Entry-Level Data & AI Jobs in Spain: How to Get Hired in 2026

You are applying for your first data or AI job in Spain and getting nothing back. The hard truth is in the listings themselves: as of 14 October 2026, the JobRise live jobs feed shows 17 open Data & AI jobs in Spain, and not one of them is labelled intern, graduate, junior, or trainee. Zero out of 17.

That does not mean you cannot get hired. It means the entry-level label is not how this market works, and your search has to be built around that.

What the listings actually show#

The snapshot is small and recent: 15 of the 17 listings were posted in the last 30 days, and 10 in the last 7 days. The roles are concentrated in a few employers. Celonis has 6 open listings, Visium SA has 4, Delivery Hero has 2, Titan OS has 2, and RetinAI Medical, Elastic, and Ubisoft have 1 each. Some of these names are recruiters or staffing firms, not just end employers.

Geography is narrow. Barcelona has 7 listings, Madrid has 7, and València has 2. All 17 are full-time. None of the listings in this slice shows a salary, so do not plan your rent around a number you read elsewhere. Reported entry-level pay for data roles in Spain varies a lot by city and by contract type, so check the current official sources and the offer itself before you commit.

For wider context, the JobRise Hiring Report: Spain shows 308 open listings across all categories in Spain, with 241 posted in the last 30 days. Data & AI is a thin slice of a bigger market.

Junior titles you will not find, and what to search instead#

None of the open roles in this slice use a junior title. The real titles are things like "Data Analytics Engineer (They/She/He)" at Delivery Hero, "Research Data Operations Engineer - Full Time - Hybrid" at RetinAI Medical, "Advertising PMO & Data" at Titan OS, and "Associate Applied (AI) Value Engineer (Nordics) - Orbit Program" at Celonis. There are senior ones too, such as "Senior Data Scientist" at Titan OS and "Lead AI Deployment Architect" at Celonis.

Look at the word "Associate" in the Celonis title. That is the closest thing to a junior marker in this snapshot. Search for associate, analyst, engineer, operations, and value engineer, not just junior and intern. Read the requirements line by line. If it asks for one to two years of experience or does not state a minimum at all, you can apply.

Also watch for hybrid and location wording. "Hybrid" in the RetinAI Medical listing tells you the job is not remote-only. Barcelona and Madrid carry most of the volume, so if you live elsewhere, decide early whether you would relocate.

The skills and proof employers here expect#

You need three things: working tools, a small body of evidence, and language. SQL is the baseline. Python or R is the second pillar. Then one of the following, depending on the direction you want: dbt or Airflow for analytics engineering, Power BI or Looker for reporting, scikit-learn or PyTorch for machine learning, Spark or cloud data warehouses for pipelines.

Proof matters more than certificates. Two or three projects that you can explain in five minutes will beat a folder of badges. Certifications help when they are real work, for example a cloud data engineering cert with a project behind it. A badge with no project is noise.

Language is the part candidates forget. Job listings in Spain are often written in English and the interviews are in English, but Spanish is a daily requirement in many teams. If you speak Spanish, say so clearly. If you do not, be honest and target English-first employers like the ones in this snapshot.

The resume bullet problem, and how to fix it#

With no job history, candidates write bullets like "Studied Python and data analysis at university." That tells an employer nothing. Rewrite it as a result with a tool and a scale.

Weak: "Studied Python and machine learning during my degree and completed several projects."

Strong: "Built a Python and scikit-learn model that flags likely late deliveries from a 120,000-row public logistics dataset, cutting manual review time from 3 hours to 20 minutes in a local courier pilot."

The second version names the tool, the data size, the outcome, and the context. It does not claim a job you did not have. It shows you can do the work. If you want more of this, the free resume builder turns project notes into clean bullets without the fluff.

Where entry-level openings get posted#

Start with the live feeds, not the aggregators. Browse Data & AI jobs in Spain to see what is open right now and how the titles are worded. Then go to the careers pages of the employers that show up repeatedly in that slice, plus the staffing firms, because staffing firms place juniors into client teams.

University career services still matter, especially in Barcelona and Madrid. So do local meetups and Slack groups for data practitioners. Referrals move faster than cold applications in a market this small.

The 7-step plan#

• Pick one direction: analytics engineering, BI and reporting, or machine learning. Do not apply to all three at once.
• Build two projects with real, messy data. One pipeline, one analysis or model. Publish the code and write a short readme.
• Write your resume around results, not coursework. Use the rewritten bullet pattern above.
• Search by title words like associate, analyst, engineer, and operations, not only junior and intern.
• Apply to the newest listings first. Ten of the 17 were posted in the last 7 days, so speed counts.
• Prepare a five-minute verbal walkthrough of each project. Say the problem, the data, the tool, the result.
• Track every application in a spreadsheet: company, title, date, source, follow-up date. Follow up once after one week.

How to talk about money and location#

Since no listing in this snapshot shows a salary, you will have to ask. Wait until the recruiter raises it, then say: "I would like to understand the range you have budgeted for this role." If they push, give a range based on what you have seen for similar roles in that city, and say it is flexible depending on the whole package. Verify the current official figures for tax and social contributions before you accept anything.

Location is the other constraint. Barcelona and Madrid have 7 listings each in this snapshot. If you are in València, you have 2. That is the reality, so plan your search around those three cities.

FAQ#

Do I need a master's degree to get a data job in Spain?

No. The listings in this snapshot ask for skills and experience, not a specific degree level. A strong project portfolio plus a bachelor's degree is enough to apply.

Is Spanish required for data and AI jobs in Spain?

Often yes for daily work, but many roles are English-first, especially at international employers. Check the listing language and the team language in the first interview.

How many entry-level data roles are open in Spain right now?

In the JobRise slice dated 14 October 2026, 0 of 17 open Data & AI listings use intern, graduate, junior, or trainee titles. That is a snapshot of one feed, not a market total.

Should I apply to roles asking for two years of experience?

Yes, if you meet most of the skills. Many employers treat the experience line as a preference, and project work can count if you present it as evidence.

Are certifications worth it for junior data roles in Spain?

They help when they come with a project you can show. A certificate alone rarely moves an application forward, but a cloud or data engineering cert plus a working pipeline does.