Platforms
Cloudera CDPDatabricksSnowflakeGreenplumGemFire
Data platforms · screened by Duczer East
Hire data engineers vetted by a data platform practitioner
Conntal places senior data engineers for platform work, not dashboard work: Cloudera CDP estates, Databricks and Snowflake builds, and streaming pipelines on Kafka. Candidates are screened by a Duczer East or AceMQ practitioner on a real migration or lineage problem before you see a CV.
Indicative rate: from $80/hr nearshore or offshore and $120/hr onshore. See what moves it.
Contract, contract-to-hire or direct · onshore, nearshore, offshore · reviewed 31 October 2026
- Screen owner
- Data platform lead · Duczer EastCloudera CDP upgrades and private-AI builds inside banks.
- Titles we place
- Data engineer · Big data engineer · Platform data engineer · Streaming engineer · Analytics engineer
- Platforms we screen on
- Cloudera CDPDatabricksSnowflakeGreenplumGemFire
Rates
What a contract data engineer costs
Senior contract data engineer rates start at $80/hr nearshore or offshore and $120/hr onshore. These are indicative from-rates, last reviewed 31 October 2026.
| Location model | From (USD per hour) | Where engineers are based |
|---|---|---|
| OnshoreHighest rate | $120/hr | US-based, on client time zones, cleared where the engagement requires it. |
| NearshoreOur default recommendation | $80/hr | Latin America and Canada, four hours or less of overlap loss, same working day. |
| OffshoreLowest rate | $80/hr | Europe, India and South East Asia. |
What moves the number
- Platform scarcity. The fewer engineers who have run Data engineer in production, the higher the rate.
- Seniority. The figures are for senior engineers; staff and principal levels cost more.
- Clearance and residency. Cleared or on-site work narrows the pool and sits in the onshore column.
- Term. Length, hours and the engagement model change the rate; contract-to-hire and direct placement are priced differently.
Indicative from-rates for senior contract engineers, USD per hour. The final rate depends on platform scarcity, seniority, clearance and term.
The screen
How we vet data engineers: the published screen
Every data engineer is screened on the scenario below by the Data platform lead at Duczer East. The senior and mid answers are published so you can judge our bar before you engage us, and candidates know what they are walking into.
The screen · Data engineer
Conntal Vetting Standard
Scenario put to the candidate
A bank is on CDP Private Cloud Base 7.1.7 and wants to move to 7.1.9. Their OS reaches end of life inside the currently supported CDP version. What do you check, and in what order?
Vetted by
Data platform lead · Duczer East
A senior answer contains
- Goes to the support matrix first and reads it against the actual cluster, not the target release.
- Spots that an OS going end of life inside a supported CDP version is the trap, and sequences the OS upgrade accordingly.
- Names the things that break in practice: Ranger policies, Hive metastore, Spark 3 pairings, Kerberos principals.
- Asks who signs off the lineage evidence, because in a bank that gates the change.
Where a mid answer stops
- Starts from the CDP release notes and treats the OS as an afterthought.
- Plans the upgrade as one window rather than a sequence with rollback points.
- Has not had to produce lineage evidence for an examiner and does not ask who will.
What we screen on
Data engineer skills we screen for
Data engineer candidates are screened on platforms, streaming and processing, among others, against the stack you actually run rather than a generic checklist.
Streaming
Apache KafkaConfluentApache PulsarFlinkCDC
Processing
SparkHiveIcebergDelta LakedbtAirflow
Governance
Apache AtlasCloudera SDXUnity Catalogcolumn-level lineage
Regulated context
model risk evidencedata residencyKYC and AML pipelinesaudit trails
Titles this covers
Data engineer job titles we place
We place 6 titles in this area, from Data engineer to Data platform lead. They overlap and are used inconsistently between companies, so tell us the outcome you need and we will tell you which title actually fits it.
- Data engineer
- Big data engineer
- Platform data engineer
- Streaming engineer
- Analytics engineer
- Data platform lead
The platforms, run in production by our network
Engagement
Ways to hire data engineers
Platform work usually starts with a defined piece of change and becomes ongoing ownership, which is why most data engineers engagements begin on contract. All three models are available, in any location model.
