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Industries ยท Data Platforms
Modern data platforms span streaming, warehousing, governance and ML data infrastructure. Re:Sourced runs senior search across data engineering, platform engineering and analytics engineering for high-volume and regulated workloads.
The Australian data platforms market
Modern data platforms span streaming, warehousing, governance and ML data infrastructure. Senior engineering concentrates in Sydney (financial services, retail, AdTech), Melbourne (CommBank, NAB, AGL, Telstra) and Canberra (federal government and large enterprise programs).
Streaming infrastructure, lakehouse architecture and governance-heavy environments are the slowest searches. Analytics engineering as a discipline has matured fast and is now a distinct hire from classic BI.
Most-recruited data platforms roles
Specialisms in data platforms
Salary bands 2026
Sydney base salary bands for the disciplines data platform teams hire most, drawn from our Salary Guide 2026.
| Discipline | Senior base | Principal base |
|---|---|---|
| Data engineer | AUD 160-190k | AUD 195-250k |
| AI / ML engineer | AUD 180-220k | AUD 220-260k |
| Cloud / SRE / platform | AUD 170-210k | AUD 200-230k |
Principal data engineering has one of the widest bands in the guide because scope varies so much between platform ownership and pipeline delivery. Melbourne runs roughly 3-5% below Sydney; Brisbane roughly 10% below.
Base only. 25th-75th percentile of accepted offers. Full Salary Guide 2026 ->
Hiring in data
"Data engineer" covers very different jobs: platform engineers who own the warehouse and streaming infrastructure, pipeline engineers who move and model data, and analytics engineers who sit closer to the business. A brief that asks for all three at one salary is very hard to fill.
The strongest data platform candidates can explain the trade-offs behind their stack choices, not just list tools. Regulated sectors add another layer: risk reporting and regulatory pipelines in fintech, and privacy and interoperability requirements for clinical and claims data in healthtech.
Go deeper
Risk, regulatory and transaction data.
Clinical, claims and patient data.
Product-event and analytics pipelines.
The 2026 hiring guide.
Bands by discipline, seniority and city.
The all-in cost of a senior engineer.
Common questions
Senior data engineers in Sydney price at AUD 160-190k base and principal-level engineers at AUD 195-250k, 25th to 75th percentile of accepted offers.
A data engineer builds the pipelines and platforms that move and shape data; a data scientist analyses that data and builds models. Our guide to what a data engineer is covers the difference, and how it compares with analytics engineering.
We present a calibrated shortlist inside 72 hours of the intake call, and our median is 21 days from brief to signed offer.
Start a hiring campaign
20 minute working session. No fee until placement. Replacement inside 90 days.