Cloud Engineer

Natural State; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 300 000 - 400 000; Full time

Job summary

A conservation technology organization is seeking a skilled Cloud Engineer to operationalise scientific and analytical processes. This full-time role, based in Cape Town or remote, involves designing and maintaining data pipelines and collaborating with scientists and engineers to tackle global environmental challenges. Applicants should hold a relevant degree and have a solid background in using cloud technologies, particularly Azure and Databricks.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Opportunity for professional growth

Mission-driven team environment

Qualifications

• Experience operationalising machine learning or statistical workflows in production environments.
• Proficiency in Azure, Databricks, and dbt is essential.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, and maintain data and ML pipelines using Azure cloud services.
• Operationalise analytical models for reproducibility and scalability.
• Collaborate to integrate analytical products into core systems.

Skills

Azure

Databricks

dbt

Machine Learning

Statistical workflows

Data Modeling

GitHub Actions

Apache Spark

Terraform

Kubernetes

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering or related field

Job description

CLOUD ENGINEER (Data Ops and Analytical Workflows)

Line manager: Natural State - Head of Conservation Technology

Location: Cape Town or Remote (depending on the applicant)

Employment Type: One year Contract, Renewable

Terms: Consultancy contract, full-time (40 hrs per week)

Salary: Negotiable

Travel: Occasional travel to Kenya (1-3 times a year)

Benefits: Consultants do not qualify for a benefit package

About Natural State

Natural State is a not-for-profit headquartered in the northern rangelands of Kenya. Our goal is to develop technology and financial systems that will catalise large-scale restoration globally and train future leaders for this sector. In the short term, we are revolutionising impact monitoring for carbon, biodiversity and human-wellbeing, so that the success or failure of restoration efforts can be clearly defined. We are using this technology to help test a broad range of innovative financing mechanisms that aim to support large-scale restoration, sequester carbon, and provide benefits to local communities.

Position overview

We are seeking a highly skilled Cloud Engineer to join our dynamic Conservation Technology team and lead the operationalisation of scientific and analytical processes that drive our impact.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, and maintain robust and scalable data and ML pipelines using Azure cloud services and Databricks.
• Operationalise analytical / statistical models developed by Natural State's Biometrics team, ensuring reproducibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
• Use dbt (Data Build Tool) to build and maintain modular, production-ready SQL-based transformation workflows.
• Develop automated workflows and CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions to enable continuous delivery of analytical models and metrics.
• Collaborate closely with Natural State's Conservation Technology team to integrate analytical products into core technical systems.
• Collaborate closely with Natural State's Biometrics team to translate analytical needs into scalable, cloud-native workflows.
• Lead the data engineering and orchestration aspects of analytical delivery: defining input data requirements, transformation logic, and output pipelines.
• Leverage Azure Machine Learning for model training, evaluation, and deployment where relevant.
• Apply Great Expectations to automate QA/QC checks and monitor data integrity and model performance.
• Support data governance and metadata management using Databricks Unity Catalog.
• Act as a bridge between scientific domain experts and engineering teams, ensuring that analytical intent is faithfully executed in technical implementation.
• Continuously evaluate and optimize system performance, cost, and maintainability.
• Contribute to web-based analytical tools by supplying APIs or output data that serve operational dashboards and reporting systems.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Cloud Computing, or related field.
• Demonstrated experience operationalising machine learning or statistical workflows in production environments.
• Proficiency in Azure, Databricks, and dbt is essential.
• Familiarity with Great Expectations, GitHub Actions, and Apache Spark.
• Experience with Azure Machine Learning and related ML lifecycle management.
• Solid understanding of data modelling, orchestration, and cloud-native architecture principles.
• Ability to independently translate scientific or statistical requirements into robust engineering solutions.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills to work across technical and non-technical teams.
• Experience working with tools like Terraform, Helm, and Kubernetes is advantageous but not required.

Why Join Us

• Play a critical role in transforming scientific insights into operational conservation impact.
• Work with a mission-driven team leveraging the best of modern data and ML tooling.
• Collaborate with world-class scientists and engineers to solve global environmental challenges.
• Opportunity for professional growth and experimentation with modern data stack technologies.
• Flexible working arrangements and a culture of innovation.

How to Apply

Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume and cover letter (pdf format only) describing your aptitude and interest in the position.

We look forward to reviewing your application and learning about how you can contribute to our mission.

Natural State is an equal opportunity employer and are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age.