UK Recruitment Glossary
dbt (data build tool)
In recruiter context
dbt is the dominant transformation tool in 2026 modern data stacks and Data Engineer + Analytics Engineer roles in the UK universally require hands-on dbt experience. The strong candidates I place can speak to: model design (sources / staging / marts pattern), materialisation strategy (when to use views vs tables vs incremental models), testing (unique, not_null, custom tests), and documentation (the team's living source of truth). Companies that have adopted dbt deeply have shifted analytics work from Data Engineer to Analytics Engineer, freeing Data Engineers for upstream platform work. dbt knowledge is a salary-band lever — engineers with proven dbt experience command 8-12% above standard Data Engineer bands at companies running it in production.
Related terms
P45
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IR35
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Salary Band
The pre-set min-max pay range an employer has approved for a given role level.
Cover Letter
A short letter accompanying your CV that explains why you want this specific role.