Big Data Engineer Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

By | August 16, 2023
Big Data Engineer Job Description
Big Data Engineers create and manage an organization’s Big Data infrastructure and tools.

Big Data Engineer Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides information about the big data engineer job description for anyone looking to learn of what the role does.

It highlights the key tasks, duties, and responsibilities that majorly constitute the big data engineer work description in most organizations.

This article also shows the qualities, including skills, abilities, and knowledge, education, and experience that most recruiters for the big data engineer role commonly ask applicants to fulfill to be able to access the job.

Please, continue reading to increase your knowledge of the big data engineer career:

What Does a Big Data Engineer Do?

The big data engineer creates and manages an organization’s Big Data infrastructure and tools.

They are responsible for collecting, storing, processing, and analyzing large data sets with a focus on choosing optimal solutions to use for the processes mentioned above, then maintaining, implementing, and monitoring them.

The big data engineer job description entails working with very large data sets utilizing knowledge of Parallel Processing (MPP) Data warehouse platforms.

It also involves integrating data processes with the architecture used across the company.
The big data engineering role cuts across several sectors, including technology firms, payment solutions companies, telecommunications companies, information solutions companies, healthcare, etc.

It involves administering Hadoop-ecosystem and Data Engineering activities as well as loading data from several disparate datasets and documentation; carrying out performance testing and debugging of applications.

Big data engineers supervise work done by other engineers who are part of the team; help organize team activities in tandem with other teams and product groups; Big Data architecture standards should be maintained.

Big data engineers direct and manage Big Data infrastructure engineering resources to guarantee quality delivery of services on time.

They assess and ascertain the practical requirements, and recognize the present state of technology by liaising with customers, end users, and development partners in spotting opportunities that generate business value.

The big data engineer work description also entails collaborating with other architects to outline the technical architectural structure that will make sure the products and constituents work holistically to meet the objectives and functional goals of the customer.

It involves working alongside application support teams and third party support team (on-shore and off-shore) and educating and managing them to ensure big data infrastructure related technologies are supported consistently.

To work and succeed as a big data engineer, individuals must possess adequate familiarity of the capabilities and constraints of the technical environments.

Big Data Engineer Job Description Example/Sample/Template

Big data engineers perform various functions, which primarily involves selecting an ideal big data and analytics solution to deploy, maintain, execute, monitor, and optimize.

They are also in charge of incorporating them with the architecture used throughout the company.

The primary tasks, duties, and responsibilities that commonly make up the big data engineer job description are listed below:

  • Learn and work with a wide range of tools, including R, Scala, Python, and other future-oriented analytic systems or languages
  • Explore and assess novel tools and technologies to tackle business problems
  • Accountable for the design and development of new Big Data applications for evaluating data for actionable insights
  • Provide mentorship to other team members and partake in cross-training.
  • Deploy current project planning techniques to simplify very complex projects into tasks and manageable scope to ensure deliverables are achieve within deadlines.
  • Be up to date on current technology trends as regards Big Data and Analytics
  • Make sure there is platform integrity conceptually and architecturally
  • Can take on large-scale, multi-tier big data projects
  • Design and build improved architectural models for scalable data processing along with scalable data storage
  • Contribute to collective software and system design and advancement of the new platform.

Big Data Engineer Job Description for Resume

You can adopt the big data engineer job description sample above in making the work or professional experience section of your resume if you are making one for a new job.

If you have worked before as a big data engineer, it is wise to include the professional or work experience section to your resume or CV where you highlight the duties that you performed working in the position of a big data engineer.

This can help to convince the recruiter better that you have been successful performing the duties and responsibilities of a big data engineer, which can influence their decision to grant you an interview.

The sample big data engineer job description above provides the duties and functions of the role that you can apply in completing the work experience section of your resume or CV.

Big Data Engineer Requirements – Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

If you are seeking the big data engineer position with a company, the recruiter will want you to meet certain requirements to qualify for the job.

The major ones, which will help them to find the best people who can effectively perform the obligations, purpose, and objectives of the big data engineer role, are shown below:

  • Education: Applicants must possess Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or its equivalent in experience
  • Knowledge: The engineer must possess adequate knowledge of Big Data technologies and tools accompanied with a capacity to communicate ideas within a team. Command strong knowhow of commercial IT infrastructures, comprising networking, storage, security, and systems management. They must also be familiar with industry standards and trends
  • Expertise in Parallel Processing (MPP) Database along with strong conceptual and analytical thinking
  • Competence in one or more of the scripting language (Python/Java/ Shell/Perl etc.)
  • Possess deep familiarity of usage and execution at scale of NoSQL solutions like MongoDB, CouchDB, Hbase, HIVE, and Cassandra
  • Command expertise in open source Big data technologies comprising Hadoop eco-system (Spark Scala, Impala, Spark, HBase, MapReduce, Streaming, Pig)
  • Access to commercial platform in Big data technologies from providers such as IBM (Netezza), Cloudera, or Oracle (Exadata)
  • Proficiency in Relational SQL databases (e.g. MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.), Analytics platforms (e.g. DataStage or similar) and OLAP technologies
  • Have good experience with agile development methodologies
  • Communication skills: Sound verbal and written communication skills are required
  • Multi-tasking skills: Capability to skillfully manage multiple priorities with little or no supervision and on schedule
  • Applicants must be good team and individual player.

Advancing your Career

If you are looking to take your big data engineering career to the next level or are in a different career and want to switch to the more paying big data engineering position, then you need to acquire the knowledge and skills to succeed in the new job.

You will need to take the right training courses to help you develop the needed skills and gain the knowledge to succeed on the new job or obtain certification.

The same goes for fresh graduates and students who want to build a career in the big data engineering field. They will need to acquire the relevant skills and knowledge through taking the right training programs.

See below for training courses you can take for your big data engineering career advancement:

>> Big Data Architect Training Course
>> Big Data Hadoop Administrator Certification Training
>> Big Data Hadoop Certification Training Course
>> Machine Learning Certification Course
>> Data Science Certification Training
>> Data Science with SAS Certification Training
>> Data Science with Python Certification Course

Conclusion

If you are a recruiter or HR manager in the process of hiring for the big data engineer position in your company, you can create a description of the job on offer with the sample job description provided above.

By providing a detailed description of the available big data engineer job, interested individuals will be able to decide if they can effectively perform the duties and responsibilities of the role. And that will enable you to find the ideal candidates for the job.

The information provided on this page is also useful to individuals interested in the big data engineer career to learn about what the role does.

Did you find this post helpful in learning about the duties and responsibilities of a big data engineer? Please, leave a comment in the box below. You may also discuss your job description if you work as a big data engineer.