Average Salaries ($K)
Amsterdam 2020-2024
Data Salary review
Amsterdam
2020 - 2024
- -3% Average Cost Of Living Rise
- #14/23 Cheapest City To Live
- 19% Average Salary Rise
- #11/23 Salary Growth - All Roles
- #12/23 Salary Growth For Heads Of Data
- #14/23 Salary Growth For Data Engineers
- #11/23 Salary Growth For Data Analyst
- #13/23 Salary Growth For Data Scientists
Overview
The corporate landscape in Amsterdam is a blend of large multinational corporations and a dynamic array of small to medium-sized enterprises (While tech giants and established financial institutions offer numerous opportunities, it is noteworthy that, historically, smaller companies have employed a higher proportion of data professionals compared to medium and large-sized companies which suggests that SMEs in Amsterdam are increasingly recognising the value of data-driven decision-making, leading to a surge in demand for data professionals within these organisations.
Amsterdam’s rapid growth as a tech startup has also led to a saturation in certain areas, with an influx of professionals vying for similar roles. The competition is fierce, and employers are increasingly seeking candidates with specialised skills and practical experience. In essence, while Amsterdam remains a promising locale for data professionals, success requires adaptability, continuous skill development, and a keen awareness of the evolving industry landscape.
Heads Of Data
Amsterdam has a solid reputation as a European tech and data hub, but let’s be clear: landing a Head of Data role is tough. It is a highly competitive market, and while companies are desperate for strong data leadership, they can also pick and choose as they want. The scene is dominated by big names like Adyen, Booking.com, Uber, TomTom, and ING, along with a swarm of scale-ups (think Mollie, Picnic, and MessageBird). These companies all run on data, but they want leaders who can do it all; strategy, team management, and hands-on work.
If you do not have experience at a high-growth company where data translates directly into revenue, you will be up against candidates who do. Given Amsterdam’s diverse and international workforce, cultural sensitivity and the ability to navigate a multicultural workplace are advantageous traits. Speaking Dutch isn’t a requirement, but it helps massively. If you are competing with a Dutch-speaking candidate for the same role at a non-international company, you will lose. Be aware that many Dutch companies have a preference for locals or long-term expats, historically Amsterdam has lost talent to other tech hubs and so there needs to be evidence that you will stick around and not just use the position stepping stone before jumping to another city.
Amsterdam employers want hardcore business-savvy data leaders, not just tech people. They care less if you can build a model with 98% accuracy; they care if you can increase revenue, reduce costs, or make data a core part of decision-making. If you cannot tie data to money, you will not get the job.
Amsterdam is an amazing place if you want to work at a scale-up or a high-impact tech company. Salaries are decent (but not Silicon Valley high), and work-life balance is much better than in the U.S. However, if you are used to corporate life where data teams are slow-moving, you might struggle with the “get stuff done” mentality that Dutch employers expect.
Amsterdam ranked #12/23 for wage growth over the last five years with expert-level role seeing a 21.73% rise in that time.
Average Salaries ($K) By Experience
Data Engineers
Amsterdam offers fertile ground for data engineers seeking growth and advancement in their careers. Amsterdam employers love pragmatic, no-bull engineers. If you are guilty of over-engineering solutions instead of delivering lean, scalable data products, you will not last long. Companies here want problem-solvers, not technical purists. The biggest players hiring data engineers, Adyen, Booking.com, Uber, ING, and Picnic, want deep cloud expertise (AWS, GCP, or Azure), experience with streaming pipelines (Kafka, Flink, Spark), and serious DevOps chops. They do not just want someone who knows how to build ETL pipelines; they want engineers who can scale infrastructure, automate deployments, and optimise costs.
The city has recently a huge influx of international talent, especially from Eastern Europe and India, which means companies can afford to be extremely selective. If you are already in Amsterdam, the best way to move up is internally especially at larger orgs like ING, Philips, and Heineken, where data teams are still maturing, and promotions happen slower but steadily but you may have a long-term advantage in that local experience matters. Companies here love hiring from other Dutch-based companies because it reduces hiring risk. (they know you are used to the work culture, legal structures etc)
Starting a data engineering career in Amsterdam is extremely tough due to the high competition and lack of junior-friendly roles. Companies here prefer experienced hires who can contribute immediately, and structured entry-level programs are rare outside of Dutch universities. If you do not have a strong academic background (CS, data science, or engineering) or prior experience, you will struggle to break in. Your best bet is to start elsewhere, gain 1-2 years of experience, and then move to Amsterdam when you have hands-on cloud, pipeline, and infrastructure skills.
