Data Scientist Salary in Amsterdam 2026: Complete Guide

Amsterdam has quietly become one of Europe's strongest data science markets. A unique combination of global tech companies, fast-scaling fintech firms, industrial giants, and a world-class research ecosystem has created sustained demand for data science talent — and the Dutch benefits package makes total compensation genuinely competitive with anywhere on the continent.

Whether you're weighing a move to Amsterdam or negotiating your next offer, this guide gives you exact salary figures by level, which companies pay the most, which skills command a premium, and how the city compares to Berlin, London, and fully remote roles.

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Amsterdam's Data Science Market in 2026

Amsterdam's tech economy is powered by a distinctive combination of US tech multinationals with European headquarters, Dutch-born global companies, and industrial conglomerates with serious data challenges. The result is a data science market that spans recommendation systems, payments fraud, semiconductor manufacturing analytics, healthcare AI, and logistics optimisation — often at genuinely global scale.

Booking.com is Amsterdam's most data-intensive employer. Personalising search results and pricing across billions of annual travellers generates enormous ML investment. Booking.com data scientists work on ranking models, price forecasting, user intent prediction, and experimentation infrastructure. Pay at the top of the Amsterdam market. Adyen applies ML to fraud detection, merchant analytics, and payment routing across one of the world's most complex payments networks. Data scientists here work on real-time classification systems with direct business impact. ASML — the Veldhoven-based semiconductor equipment company with significant Amsterdam R&D presence — is one of the world's most important industrial tech companies. Data scientists at ASML work on predictive maintenance, manufacturing process optimisation, and lithography analytics. The work is technically demanding and well-compensated. Philips has pivoted heavily to healthcare AI and connected devices. Data scientists work on clinical decision support, medical imaging algorithms, and patient monitoring analytics. Pay is below pure-tech employers but total packages include strong pension contributions and stability. ING has invested heavily in ML for credit scoring, fraud, and personalisation. The bank has one of the largest in-house data science teams in the Netherlands and pays competitively for the financial sector. Ahold Delhaize — the parent company of Albert Heijn and other grocery retailers — uses data science across supply chain, pricing, and customer personalisation at enormous scale. A large employer with multiple data science teams across Amsterdam and Zaandam. TomTom applies ML to map data quality, real-time traffic modelling, and autonomous driving infrastructure. A niche employer with interesting technical challenges. Uber's European HQ in Amsterdam uses data science for demand forecasting, dynamic pricing, driver-rider matching, and Eats optimisation. Compensation follows Uber's global bands — among the most generous in Amsterdam. Elastic hires data scientists for search relevance, log anomaly detection, and observability analytics. Smaller team but strong technical culture. RTL invests in data science for content recommendation, audience analytics, and programmatic advertising — a media-sector angle less common in Amsterdam's otherwise tech-dominated market.

Data Scientist Salary Ranges by Level in Amsterdam (2026)

The figures below are gross annual base salary in euros. At publicly traded companies and late-stage startups, total compensation includes equity on top of base.

Junior (0–2 years): Entry-level roles are most accessible at scale-ups, consultancies, and larger corporates like Philips and Ahold Delhaize. Python, SQL, and the ability to build and evaluate models end-to-end are expected. At growth-stage startups, equity can supplement base salary meaningfully. Mid-level (2–5 years): The most active hiring band in Amsterdam. Engineers at this level own models from data exploration through production deployment. Employers across every sector are competing for mid-level data scientists with strong Python, solid ML fundamentals, and cloud platform experience. Senior (5–8 years): Senior data scientists are expected to lead projects, define modelling approaches, and mentor juniors. At Booking.com, Adyen, and Uber, this level pays €95,000–€110,000 base; at more traditional employers the range is €75,000–€90,000. Lead / Principal (8+ years): Strategic and cross-functional leadership. Leads at major Amsterdam employers define data science practice standards, partner with engineering and product leadership, and often manage team headcount. Total compensation at Booking.com and Uber can exceed €150,000 including equity.