Contract
A vetted engineer embedded in your team for a defined term.
Hourly, billed against an approved SOW. Most common for migrations, upgrades and capacity surges where the work has an end date.
Contract staffingContract-to-hire
Work together first, convert when it is obviously working.
A defined conversion window and a pre-agreed fee, so the decision to hire is a business decision rather than a negotiation.
Contract-to-hire staffingDirect placement
A permanent hire, screened to the same standard.
One-time fee against first-year base. Used where the role is a long-term platform owner rather than project capacity.
Direct placement staffingNot a fit if
When to look elsewhere for data engineers
We are the wrong choice if any of these describe your role, and we would rather say so on the first call.
- You need dashboard, BI or report-building skills rather than platform and pipeline engineering.
- You want a data scientist or model builder; the screen covers the platform underneath the models.
- You need a junior analyst; the screen is written for senior platform engineers.
How it works
How hiring data engineers through Conntal works
- 01
Scope
A practitioner scopes the role
An engineer who runs this technology reads your brief and tells you what is missing from it. Most briefs we receive ask for the wrong seniority or the wrong title. - 02
Screen
We screen, then shortlist
Sourcing is ours; the technical decision belongs to the vetting practitioner. You only see candidates who passed the scenario on this page. - 03
Start
Start, convert or replace
Contract, contract-to-hire or direct. If the fit is wrong we say so first and replace rather than defend the placement.
Screen owner
Who vets our data engineers: Data platform lead, Duczer East
Cloudera CDP upgrades and private-AI builds inside banks; owns the support-matrix and lifecycle practice.
FAQ
Data engineers: what buyers ask
Something not covered here? Send the requirement and a practitioner answers it, not a sales queue.
How much does a contract data engineer cost per hour?
Indicative senior contract from-rates are $80/hr nearshore or offshore and $120/hr onshore (USD, reviewed 31 October 2026). The final rate depends on platform scarcity, seniority, clearance and term. Contract-to-hire and direct placement are priced differently, and the delivery models page sets out how.
How fast can a data engineer start?
We do not promise a start date before we have seen the brief. A practitioner reads it, usually within one business day, and tells you whether we can staff it. Timing after that depends on the stack, the seniority and the location model.
What is data engineering staff augmentation?
Data engineering staff augmentation adds vetted data engineers into your team for a defined term, under your direction. It suits platform migrations, CDP upgrades and pipeline backlogs where you own the data platform but need specialist capacity.
Do you staff Cloudera engineers specifically?
Yes. Cloudera is a core Duczer East practice covering CDP support, upgrades, the support matrix and private AI on Cloudera, and Cloudera candidates are screened by that team rather than by a generalist recruiter.
Can you find Databricks and Snowflake engineers?
Yes, and we screen them on platform work rather than notebooks: cost model, governance, lineage and migration path. We are explicit with clients about where our own bench is deepest, which today is Cloudera and streaming.
What is the difference between a data engineer and an analytics engineer?
A data engineer owns the pipeline and the platform underneath it: ingestion, storage, orchestration, governance. An analytics engineer works above the warehouse, modelling data for consumption. Confusing the two is the single most common cause of a failed data hire.
Do your data engineers have regulated-industry experience?
Many do. The parent practices deliver into financial services and healthcare, which means candidates are routinely screened on data residency, lineage as audit evidence, and the governance obligations that come with model risk management.
Can you staff a Kafka or streaming specialist?
Yes. Streaming is AceMQ's core practice, so Kafka, Confluent and Pulsar candidates are screened by engineers who run those platforms in production rather than by keyword match.
Contract or direct placement for data platform roles?
Both, and contract-to-hire in between. Migration and upgrade work is usually contract; ongoing platform ownership is usually direct. We will tell you which one your scope actually is.
Who runs the technical screen for data engineers?
The screen is owned by the Data platform lead at Duczer East. It is a production scenario, and the senior and mid answers are published on this page so you can judge the bar before you engage us.
Related
Related roles
Need data delivered as a project or supported as a service instead of staffed? Duczer East does that directly.
Need data engineers? Start with the brief.
Send the requirement and an engineer who runs this technology will tell you what is missing before we source anyone.