We see a similar trend for Data Engineers as in other regions where there was a big post-pandemic demand for junior roles in 2022 followed by a market correction the year after and probably now seeing a fair middle point.
Average Salaries ($K) By Experience
Data Analysts
Amsterdam employers put a heavy focus on business acumen, they do not just want someone who crunches numbers, but someone who can influence stakeholders and drive revenue. Quite often we see Analyst roles sit within marketing, finance, or product teams rather than pure data teams. That means that if you have data modelling skills, a great route into this career may be to transition internally. The mix of subject matter knowledge will help you advance your career if you can also balance this with technical acumen. Companies here love candidates with hands-on experience, so if you do not have job experience yet, internships, freelance projects, or Kaggle competitions can help build your credibility.
Whilst we do see a very positive trend across all levels of experience for wage growth, salaries were probably a little behind market standard back in 2020. We see salary growth of 30.43% for Beginners, 37.09% at Intermediate level and 41.02% at expert level. Despite this Amsterdam ranks mid-table at #11/23 in our study.
Average Salaries ($K) By Experience
Data Scientists
More Amsterdam scale-ups are hiring data scientists because they are realising that data-driven decision-making is critical for scaling, especially in fintech (Mollie, bunq), e-commerce (Picnic, Otrium), and SaaS (MessageBird, Miro). Instead of just relying on BI teams, startups now want data scientists who can optimise pricing, improve personalisation, automate marketing, and build predictive models for user behavior. This shift is great for Amsterdam-based data scientists because scale-ups tend to offer more ownership, faster promotions, and opportunities to work on diverse problems compared to rigid corporate structures. However, the downside is that budgets are tighter, and many startups expect data scientists to be full-stack, handling everything from data wrangling to model deployment without dedicated ML engineers. If you are comfortable wearing multiple hats and can show direct business impact, startups can be an excellent place to grow, but if you prefer pure ML research, you are better off elsewhere.
Breaking into data science in Amsterdam is tough, especially for juniors. Many companies now expect at least 2-3 years of experience or a PhD, particularly for AI/ML-focused roles. Larger Amsterdam companies prefer to promote from internal analytics roles or hire experienced engineers with ML knowledge.
For intermediate level data scientists (3-5 years experience), the story is even worse: salaries have plateaued and we have the rarest of things in our study, a flat line. This seems to be because companies are investing at opposite ends. Either they are hiring senior roles or junior roles and so people in the middle of their careers may struggle to increase their earnings until they are ready for promotion to a senior role. We do see a trend where most people start off in larger companies, looking for stability and then job-hop to startups to advance their careers.
Average Salaries ($K) By Experience
Hiring Data Roles For Amsterdam Companies
Amsterdam offers access to a highly skilled and international data workforce, making it an attractive hiring location for employers. However, the competition for top talent is intense, particularly in fintech, AI, and blockchain-driven analytics. Hiring costs have risen significantly due to strong demand, and wage growth continues to accelerate, making it essential for companies to offer competitive salaries and benefits. Retention can also be a challenge, as international professionals frequently move between opportunities, either within Amsterdam’s dynamic tech sector or abroad. To secure and keep top data talent, employers should focus on strong employer branding, career development opportunities, and flexible working arrangements. Finding specialists in AI ethics and large-scale data governance is particularly difficult, requiring strategic hiring efforts and internal training programs to build these capabilities.
For roles that are harder to source or for businesses that need expertise on specific projects, working with a data agency like 173tech can be a smart alternative. Employers may struggle to find experienced professionals for large-scale data architecture, or predictive analytics implementation. Agencies can step in to support businesses with high-impact projects, such as data tool audits, customer analytics, or scaling machine learning models efficiently. This is particularly useful for startups, scale-ups, and enterprises that need specialised expertise but do not yet require a full in-house team.
173tech Direct Comparison
- Head Of Data (5+ yrs) $280k
- Data Engineer (5+ yrs) $125k
- Data Engineer (0-3 yrs) $75k
- Data Analyst (3-5 yrs) $100k
- $580k per yr + Tax + Pension + Holidays
- Candice (15+ yrs) Ruben (8+ yrs) Oliver (10+ yrs)
- Adrian (15+ yrs)
- Oscar (2+ yrs)
- Emeric (3+ yrs) Mai (4+ yrs) Noel (2+ yrs) Amy (2+ yrs) Poppy (2+ yrs)
- $240k
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