Top Employers and What They Pay

Stack Premiums: What Skills Move the Needle

Python is the baseline — no Python fluency, no data science role in Amsterdam in 2026. What matters beyond the baseline: PyTorch / deep learning adds the largest premium at ML-heavy employers like Booking.com and Uber. Data scientists with production-grade deep learning experience — model training, serving, and monitoring — command €5,000–€15,000 above Python generalists at the same seniority level. Spark and Databricks are in high demand for large-scale batch feature engineering and distributed model training. ASML, Booking.com, and Ahold Delhaize all use Databricks. Hands-on Spark optimisation experience is differentiated at senior level. dbt has become standard in modern data stacks. Data scientists who can build and maintain reliable dbt models alongside analytics engineers are valued across the Amsterdam market, particularly at companies running Snowflake or BigQuery. SQL remains essential. Advanced SQL — window functions, query optimisation, complex aggregations — is expected at senior level and above. Employers frequently assess this directly in technical interviews. R adds value in academic-adjacent and clinical roles at Philips and ASML. Pure R specialists are less in demand than Python generalists, but bilingual Python/R fluency is a differentiator for certain modelling roles.

For ML engineering-adjacent roles, see the ML Engineer Salary in Amsterdam 2026 guide — the boundary between data scientist and ML engineer is increasingly blurred in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam vs Berlin vs London vs Remote

Amsterdam's gross base salaries are broadly comparable to London and 10–20% above Berlin. For international hires who qualify for the Dutch 30% ruling, Amsterdam's effective take-home often matches or exceeds London despite the lower headline number.

For the Berlin market in detail, see the Data Scientist Salary in Berlin 2026 guide. For global context across seven cities, the Data Scientist Salary Guide 2026 has the full picture. For the broader European view, the Tech Salaries in Europe 2026 covers all major markets.

Dutch Benefits: Beyond Base Salary

Vakantiegeld (holiday allowance): Dutch law mandates a holiday allowance of at least 8% of gross annual salary, paid as a lump sum in May. A data scientist earning €85,000 receives approximately €6,800 extra per year — often overlooked when comparing offers with non-Dutch employers. 30% ruling: The headline benefit for international hires. 30% of gross salary is treated as a tax-free allowance for up to five years, dramatically improving net income. Qualifying criteria: recruited from abroad, salary above ~€46,107, and lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border for at least 16 of the 24 months before starting. Amsterdam's internationally-oriented tech companies are well-practised at supporting applications. Work permits: The Netherlands' highly skilled migrant (kennismigrant) visa is one of Europe's most streamlined. Employers recognised by the IND (Immigration and Naturalisation Service) — which includes virtually every major Amsterdam tech company — can sponsor a work permit within two weeks. The salary threshold aligns closely with the 30% ruling requirements, so senior data scientists typically qualify on both dimensions simultaneously. Pension: Dutch employers offer pension participation under collective schemes, typically contributing 5–15% of salary. Combined with the state AOW pension, Dutch retirement provision is among Europe's most comprehensive. Holiday entitlement: The Amsterdam tech industry standard is 25–28 days annually, above the statutory 20-day minimum. Booking.com, Adyen, and ASML all offer 25+ days as standard.

Negotiating Your Amsterdam Data Scientist Salary

Invoke the 30% ruling in negotiations if you qualify — it signals market knowledge and gives you a tool to compare net income across offers rather than gross. Ask employers for an estimated take-home with and without the ruling.

Use Amsterdam-specific market data. Citing that senior data scientists with PyTorch depth earn €90K–€115K base at Booking.com and Adyen is more persuasive than a generic salary expectation. CareerCheck's Amsterdam data scientist salary benchmarks provide real-time percentile data.

Negotiate beyond base. Vakantiegeld percentage (some employers offer above the 8% statutory minimum), equity vesting, pension contribution rate, training budget, and remote-work flexibility all have financial value. Amsterdam employers often have more room on these components than on base.

Counter the first offer. First offers in Amsterdam's tech market typically sit 5–10% below the maximum the employer can pay. A polite, evidence-backed counter rarely damages the process and frequently adds €3,000–€8,000 in base annually.

Amsterdam's data science market in 2026 rewards specialists who combine strong Python and ML fundamentals with production-grade deployment experience. For engineers with PyTorch or Databricks depth — especially international candidates who qualify for the 30% ruling — Amsterdam offers a genuinely compelling combination of technical challenge, employer quality, and total compensation.