Álvaro
Data Scientist
“In a climate this uncertain, Shakers gives you a layer of reassurance and confidence. What I like most, without a doubt, is the flexibility and getting to work on top-tier projects.”
Join ShakersShakers for expert talent
Work as a Databricks Engineer
Projects where the platform is yours: what enters the lakehouse, how Spark transforms it and who sees each table in the catalog. Shakers matches you with briefs aligned to your stack, rate and availability.
The role reads in two places: the posting asking for «Delta Lake, Unity Catalog and Databricks SQL» on one line and the tutorial explaining what a lakehouse is without telling how one is truly governed. Here goes the second: how to start building them by project.
- Higher-paying projects
- More continuity between projects
- Greater recognition for your experience
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Amelia
AI Agent Developer
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Luz
Backend Developer & Data Engineer
“Shakers adds a lot of value because it connects you with sharper projects, already filtered and better defined. It saves you a big part of the upfront work of understanding the client, quoting and weighing up whether it is worth it, and that means that as a contractor you can go far more directly to the opportunities that genuinely fit you.”
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Rubén
Software Developer
“Life as a contractor has a lot going on and it is not always easy. We like to focus on what we are good at, but you also have to manage clients, invoicing and go looking for work. For me, Shakers has been key because it does that prospecting for me, it gives the client confidence from the very first moment, and it lets us be part of a community with real enthusiasm.”
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Alejandro
AI Developer
“Shakers was key to getting my company off the ground: it gave me the flexibility to keep contracting while I built my next chapter. Without Shakers, I would have had to raise funding or push the project back.”
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Toño
Product Designer
“With Shakers I have landed recurring projects that give me peace of mind and room to grow professionally. It is not just about reaching quality clients: it is feeling that you have a network behind you, one that connects you with real opportunities and helps you move forward as a freelancer.”
Join ShakersWhat a Databricks Engineer decides, and what they touch
A Databricks Engineer is the data engineer specialised in the Databricks lakehouse platform: they build the layers on Delta Lake, write the pipelines in Spark and PySpark and govern access with Unity Catalog. Against the generic data engineer, the craft does not change: the altitude does, batch and streaming on the same platform the business queries with Databricks SQL. The trade runs on PySpark and SQL, with MLflow when the data feeds models, on AWS or Azure depending on the client.
You decide the zone architecture (bronze, silver, gold), the partitioning that survives growth, which job runs streaming and which batch, and who sees each catalog table. You also decide what does not enter the lakehouse: without that criterion, the platform fills with ownerless data.
DatabricksDelta LakeSparkPySparkDatabricks SQLUnity CatalogDelta Live TablesMLflowAirflowPythonSQLdbtKafkaAWSAzurecluster cost
LakehouseDelta LakeSpark pipelinesUnity CatalogDatabricks SQLCost
Free to join, no hidden fees
How Shakers works for talent
Create your profile
Tell us who you are, what you can do, the projects you want to work on and what your availability and rate are.
Get your certification
We certify your experience and your use of AI so companies understand and trust what you bring.
Match with projects
We connect you with well-paid projects that fit your expertise and your preferences.
Projects that live up to your expectations
Work on real projects, with teams that need your expertise, without wasting time looking for opportunities.
Projects that fit you
Work with companies that need your stack and experience to take their projects to production.
Opportunities that come to you
Our AI matching connects your profile with the projects that fit your preferences.
You build. Shakers handles the rest
Set your own terms based on your seniority. We manage contracts, payments and paperwork.
What a Databricks Engineer delivers on a Shakers project
The brief arrives with the stack
Shakers is hiring infrastructure: the project arrives with the workspace, the sources and their cadence, not with a list of trendy technologies.
A lakehouse that stands on its own
You deliver documented layers, pipelines with their orchestration and the catalog with permissions, including the table you discarded and why.
What happens when data changes
You set the refresh, what happens when a schema changes unannounced and who answers for the number the day a source fails.
Lakehouses in production, not demos
Having governed real data with Delta Lake and being able to tell which job fell over, and what you did when the cluster invoice came in high.
Batch, streaming or a view
Choosing the pattern for the latency of the problem, not the hype. Sometimes the honest answer is a materialised view, and saying so.
Where your brief ends
You build and govern the lakehouse; the model is the scientist's and the interpretation the analyst's. If the project needs ML, you say so at kickoff.
Frequently asked questions
Any other questions? Write to us and we will reply.
Databricks Engineer or data engineer?
Same craft, different altitude: generic data engineering moves data on any stack; the Databricks specialisation does it on one concrete platform, with Delta Lake and Unity Catalog as the signature.
What should you study to work with Databricks?
SQL and PySpark are the language, Spark the engine. The Databricks certification orders the path, but what gets measured is delivery: a lakehouse in production beats any syllabus.
Which tools are used daily?
PySpark and SQL daily, Delta Live Tables for pipelines and Unity Catalog for governance. The cloud (AWS or Azure) is the client's call, not fashion's.
How much does a freelance Databricks Engineer earn?
You invoice by project, and scope sets the band: sources to integrate, volume and catalog governance. On Shakers the budget arrives before kickoff, not after.
Can Databricks projects be done remotely?
Almost all: the workspace lives in the cloud and sessions with the company are remote. Only some restrictive on-premise data asks for presence.
How do you join Shakers as a Databricks Engineer?
You create your profile, pass the certification process and enter the collective: only 4 per cent make it. Then you choose which data projects you work on.
The day to day of the craft
The job that blows up when data grows, the unpartitioned table that lights up the invoice and the catalog nobody governed. Less lakehouse theory, more layers in production.
The market asks for the platform
2,347 active tech job postings in the UK ask for Databricks, according to Shakers market analysis (n=56,780, October 2026): data, MLOps and senior science briefs that no longer treat it as a CV extra.
How you get there
Data engineering first, platform after: the Databricks certification orders what you know, but what gets measured is delivery. Every lakehouse leaves ratings that open bigger projects.
What this role is not
Not a cluster administrator and not a data scientist. If your strength is the predictive model, your role is scientist; if keeping infrastructure without touching pipelines, the platform neighbour.
Roles that cross a lakehouse project
Four roles of the collective cross your path on a Databricks data project, from the one preparing sources to the one putting models in production.
Data Engineer
The general craft this role specialises: moves data on any stack and picks the platform later, not first.
Data Scientist
Trains models over the governed lakehouse data: without reliable layers, the prediction goes nowhere.
Machine Learning Engineer
Puts those models in production with MLflow on the same platform: the natural bridge once the data is home.
AWS Engineer
The account and network where the workspace runs: without that base solved, the cluster pays the toll on every invoice.
The boundaries between these roles are agreed on each project: the title does not set them.
Take the next step with Shakers
Want projects where the lakehouse is yours?
Pass the Shakers certification and choose which Databricks data projects you work on.
