Recruiting a Data Engineer in Montreal in 2026
The Data Engineer has become one of the most coveted profiles in Montreal's tech market. With growing enterprise data valorization and the rise of AI, demand is exploding while the pool of qualified candidates remains limited. Here's how to effectively recruit these strategic profiles.
The Data Engineering Market in Montreal
The average Data Engineer salary in Montreal is around $95,250 per year according to Indeed, but figures vary considerably by experience and specialization. Robert Half places the range between $122,655 and $172,380 for confirmed profiles (source: Robert Half). Senior Data Engineers average $137,478 per year (source: ZipRecruiter).
The most actively hiring sectors in Montreal are finance (National Bank, Desjardins, Intact), e-commerce, AI/ML startups, and telecommunications companies.
Technical Skills in Demand
Essential Fundamentals
- Advanced SQL: relational modeling, query optimization, stored procedures
- Python: the reference language for data pipelines
- ETL/ELT: design and maintenance of extraction, transformation, and loading pipelines
Processing Technologies
- Apache Spark: distributed data processing at scale
- Apache Kafka: real-time data streaming
- Apache Airflow: data workflow orchestration
- dbt: data transformation in the data warehouse
Cloud Platforms and Storage
- AWS: S3, Redshift, Glue, EMR (dominant in Montreal startups)
- Azure: Data Factory, Synapse, Databricks (dominant in finance)
- Google Cloud: BigQuery, Dataflow, Pub/Sub (growing in AI)
- Snowflake: cloud-native data warehouse, highly sought after in Montreal
Typical Data Engineer Profile in Montreal
The ideal candidate for a Data Engineer position in Montreal has:
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, software engineering, statistics, or mathematics
- 3 to 5 years of experience in data engineering or backend development
- Proficiency in SQL, Python, and at least one major cloud platform
- Experience with data lake or data mesh architectures
- Knowledge of data quality and governance best practices
Effective Recruitment Strategy
1. Define the Precise Level
Clearly distinguish your needs:
- Junior (0-2 years): capable of maintaining existing pipelines, salary $80,000 - $100,000
- Intermediate (3-5 years): designs new pipelines, salary $100,000 - $135,000
- Senior (5+ years): data architecture, mentorship, strategic decisions, salary $135,000 - $172,000
2. Offer an Attractive Technical Environment
Data Engineers choose their employer based on the tech stack. Clearly communicate your technologies, data volumes, and problem complexity. A Snowflake migration project or data mesh implementation are strong selling points.
3. Accelerate the Process
The best Data Engineers remain available for less than 10 days on the market. At VALO, we recommend a maximum 3-step process completed in 2 weeks: HR interview, targeted technical test, and team meeting.
Check our tech job listings for data engineering positions available in Montreal, or contact us to discuss your recruitment needs.
Read also: Tech Salaries in Montreal in 2026 | The 10 Most In-Demand Tech Jobs in Quebec
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