Senior Data Engineer

Input Output (Iohk); Cape Town; Remote; ZAR 900 000 - 1 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A technology company focused on blockchain solutions is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to lead the development of data pipelines and maintain high-quality software. This role involves bridging traditional finance with decentralized technologies and ensuring innovation and scalability. Ideal candidates will have extensive software development experience, strong leadership capabilities, and a passion for blockchain and DeFi.

Benefits

Remote work

Laptop reimbursement

Learning & Development opportunities

Competitive PTO

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in software development, including at least 2 years in a senior role.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms and DevOps practices.
• Experience with data engineering is advantageous.
• Practical experience with distributed computing and blockchain preferred.
• Familiarity with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead in designing, building, and maintaining data pipelines.
• Bridge traditional finance with decentralized technologies.
• Guide architecture decisions and promote best practices.
• Simplify complex systems and improve engineering workflows.
• Contribute across multiple codebases and programming languages.

Skills

Data cleaning and ingestion

Streamlining data pipelines

Data accessibility

Eventing architecture

High-quality software practices

Systematic debugging

Cross-team collaboration

Leadership in technical prioritization

Technical documentation

Distributed computing knowledge

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

Python

AWS

Job description

Who are we?

IOG, is a technology company focused on blockchain research and development.

We are renowned for our scientific approach to blockchain development, emphasizing peer-reviewed research and formal methods to ensure security, scalability, and sustainability.

Our projects include the Cardano blockchain, as well as other products in the areas of decentralized finance (DeFi), governance, and identity management, aiming to advance the capabilities and adoption of blockchain and Web3 technology globally.We invest in the unknown, applying our curiosity and desire for positive change to everything we do.

By fueling creativity, innovation, and progress within our teams, our products and services are designed for people to be fearless, to be changemakers.

About RealFi

RealFi : IOG's RealFi Tribe is a venture that combines crypto / Web3 / DeFi innovations with traditional finance (TradFi) to make borrowing and lending services more transparent, efficient, and available to a broader population.

The venture aims to build a marketplace to syndicate tokenized debt assets globally in a fully compliant manner.

While the initial focus is on Africa, RealFi has global applicability.

What the role involves

As a Senior Data Engineer, you will play a critical role in shaping the technical direction and development practices at RealFi.

You will lead by example-designing, building, and maintaining high-quality software and data pipelines while mentoring engineers to support their growth and performance.

Your work will bridge the gap between traditional finance and decentralized technologies, ensuring we deliver innovative, compliant, and scalable products.In this role, you'll guide architecture decisions, promote best practices, and drive cross-team collaboration.

You'll champion efficiency by simplifying complex systems, sharing reusable components, and proactively improving engineering workflows.

With strong problem-solving abilities and deep technical expertise, you will serve as a subject-matter expert and technical leader, contributing across a wide range of codebases, tools, and programming languages.

• Demonstrated experience around cleaning and ingesting data for various sources
• High technical knowledge at streamlining data pipelines and automating various data ingestion workflows
• Expertise around how to best structure data and make data accessible to various parts of the business
• Knowledge on how to work with eventing of data and implementing infrastructure and architecture to move from a normal ETL process to a eventing architecture
• Advocates and exemplifies high-quality software practices, proactively addressing complex and subtle system-level issues
• Utilizes systematic debugging techniques to diagnose intricate issues across related technical domains, fostering observability and monitoring cultures
• Regularly collaborates across teams to build iterative, autonomous development cultures aimed at scalability
• Demonstrates technical and prioritization leadership, actively identifying knowledge gaps and driving continuous innovation
• Serves as a subject matter expert across multiple codebases and programming languages, recognized as a trusted technical resource within the organization
• Reviews technical specifications from architects and specialists, and leads component design and integration
• Writes clear technical documentation and user manuals, ensuring accuracy and comprehensibility
• Applies knowledge of distributed and concurrent computation effectively
• Independently navigates hybrid working environments, requiring minimal supervision
• Passionate about blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and emerging financial technologies

Requirements

• Who you are : Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field
• 7+ years of professional experience in software development, including at least 2 years in a leadership or senior engineering role
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms and modern DevOps practices
• Extensive background in Agile methodologies and a thorough understanding of the software development lifecycle (SDLC)
• Experience around data engineering would be advantageous
• Practical experience with distributed computing and blockchain technologies is strongly preferred
• Familiarity with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and smart contract-based financial applications is advantageous
• Proven ability to effectively manage cross-functional teams and drive innovation

Technical Proficiency

• Expertise in programming languages such as Python

Architecture & Design

• Strong understanding of software architecture patterns, microservices, eventing and API design principles

Technology Evaluation

• Ability to evaluate, select, and integrate new technologies to enhance system performance and scalability
• Ability to give guidance and implement data strategies to efficiently retrieve and store data
• Give recommendations on the best tools to use to store and structure data
• Ability to work with external parties to help ingest data onto our AWS platform

Project Management

• Skilled in sprint planning, task decomposition, and accurately estimating project timelines

Problem Solving

• Proven capability to address complex technical challenges, ensuring system reliability, security, and high availability

Communication & Collaboration

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, capable of translating business needs into technical solutions clearly and effectively

Benefits

• Remote work
• Laptop reimbursement
• New starter package to buy hardware essentials (headphones, monitor, etc)
• Learning & Development opportunities
• Competitive PTO

At IOG, we value diversity and always treat all employees and job applicants based on merit, qualifications, competence, and talent.

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.