$80k - $90k
Job Description Job Description Cortica is looking for a Junior AI Data Engineer to join its growing team! The Junior AI Data Engineer is an early-career role focused on learning the craft of data engineering while build…
Engineering & IT · San Diego, CA
Data Engineer jobs in San Diego, CA
Data engineers build the pipelines and warehouses that move data from source systems to the people and models that need it, keeping it fresh, correct, and queryable at scale.
344
Open roles today
$44–$111/hr
Typical pay range
$152k
Median, full-time
2
Fresh in this list
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01
Open data engineer roles
12 shown of 344 · sorted by freshness
Job Description Job Description ~ Data Engineer Contract 40 hours weekly, 12+ months This is a Flex position with the potential to convert to a regular full-time position based on business needs, individual performance,…
machine learning, high-performance simulation, and modern software engineering to accelerate the design, validation, and deployment of new... ...tangible. ABOUT THE ROLE This role builds and operates the data and machine…
$160k - $200k
Job Description Job Description Cortica is looking for a Senior AI Data Engineer to join its growing team! Cortica is a rapidly growing healthcare company pioneering the most effective treatment methods for children with…
$75k - $99k
Job Description Job Description Sigma Defense is seeking a highly skilled Mid-level Data Engineer to support the Readiness and Effectiveness Measuring (SHAREM) support contract at Surface and Mine Warfighting Development…
$100k - $130k
Sigma Defense is seeking a Data Engineer to join our team in San Diego NB, CA. This is a contingent position that is pending award of contract. This means that the position is subject to the successful awarding of a cont…
Xenith Solutions is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Data Scientist to join our team in developing innovative solutions to... ...national problems in support of the Navy, DoD, and Intel communities engineering and…
$175k - $225k
The Marlin Alliance is seeking a forward-thinking Data Engineer in San Diego, CAto provide client support to our Navy client. This is an on-site role and applicants must have active DoD Secret Clearance. Incorporated in…
$110k - $180k
The Marlin Alliance, Inc. is seeking a Senior Data Engineer (OpAI) to design, build, and operationalize advanced data pipelines and analytics supporting Naval and DoD mission challenges. This role requires deep experienc…
$175k - $200k
The Marlin Alliance is seeking a forward-thinking Data Engineer/ Data Architect in San Diego, CAto provide client support to our Navy client. This is an on-site role and applicants must have the ability to obtain a DoD S…
Staff Data Engineer Location: Remote Are you tired of being kept in a restricted creative box with limited autonomy to push boundaries and ideas to solve problems with Data products? Or not seeing your work directly impa…
$109k - $191k
process for external applicants . JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION REQUIREMENTS: We are seeking highly skilled and motivated Data Science Engineers to join our DevSecOps Department/Cyber, Modeling and Simulation Division at…
02
What data engineers earn in San Diego
Hourly first — that's how the offer arrives
| Experience | Hourly | Annual, full-time |
|---|---|---|
| Entry level | $44–$61 | $92k–$127k |
| Mid level | $61–$85 | $127k–$177k |
| Senior | $82–$111 | $171k–$230k |
Adjusted for the San Diego market from national ranges.
03
What employers ask for
The skills these listings keep naming
SQL and data modelingPython or ScalaAirflow or similar orchestrationSpark or other batch processingWarehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery)dbtStreaming (Kafka)Data quality testingCloud infrastructure
04
Interview questions worth rehearsing
With the thing the interviewer is actually listening for
Design a pipeline that loads data from a production database into a warehouse daily.
Cover extraction strategy, incremental loads versus full refresh, idempotency, and monitoring. Saying how you would backfill after a failure shows real pipeline experience.
How do you handle late-arriving or duplicate data?
Discuss idempotent upserts, watermarks, and dedup keys. This is a daily reality of the job, so a concrete example lands well.
Batch or streaming — how do you decide?
Anchor on the actual freshness requirement and cost. Most 'real-time' asks are fine at minutes; recognizing that is the mature answer.
A stakeholder says the numbers in their dashboard are wrong. Walk me through your debugging.
Trace lineage from the dashboard back to the source, isolating which layer diverged. Showing calm, structured lineage-tracing is the point of the question.
How do you model data for analytics — star schema, wide tables, something else?
Show you know the classic patterns and modern warehouse economics, and that you choose based on query patterns and team skill, not doctrine.
How do you test data pipelines?
Talk about schema and freshness checks, row-count and distribution tests, and tools like dbt tests or Great Expectations — plus alerting when they fail.
Tell me about a pipeline that failed badly and what you changed.
Structure it like an incident review: impact, cause, fix, prevention. Emphasize the durable improvement, such as monitoring or contract enforcement.
05
Resume tips that move the needle
For data engineers specifically — generic advice costs you here
01
State data scale plainly — rows per day, terabytes managed, pipeline counts — because it is the first thing hiring managers scan for.
02
Name your orchestration, processing, and warehouse tools per role; the modern stack (Airflow, dbt, Snowflake) is a keyword screen.
03
Highlight reliability outcomes: pipeline failure rates, data freshness SLAs met, incident reductions.
04
Show cost work if you have it — warehouse spend is a live concern and optimization stories differentiate.
05
Mention who consumed your data (analysts, ML teams, executives) to show you build for users, not just movement.
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Where this role goes
Typical progression
01
Junior Data Engineer
02
Data Engineer
03
Senior Data Engineer
04
Staff Data Engineer
05
Data Platform Lead
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