What Is An ETL Developer?
An ETL developer designs and maintains Extract, Transform, Load processes that move and prepare data between systems for analysis and reporting. That means pulling data from source systems, cleaning and reshaping it, loading it into a warehouse, and scheduling and monitoring the pipelines so reports and dashboards stay accurate.
- Also called
- ETL Engineer, Data Integration Developer
- Reports to
- Data Engineering Manager / Head of Data
- Works on
- Data pipelines, warehouses, scheduling
- Measured on
- Pipeline reliability, data freshness
What An ETL Developer Actually Does
- 01 · ExtractionPulls data from databases, APIs, and files across the company’s source systems
- 02 · TransformationCleans, joins, and reshapes raw data into consistent, analysis-ready tables
- 03 · LoadingLoads prepared data into the warehouse on a schedule, handling large volumes and incremental updates
- 04 · MonitoringWatches jobs and handles errors so failures are caught and fixed before reports break
- 05 · Data QualityValidates data against its sources and documents the rules so analysts can trust it
ETL Developer Vs. Similar Roles
| Role | Main focus | Primary metric |
|---|---|---|
| ETL Developer | Moving and reshaping data between systems | Pipeline reliability, data freshness |
| Data Engineer | Building the wider data platform and infrastructure | Platform reliability, pipeline throughput |
| Data Analyst | Turning prepared data into reports and insights | Report accuracy, turnaround time |
| Database Administrator | Keeping databases performant, secure, and backed up | Uptime, query performance |
At smaller companies, one data engineer often builds and runs the ETL pipelines too. Split out a dedicated ETL role as the number of source systems and reports grows.
Skills To Screen For
Interview Questions Worth Asking
Hiring An ETL Developer In Latin America
How Much Of The Workday You’d Share
Bogota, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and Buenos Aires don’t change their clocks, so the overlap shifts when yours does. Times shown are in your team’s time zone. National English-proficiency averages vary by market too: Argentina ranks in EF’s "High" band globally, while Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil sit in the "Low" band. Screen every candidate’s spoken English directly rather than assuming by country.
What It Costs
| Country | Entry level (1-3 yrs) | Senior (6+ yrs) |
|---|---|---|
| Colombia | $22K/yr | $55K/yr |
| Mexico | $25K/yr | $50K/yr |
| Brazil | $30K/yr | $58K/yr |
| Argentina | $25K/yr | $58K/yr |
The LatAm average is the mean of the four senior figures. Mid-level ETL developers in these markets typically earn about $33K-$39K.
Typical time from kickoff to signed offer. LatamCent delivers 3 to 5 candidate profiles in the first 10 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
An ETL developer designs and maintains the processes that move and prepare data between systems, and is measured on pipeline reliability and data freshness. A data engineer builds the wider data platform and infrastructure, and is measured on platform reliability and pipeline throughput. At smaller companies, one hire often covers both.
A data analyst turns prepared data into reports and insights, and is measured on report accuracy and turnaround time. An ETL developer builds the pipelines that deliver that prepared data in the first place. Analysts depend on the ETL developer’s work, but the two jobs are separate.
US ETL developers average around $119,300 a year. ETL developers in Latin America average around $55,300 a year at the senior level, about 54% less, saving roughly $64,000 a year per hire.
Most searches run 21 days from kickoff to a signed offer, with 3 to 5 candidate profiles delivered in the first 10 days.
ETL stands for Extract, Transform, Load. Data is extracted from source systems, transformed into a consistent, usable shape, and loaded into a destination such as a data warehouse so teams can analyze and report on it.
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