Data Engineer / Data Architect - Lesaka (FinTech)

Lesaka Merchant Division; Gauteng; Hybrid; ZAR 800 000 - 1 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fintech company is looking for a Data Engineer / Data Architect to design and maintain scalable data architectures. You will work with product, analytics, and compliance teams to build robust data solutions and ensure data security. The ideal candidate should have over 5 years of experience in data engineering, strong proficiency in SQL, and hands-on experience with cloud platforms. Join us to shape the future of data in an innovative fintech environment.

Benefits

Entrepreneurial culture

Strong team values

Growth opportunities

Qualifications

• Over 5 years of experience in data engineering, data architecture, or related roles.
• Strong proficiency in SQL and data modelling.
• Hands-on experience with cloud data services.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain scalable, secure, high-performance data architectures.
• Build robust ETL/ELT pipelines for batch and streaming data.
• Implement data security and governance measures.

Skills

SQL proficiency

Data modeling

Python programming

Data pipeline development

Data security principles

Education

5+ years experience in data engineering or architecture

Tools

Airflow

Spark

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

🚀 We’re Hiring: Data Engineer / Data Architect | Lesaka Technologies

Are you ready to design and scale world‑class data infrastructure in a fast‑growing fintech environment? Join Lesaka, a leader in financial technology, and play a pivotal role in enabling data‑driven decision‑making, supporting analytics and AI initiatives, and ensuring our data systems meet the highest standards of reliability, security, and compliance.

This role combines hands‑on engineering with architectural leadership, working closely with product, analytics, and compliance teams to deliver scalable, secure, and future‑proof data solutions.

📍 Location: Johannesburg / Cape Town

Department: Data & Analytics

Reporting To: Head of Data / Analytics Manager

💼 Why This Role Matters

• ✅ Design and maintain scalable, secure, high‑performance data architectures
• ✅ Build robust ETL/ELT pipelines for batch and streaming data
• ✅ Enable analytics, BI, and AI workloads through reliable data platforms
• ✅ Ensure regulatory compliance and data governance for sensitive financial data

🔍 What You’ll Do

✅ Data Architecture & Design

• Design and maintain scalable, secure, and high‑performance data architectures
• Define data models, schemas, and standards across transactional and analytical systems
• Architect data lakes, data warehouses, and real‑time data pipelines
• Ensure alignment with fintech regulatory and compliance requirements

✅ Data Engineering

• Build and maintain ETL/ELT pipelines for batch and streaming data
• Integrate data from internal systems, third‑party APIs, and financial data providers
• Optimize data processing for performance, reliability, and cost efficiency
• Ensure data quality, consistency, and availability

✅ Cloud & Infrastructure

• Develop and manage cloud‑based data platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Implement infrastructure‑as‑code and CI/CD for data pipelines
• Monitor and troubleshoot data systems in production

✅ Security & Governance

• Implement data security, access controls, encryption, and monitoring
• Support data governance, lineage, and metadata management
• Collaborate with compliance and risk teams on audits and regulatory needs

✅ Collaboration & Leadership

• Work closely with product managers, analysts, and ML engineers
• Provide technical guidance and best practices for data usage
• Document architectures, workflows, and standards
• Mentor junior data engineers (if applicable)

✅ Minimum Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in data engineering, data architecture, or related roles
• Strong proficiency in SQL and data modelling (dimensional and/or normalized)
• Experience building data pipelines using tools such as Airflow, dbt, Spark, or similar
• Strong programming skills in Python, Scala, or Java
• Hands‑on experience with cloud data services (BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake, Databricks)
• Experience with both batch and streaming data systems (Kafka, Kinesis, Pub/Sub)
• Solid understanding of data security, privacy, and governance principles

🌟 Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in fintech, banking, payments, or financial services
• Familiarity with regulatory frameworks (PCI DSS, SOC 2, GDPR)
• Experience supporting analytics, BI, and machine learning workloads
• Knowledge of event‑driven and real‑time data architectures
• Prior experience leading architectural decisions or data platform migrations

🧠 Core Technical Competencies

• Data Architecture & Modelling – Scalable, resilient designs for transactional and analytical workloads
• Data Engineering & Pipelines – Reliable batch and streaming pipelines with strong data quality
• Cloud & Platform Engineering – Proficient in AWS, GCP, or Azure with IaC and CI/CD
• Programming & Querying – Advanced SQL and Python/Scala/Java expertise
• Data Security & Governance – Encryption, access control, compliance readiness

💡 Why Lesaka?

We’re not just a fintech company — we’re a movement. At Lesaka, you’ll join a team that values:

• Entrepreneurial Spirit
• Integrity
• Collective Wisdom
• Bias to Action

Preference will be made to support EE / AA measures.

🔗 Ready to architect the future of data? Apply now or tag someone who’d be perfect for this role!