Databricks vs Snowflake

The data-platform arms race, seen from the FDE seat: Databricks runs one of the biggest, most geographically spread FDE benches anywhere (22 distinct roles across 80+ listings), while Snowflake has a single Cortex AI FDE role on the board. Same customers, very different bets on how much of the job is on-site.

	Databricks	Snowflake
Open roles	81	1
Comp on board	$182K–$250K · $153K–$210K	$230K–$390K TC
FDE type	True forward-deployed	True forward-deployed
Travel	Medium	Remote-first
Comp	Competitive	Competitive
Stage	Late-stage	Public
Our take	The lakehouse FDE — one of the largest, most geographically spread benches anywhere, with a distinct clearance-gated federal track.	Databricks' mirror-image FDE seat — remote-friendly, and sitting on top of half the enterprise data in America.

Bottom line

Choose Databricks for breadth: many geographies, a clearance-gated federal track, a Spark-heavy loop, and bands from roughly $153K to $250K base with pre-IPO equity. Choose Snowflake for a remote-first public-company seat at $230K–$390K TC, but expect far fewer openings and a narrower scope. Databricks has the larger bench and more mobility; Snowflake has the cleaner, more liquid package.