Skill Profile

Apache Airflow

DAGs, operators, sensors, XComs, dynamic task mapping, KubernetesPodOperator

Data Engineering Data Orchestration

Roles

4

where this skill appears

Levels

5

structured growth path

Mandatory requirements

20

the other 0 optional

Domain

Data Engineering

Group

Data Orchestration

Last updated

3/17/2026

How to Use

Choose your current level and compare expectations. The items below show what to cover to advance to the next level.

What is Expected at Each Level

The table shows how skill depth grows from Junior to Principal. Click a row to see details.

Role Required Description
Analytics Engineer Required Understands basic Airflow concepts: DAGs, operators, and task dependencies. Follows established DAG templates to build simple transformation pipelines. Uses dbt + Airflow integration patterns defined by the team.
BI Analyst Required Understands basic Airflow DAG structure and scheduling concepts. Monitors scheduled report refresh pipelines and identifies failures. Follows team guidelines for triggering dashboard data updates through Airflow UI.
Data Analyst Required Understands basic Airflow concepts and DAG scheduling. Monitors data pipeline runs that feed analytical datasets. Follows team documentation to trigger ad-hoc DAG runs for data refresh and extraction tasks.
Data Engineer Required Creates Airflow DAGs: PythonOperator, BashOperator, task dependencies. Understands execution date, catchup, schedule interval. Monitors runs in Airflow UI. Debugs failed tasks through logs.
Role Required Description
Analytics Engineer Required Independently builds Airflow DAGs for ELT pipelines with dbt operators and data quality checks. Configures retry policies, SLAs, and alerting for transformation jobs. Optimizes task parallelism and resource pools.
BI Analyst Required Independently configures Airflow DAGs for scheduled report generation and dashboard data refresh. Implements data quality sensors to validate source data before BI layer updates. Troubleshoots pipeline failures affecting reporting.
Data Analyst Required Independently builds Airflow DAGs for automated data extraction and cohort preparation pipelines. Implements data validation tasks with Great Expectations integration. Configures scheduling for recurring analytical data refreshes.
Data Engineer Required Designs Airflow DAGs: dynamic task generation, XCom for data passing, TaskGroups for organization. Uses sensors, hooks for external system integration. Configures connections and variables.
Role Required Description
Analytics Engineer Required Architects data systems with Apache Airflow. Optimizes for big data. Implements data governance and quality frameworks.
BI Analyst Required Designs Airflow-based data pipeline architecture for enterprise BI platform. Implements complex dependency graphs across multiple data sources with SLA monitoring. Mentors team on DAG design patterns for reporting workflows.
Data Analyst Required Designs Airflow pipeline architecture for complex analytical workflows with cross-dataset dependencies. Implements data lineage tracking and audit logging. Optimizes DAG performance for large-scale analytical data processing.
Data Engineer Required Designs Airflow architecture: KubernetesExecutor for dynamic scaling, custom operators/hooks, DAG factory pattern for generation. Optimizes performance: pool management, priority weight, concurrency.
Role Required Description
Analytics Engineer Required Defines orchestration strategy for the analytics pipeline: Airflow for coordinating dbt runs, sensors for upstream data dependencies. Implements DAG design standards: idempotency, retry policies, SLA monitoring for analytical models.
BI Analyst Required Defines BI data pipeline strategy and Airflow platform standards. Establishes DAG development guidelines, code review practices, and deployment workflows for reporting team. Coordinates data freshness SLAs with stakeholders.
Data Analyst Required Defines analytical data pipeline strategy and Airflow governance standards. Establishes DAG naming conventions, testing requirements, and monitoring practices. Drives adoption of self-service pipeline creation among analyst teams.
Data Engineer Required Defines Airflow standards: DAG structure, naming conventions, testing requirements, deployment workflow. Chooses between Airflow and alternatives (Dagster, Prefect) by scenario.
Role Required Description
Analytics Engineer Required Architects enterprise analytics platform orchestration: Airflow/Dagster for multi-project dbt, event-driven triggers, cross-team dependency management. Defines migration strategy to managed orchestration (dbt Cloud, Dagster Cloud).
BI Analyst Required Defines enterprise data orchestration strategy spanning Airflow, dbt, and BI tools. Evaluates orchestration platforms and migration paths. Shapes organizational data delivery standards and cross-team pipeline governance.
Data Analyst Required Defines enterprise analytical data orchestration strategy. Shapes organizational standards for pipeline reliability and data delivery guarantees. Evaluates next-gen orchestration tools and drives platform evolution decisions.
Data Engineer Required Designs orchestration strategy: Airflow for batch, event-driven for real-time, hybrid patterns. Defines multi-team governance, shared infrastructure, cost allocation.

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