Senior Data Engineer

Blue Pearl HQ; Johannesburg; Hybrid; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,600,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Blue Pearl HQ is seeking an experienced Senior Data Engineer to join a greenfield data platform initiative in healthcare and medical scheme administration. The role is highly technical and delivery-focused, building the MVP and establishing architecture, standards and reusable patterns.

You will translate business and analytics requirements into scalable solutions in a POPIA-sensitive environment, design Snowflake models, pipelines, and Power BI layer, and contribute to DataOps and CI/CD

Qualifications

• Experience with modern cloud data engineering on large-scale platforms.
• Hands-on Snowflake, dbt, AWS and Fivetran implementation experience.
• Strong SQL and data modelling skills in analytics context.

Responsibilities

• Design and build the future-state data platform MVP with scalable pipelines.
• Develop automated data ingestion and transformation patterns.
• Create Snowflake data models aligned to analytics needs.
• Build dbt transformations and data quality/testing frameworks.
• Establish CI/CD and DataOps practices across data workflows.
• Ensure monitoring, governance and security in a POPIA-sensitive environment.
• Support Power BI reporting layer for the MVP and stakeholder collaboration.

Skills

Snowflake

dbt

AWS

Fivetran

Power BI

Advanced SQL

Data modelling

Modern data engineering

Automated data quality

CI/CD for analytics engineering

DataOps

Metadata management

Data integration

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Senior Data Engineer to join a high-impact greenfield data platform initiative within the healthcare and medical scheme administration environment.

This is a highly technical, delivery-focused role responsible for building the future-state MVP and establishing the foundational architecture, engineering standards and reusable patterns required to support the long-term scalability and automation of the data platform.

The successful candidate will be comfortable working independently, translating business and analytics requirements into robust technical solutions, and operating within a POPIA-sensitive health-data environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and build the future-state data platform MVP, including scalable data pipelines and transformation processes.
• Develop and implement automated data ingestion and integration patterns.
• Build robust and reusable Snowflake data models aligned to business and analytics requirements.
• Develop transformation workflows using dbt, applying modern analytics engineering practices.
• Implement data ingestion using Fivetran and establish reliable integration patterns.
• Design and implement automated data quality checks, testing and validation frameworks.
• Establish monitoring and controls to ensure data accuracy, reliability, availability and performance.
• Apply CI/CD practices across data and analytics engineering workflows.
• Implement and promote DataOps practices to improve automation, deployment, monitoring and operational reliability.
• Support migration from legacy reporting processes to the target-state data architecture.
• Establish reusable engineering standards, frameworks, patterns and documentation for future phases of the platform.
• Develop and support the Power BI reporting layer required for the MVP.
• Collaborate with business, analytics and technical stakeholders to translate requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Ensure solutions are designed with appropriate security, governance, metadata management and POPIA considerations.
• Provide technical guidance and knowledge transfer to Medscheme staff, supporting the sustainable adoption of the new platform.
• Troubleshoot technical issues and continuously improve the performance, scalability and reliability of the data platform.

Required Technical Skills

• Snowflake
• dbt
• AWS
• Fivetran
• Power BI
• Advanced SQL
• Data modelling
• Modern data engineering
• Automated data quality and testing
• CI/CD for analytics engineering
• DataOps
• Metadata management
• Data integration and pipeline development

Important: Candidates should have direct, practical experience across the required modern cloud data engineering stack. Adjacent or theoretical exposure will not be sufficient.

Candidate Profile

We are looking for a self-sufficient Senior Data Engineer who can take ownership of the technical build and deliver outcomes with minimal supervision.

• Have strong senior-level experience in modern cloud data engineering.
• Be highly proficient across the Snowflake, dbt, AWS and Fivetran technology stack.
• Have experience designing and implementing scalable data platforms and pipelines.
• Understand modern DataOps, CI/CD and automated data quality practices.
• Be capable of developing reusable frameworks and engineering standards rather than one-off solutions.
• Be comfortable translating business and analytics requirements into technical solutions.
• Have strong data modelling and SQL capabilities.
• Be able to work independently in a delivery-focused environment.
• Have strong problem-solving and analytical capabilities.
• Be comfortable working with sensitive and regulated data.
• Understand the importance of data governance, security, quality and metadata management.
• Be able to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Have the ability and willingness to transfer knowledge to internal Medscheme teams.
• Be outcome-oriented and accountable for delivering agreed technical outcomes.

Key Deliverables

• Future-state data platform MVP
• Snowflake-based data models and pipelines
• Automated data ingestion and transformation processes
• Automated testing and data quality controls
• Monitoring and reliability mechanisms
• Foundational architecture for future platform phases
• Reusable data engineering standards, frameworks and patterns
• Power BI reporting layer supporting the MVP
• Documentation and knowledge transfer to internal teams

Environment

The role will operate within a healthcare / medical scheme administration environment, where data may include sensitive health-related information. Strong attention to data security, governance, privacy and regulatory requirements is therefore essential.

Experience working with POPIA-sensitive or other regulated data environments will be highly advantageous.

Contract Details

• Role: Senior Data Engineer
• Industry: Healthcare / Medical Scheme Administration
• Location: Waterfall, Midrand, Johannesburg
• Work Model: Hybrid
• Contract Duration: 5 months
• Start Date: 1 October 2026