Specialise into one adjacent high-leverage domain (real-time / streaming data, ML feature platforms, or vector / RAG infra) and ship one named OSS contribution to the relevant ecosystem — moves you from generic data engineer toward staff-track ML-infra, where comp curves are 2x steeper.

Use the C2-English + full-remote combo to take a remote staff role at a US or UK frontier company — this is the single fastest comp lever available at this experience level and exactly the addressable market the language skill unlocks.

Convert passive profile into active visibility (one technical blog post or conference talk per quarter on a specific data-infra problem) — colleague-only network at age 30 is the main thing capping the next rung's recruiter inbound.