
Big Data Engineer Job Description Template
A Big Data Engineer is a person who creates and manages a company’s Big Data infrastructure and tools, and is someone that knows how to get results from vast amounts of data quickly.
Trusted by leading brands and startups
A Big Data Engineer is a person who creates and manages a company’s Big Data infrastructure and tools, and is someone that knows how to get results from vast amounts of data quickly.
The actual definition of this role varies, and often mixes with the Data Scientist role. Here, we will assume that it is a role focused on engineering, without statistics and strong machine learning skills required.
The world of Big Data has grown significantly during the last decade; therefore, the skills started to be more specific. While in the majority of cases it is built around Hadoop, there are many tools that have become very significant on their own. We have covered some common cases in the following sample description.
Big Data Engineer - Job Description and Ad Template
Copy this template, and modify it as your own:
Company Introduction
{{Write a short and catchy paragraph about your company. Make sure to provide information about the company culture, perks, and benefits. Mention office hours, remote working possibilities, and everything else you think makes your company interesting. Big Data Engineers like to work on huge problems - mentioning the scale (or the potential) can help gain the attention of top talent.}}
Job Description
We are looking for a Big Data Engineer that will work on the collecting, storing, processing, and analyzing of huge sets of data. The primary focus will be on choosing optimal solutions to use for these purposes, then maintaining, implementing, and monitoring them. You will also be responsible for integrating them with the architecture used across the company.
Responsibilities
- Selecting and integrating any Big Data tools and frameworks required to provide requested capabilities
- Implementing ETL process {{if importing data from existing data sources is relevant}}
- Monitoring performance and advising any necessary infrastructure changes
- Defining data retention policies
- {{Add any other responsibility that is relevant}}
Skills and Qualifications
- Proficient understanding of distributed computing principles
- Management of Hadoop cluster, with all included services {{unless you are going to have specific Big Data DevOps roles for this}}
- Ability to solve any ongoing issues with operating the cluster {{unless you are going to have specific Big Data DevOps roles for this}}
- Proficiency with Hadoop v2, MapReduce, HDFS
- Experience with building stream-processing systems, using solutions such as Storm or Spark-Streaming {{if stream-processing is relevant for the role}}
- Good knowledge of Big Data querying tools, such as Pig, Hive, and Impala
- Experience with Spark {{if you are including or planning to include it}}
- Experience with integration of data from multiple data sources
- Experience with NoSQL databases, such as HBase, Cassandra, MongoDB
- Knowledge of various ETL techniques and frameworks, such as Flume
- Experience with various messaging systems, such as Kafka or RabbitMQ
- Experience with Big Data ML toolkits, such as Mahout, SparkML, or H2O {{if you are going to integrate Machine Learning in your Big Data infrastructure}}
- Good understanding of Lambda Architecture, along with its advantages and drawbacks
- Experience with Cloudera/MapR/Hortonworks {{you can specify the distribution you are currently using or planning to use here}}
- {{List any other technologies you are using or planning to use. Most Big Data Engineers will know some of the ones listed here: The Hadoop Ecosystem Table}}
- {{List education level or certification you require}}
Recent Big Data Articles by Toptal Engineers
How to Hire an Excellent Big Data Architect
Big Data is an extremely broad domain, typically addressed by a hybrid team of data scientists, software engineers, and statisticians. Real expertise in big data therefore requires far more than learning the ins and outs of a particular technology. This guide offers a sampling of effective questions to help evaluate the breadth and depth of a candidate's mastery of this complex domain.
Read Hiring GuideHire a Top Big Data Architect Now
Toptal is a marketplace for top big data architects. Top companies and startups choose Toptal big data freelancers for their mission-critical software projects.
See Their ProfilesGeorge Kobiashvili
Freelance Big Data Architect
George is a seasoned systems engineer with great breadth and depth knowledge of building and automating complex systems. As an early adopter of cloud technology, he led a team to design and build an on-premise cloud. His 12 years of teaching developed the skill of coaching and communicating complex concepts. George is fluent in C, Go, and Python languages, with a keen interest in data science and AI, focused on delivering the highest quality results. He is eager to work with complex problems.
Show MoreJames Cahall
Freelance Big Data Architect
James is a results-driven, can-do, and entrepreneurial engineer with eight years of C-level experience (15+ years of professional engineering)—consistently delivering successful bleeding-edge products to support business goals. He's an architect in innovative tech initiatives that add to and accelerate business revenue streams. He's also the CTO and lead developer of Toon Goggles—an SVOD/AVOD kids' entertainment service with 8 million users.
Show MoreSung Jun (Andrew) Kim
Freelance Big Data Architect
As a highly effective technical leader with over 20 years of experience, Andrew specializes in data: integration, conversion, engineering, analytics, visualization, science, ETL, big data architecture, analytics platforms, and cloud architecture. He has an array of skills in building data platforms, analytic consulting, trend monitoring, data modeling, data governance, and machine learning.
Show MoreBruno Machado Agostinho
Freelance Big Data Architect
For over the past decade, Bruno's been working with databases in various fields. He also has an Oracle SQL Expert certification and specializes in optimizing SQL queries and PL/SQL procedures, but he's also developed with PostgreSQL and MySQL. Bruno likes to keep himself up to date, and that's why he's undertaking a Ph.D. in computer science.
Show MorePieter van Beek
Freelance Big Data Architect
Pieter has 39 years of programming experience, including time spent as a software product manager. He is a challenger, an independent worker, and a team player as circumstances demand, and he boasts expertise and skill in a range of topics, including big data, cryptography, and machine learning.
Show MoreSign up now to see more profiles.
Start HiringToptal Connects the Top 3% of Freelance Talent All Over The World.
Join the Toptal community.