As their influence grows, so do the challenges data engineers face. A serious one is coping with greater complexity, as more advanced AI models elevate the importance of managing unstructured data and real-time pipelines. One other challenge is managing expanding workloads; data engineers are being asked to do more today than ever before, and that’s not more likely to change.

Key findings from the report include the next:
- Data engineers are integral to the business. That is the view of 72% of the surveyed technology leaders—and 86% of those within the survey’s biggest organizations, where AI maturity is best. It’s a view held especially strongly amongst executives in financial services and manufacturing firms.
- AI is changing every part data engineers do. The share of time data engineers spend every day on AI projects has nearly doubled prior to now two years, from a mean of 19% in 2023 to 37% in 2025, in line with our survey. Respondents expect this figure to proceed rising to a mean of 61% in two years’ time. This can be contributing to greater data engineer workloads; most respondents (77%) see these growing increasingly heavy.