Principal Data Engineer (Databricks)

Vivo Energy; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Vivo Energy is hiring a Principal Data Engineer to lead production data pipelines on Databricks and drive engineering excellence across the data team.

You will optimise performance and cost, define trusted metrics, and mentor junior engineers while partnering with Finance and IT to ensure data quality and value.

Qualifications

• Hands-on data engineering with production pipelines on Databricks.
• Experience with Spark Declarative Pipelines (SDP) and Metric Views.
• Strong programming skills in Python, SQL, and Spark.
• Experience modelling data, designing databases and optimizing queries.
• Experience coaching or managing junior developers and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Design and build robust production data pipelines on Databricks.
• Tune compute, jobs and queries to optimise performance and cost.
• Define and maintain consistent business metrics and semantic layers.
• Integrate data from core systems (e.g., SAP S/4HANA) using tools like Fivetran/HVR.
• Set engineering standards: CI/CD, testing, data governance; mentor juniors.

Skills

Databricks

Python

SQL

Spark

Data modelling

Data pipelines

Stakeholder management

Mentoring engineers

Tools

Fivetran

HVR

SAP S/4HANA

Power BI

Job description

Role Overview

Reporting to the Data & Analytics Lead, the Principal Data Engineer is a hands‑on role, combining the building and optimisation of production data pipelines with the technical leadership needed to raise engineering standards and develop the people around them. The role functions as a key interface between a) business stakeholders and department heads, b) the wider data and analytics team, and c) owners of source systems and data in Finance and IT.

Key Responsibilities

• Designing and building robust, production‑grade data pipelines on Databricks, making appropriate use of current platform capabilities such as Spark Declarative Pipelines (SDP)
• Working "under the hood" to optimise the platform for performance and cost - tuning compute, jobs and queries, managing storage and table layout, and keeping platform spend under control
• Defining and maintaining consistent business metrics and a semantic layer (for example, using Metric Views) so reporting is built on trusted, reusable definitions
• Integrating data from core business systems, including SAP S/4HANA, and other sources, using tools such as Fivetran (both SaaS connectors and HVR)
• Setting and upholding engineering standards across the team - code quality, testing, documentation, CI/CD and data governance
• Coaching and mentoring junior and mid‑level engineers, reviewing their work and helping them develop
• Partnering with business stakeholders to understand their needs, shape practical solutions and ensure the platform delivers genuine value
• Engaging data owners in Finance and IT to ensure data is well understood, valid and fit for purpose, and initiating data quality improvements where required

Skills & Experience

Experience

• At least 3 years of hands‑on, daily Databricks experience, covering both pipeline development and under‑the‑hood performance and cost optimisation
• Up to date with recent platform developments, such as Spark Declarative Pipelines (SDP) and Metric Views
• Strong proficiency in programming languages commonly used in data engineering, such as Python, SQL and Spark
• Advanced experience with data manipulation, data modelling, database design and query optimisation
• Experience managing or coaching junior developers
• A track record of managing and influencing business stakeholders
• Experience working with SAP S/4HANA data sets, Fivetran (including both SaaS connectors and HVR), Power BI semantic modelling would be beneficial

Key Competencies

• Combining deep, hands‑on engineering skill with sound judgement about cost, performance and long‑term maintainability
• Coaching, mentoring and raising the capability of less experienced engineers
• Collaborating, communicating confidently and influencing business stakeholders
• Breaking down complex technical concepts and explaining them simply to non‑technical audiences
• Staying current with a fast‑moving platform and bringing new capabilities into everyday practice
• Taking ownership and driving work independently, from concept through to production

Important to note:

This role requires full‑time office‑based attendance, five days per week.