What is the difference between a Data Engineer and a Platform Engineer?

Data Engineers are specialized in designing, building, and managing large-scale data pipelines and systems that process, transform, and store data for analytics or machine learning. Their work often involves tools like Apache Spark, Kafka, and data warehouses. Platform Engineers, meanwhile, are responsible for the foundational systems that host and support applications, including CI/CD pipelines, cloud infrastructure, and developer tooling. Although both roles involve infrastructure and automation, their goals and toolchains typically differ.