The pathway
How you actually get there, here
How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.
- 1
Senior DataOps Engineer (L3)
2-3 yearsSkills to master
- Mastering complex data pipeline design, leading small workstreams, effectively mentoring junior engineers, and taking full ownership of significant platform components.
You're ready to move on when
- Consistently delivering high-quality, robust data solutions with minimal supervision.
- Proactively identifying and solving complex technical problems.
- Receiving positive feedback on mentorship and technical guidance from junior team members.
- Demonstrating strong communication skills with cross-functional teams.
- 2
Senior DevOps / Platform Engineer
3-4 yearsSkills to master
- Translating traditional DevOps principles (CI/CD, IaC, observability) to data-specific challenges, learning data orchestration tools (Airflow, dbt), and understanding data modelling concepts.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully migrated traditional application CI/CD skills to data pipelines.
- Built and maintained infrastructure for data-intensive applications.
- Developed a solid understanding of data warehousing concepts and SQL.
- Demonstrated ability to learn and apply new data-specific technologies quickly.
- 3
Senior Data Engineer
2-3 yearsSkills to master
- Deepening expertise in infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD for data, data observability, and moving beyond just building pipelines to owning the platform that runs them.
You're ready to move on when
- Consistently building highly performant and reliable data pipelines.
- Taking initiative to improve the underlying infrastructure of data solutions.
- Demonstrating strong problem-solving skills for platform-level issues.
- Expressing a keen interest in automation and operational excellence for data.