an environment where they’ll want to stay.
