As a senior data engineer, you oversee entire departments, including data analytics and development. You’re a master of company-wide data integration, building data models and scripting analysis tools for other data engineers to optimize their workflow and improve data quality.
But you might still feel a bit confused about what to include on your resume. You might wonder how to make it look organized and how to highlight your brightest achievements.
No problem! We’ve gotten years’ worth of knowledge packed down into these three resume templates and advice that you can use to sprint down the path to success.
What Matters Most: Your Skills & Work History
Data analysis of any kind requires tons of technical skills–and you’ll need to pull in a couple of interpersonal skills at a senior level, too. Recruiters want to see that you can get work done yourself, and share your expertise with others.
You also want to show that you’ve really honed your knowledge over the years, so get as specific as you can about what you can do. Especially keep an eye out for unique skills you offer that set you apart!
Everything you add to your skills list should be highly relevant to your field, so avoid anything generic. Here’s what we mean:
9 most popular Senior Data Engineer skills
- Python
- Postgres
- Redshift
- NoSQL
- Spark
- Airflow
- Athena
- S3
- ETLs
Sample Senior Data Engineer work experience bullet points
Your skills are excellent building blocks for a snapshot of how qualifying your career journey has been. Use examples of how you turned your abilities into positive results throughout your work history. Show that you’ve grown!
Use increasingly complex achievements and experience points as your resume content approaches the present day. This will demonstrate a trend of advancement and specialization.
And the best way for you to set off those impressive accomplishments is with metrics. Use quantifiable data to back up your claims to greatness, and you’ll seem much more credible.
Here are some examples:
- Used Airflow to build ETL solutions that helped improve conversion rates by 16%
- Developed real-time data pipelines to provide insights for debugging system integrations, improving operating efficiency by 32%
- Led the migration to cloud-based data integration, improving annual revenues by 37%
- Defined, built, and executed ETLs to resolve navigation issues, preventing a $1.2M loss
Top 5 Tips for Your Senior Data Engineer resume
- Demonstrate versatility
- Since you’re working with data at a senior level, you’ll need to convey your ability to handle all kinds of curveballs. By this point, you’ve probably fielded plenty! Make sure you include any experience points that add variety and intrigue.
- Show depth of knowledge
- A senior data engineer like you has built up a vast wealth of knowledge in your field. And while you want to show off your versatility, you also want to demonstrate depth of knowledge. Use complex metrics and include multiple software tools in your example points when possible!
- Share any certifications
- If you happen to have earned any other certifications that fall outside your degree, go ahead and include them! Depending on whether they’re software-specific or not, you may prefer to list them near your skills instead of with your education.
- Use an organized template
- While any of our templates are bound to give you a great foundation for your resume, you should ultimately go with whichever one does the best job of visually setting off your best qualifications.
- Readable resumes are best
- Remember that recruiters only spend a few seconds on average during that initial skim over your resume. That means you should make it as easy as possible to read by using clear, modern fonts and minimal colors.
Since your role is so technical, you’re best off working your soft skills into your experience section. Mention teamwork, mentorship roles, and collaboration through your accomplishments.
Well, random numbers that don’t connect to your achievements aren’t the best. If you have sporadic numbers of projects or headcounts that don’t apply to your end results, try to find a more relevant metric.
Don’t toss that experience point out–save it for your cover letter! Make sure your resume stays at or under a single page. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use excellent achievements from your history for additional application materials.
