Top Data Skills in Demand for 2025: What NZ Employers Are Looking For

Remember when "data skills" meant being the one person in the office who could use pivot tables in Excel? (Feel old yet?) Those days are long gone, even if Excel is still highly useful for data professionals. 

Today, however, data is currency. Led by use of AI, machine learning and digital transformations, the market for data skills is hot. Skills shortages persist for data analyst jobs and data engineer jobs, allowing data wizards who do have solid technical and soft skills to command good salaries. 

As tech recruitment specialists who help place data professionals into roles, we're big advocates of continuous learning. Regularly reviewing your current skill set and looking for opportunities to upskill helps make you irresistible to employers in the long term. 

With that in mind, if you're in the data game, here's what employers really want to see on your CV. We'll explore the top data skills in demand in New Zealand for data analysts and data engineers. 

Essential Skills for Data Analyst Jobs 

For data analysts, strong SQL skills remain foundational. Companies want people who can query databases without breaking a sweat and extract insights quickly. 

Add on data visualisation skills with Power BI, Tableau or Looker, and you're suddenly the person who can also find the story in the numbers while telling it in a way that executives actually understand. 

In short: SQL gets you the data, Power BI and Tableau make you the storyteller. Analysts who can blend the two are worth their weight in dashboards. 

The Technical Depth Needed for Data Engineer Jobs 

On the data engineering side of the fence (and increasingly for hybrid analyst/engineer roles), employers are looking for more than just surface-level familiarity with tools. Platforms like Snowflake, Databricks, DBT, Coalesce and Microsoft Fabric are fast becoming the backbone of modern data stacks. 

Knowledge of these tools is valuable because businesses need people who can design, scale, and optimise data pipelines across different environments. Data engineers (and analysts who want to level up) should focus on building genuine hands-on experience, whether through projects at work, online labs, or side projects. 

Pro tip: Employers can spot the difference between someone who's watched a few DBT or Coalesce tutorials and someone who can actually debug a messy pipeline at 5pm on a Friday. 

Business Acumen Is Key 

It's true that some employers might not care deeply about how elegantly you structured that query or how clever your pipeline is. What they do care about is whether your work helps them sell more, save money, improve customer experience, or comply with regulators without losing their sanity. 

That's why business acumen is one of the most underrated (and increasingly demanded) data skills. Analysts and engineers who can translate technical output into commercial outcomes are gold. In other words: if you can explain to a CFO why your model reduces churn instead of just how it was built, you're already ahead of the pack. 

Cloud Experience Beats On-Premise Backgrounds 

A big theme we see emerging is that employers are prioritising cloud experience over traditional on-prem backgrounds. More companies are viewing cloud platforms as a better option for scalability and cost-efficiency that server rooms can't match. 

For data professionals, this means you'll need to be comfortable with environments like AWS, Azure, or GCP, even if you cut your teeth on chunky local servers. The good news is you don't need to wait for your employer to migrate before you learn. Free tiers, online sandboxes, and certifications from providers themselves are all accessible ways to gain experience and prove you're cloud-ready. 

Being cloud-fluent means having skills that are highly relevant and increasingly sought after. On-prem expertise is still valuable, but organisations are investing more heavily in cloud capabilities, making it essential for long-term career growth. 

Time For a Skills Stocktake? 

If you're working in data, now is a good time to take an honest look at your skillset. Are your SQL queries sharp enough? Do your dashboards wow rather than confuse? Have you dipped your toes into Snowflake, Databricks, DBT or Coalesce yet? And just as importantly, can you explain to your CEO why any of that actually matters? 

Remember, a strong technical foundation is just that, a foundation. Big-picture thinking is what enables you to bridge the gap between raw data and the business impact. The good news is, upskilling has never been more accessible. Opportunities for self-learning are growing and are worth exploring. 

So, if you're serious about standing out in a competitive market for data jobs, make this the year you add depth to your skills. Your future self (and your future employer) will thank you! 

Work With a Tech Recruiter Who Gets You 

When it comes to landing your next role, having the right tech recruiter onside helps quite a bit. If you're looking to grow your career as a data analyst or data engineer, or hire data talent, reach out to the Digital Garage team. We know the data space inside and out. Drop us a message or give us a call today.