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Apache Kafka jobs: demand and pay (October 2026)
1,013 open data & AI postings at 534 companies mention Apache Kafka, or 7.7% of all data & AI postings we track (as of October 18, 2026).
7.7%share of data & AI postings
534companies hiring
$200Kmedian pay, US (n=295)
—week over week (needs more history)
Apache Kafka pay by level
| Level (from title) | Median pay | Postings with pay (n) |
|---|---|---|
| Entry / junior | — | 1 |
| Mid (II) | — | 8 |
| Senior | $186K | 100 |
| Staff / lead | $215K | 67 |
| Principal | $227K | 21 |
| Manager | $259K | 20 |
| Director+ | — | 5 |
| Level not stated | $174K | 73 |
Median of the published range midpoint, US postings in USD, annualized. Shown only when n ≥ 10; “—” means fewer.
Roles that ask for Apache Kafka
| Role | Postings | % of that role |
|---|---|---|
| Data Engineer | 513 | 28.9% |
| AI Engineer | 182 | 4.8% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 140 | 7.1% |
| Data & AI leadership | 65 | 6.1% |
| Data Architect | 42 | 10.6% |
| Database Engineer / DBA | 28 | 9.2% |
| Data Scientist | 24 | 1.6% |
| Analytics Engineer | 9 | 2.4% |
| Data Analyst | 6 | 0.5% |
| AI Research Scientist | 2 | 0.5% |
| Data Governance & Quality | 2 | 0.9% |
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How it's measured: a posting counts if its title or description matches the Apache Kafka patterns in our taxonomy. Postings by the vendor itself are excluded. See the methodology.