Senior Data Engineer

Network Finance; Randburg; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Network Finance is seeking a data engineering and platform development professional to design, build, and maintain robust data integrations and scalable software solutions. You will work across data engineering, software architecture, and production engineering to enhance platform performance and reliability.

You will collaborate with architects and cross-functional teams, develop backend services, and drive best practices in code quality, testing, and deployment.

Qualifications

• Strong commercial experience building and supporting production software applications.
• Advanced Python development skills.
• Experience developing applications and services using Go (Golang).
• Experience building modern web applications using React or Svelte.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, design patterns, and modular application development.
• Experience designing and developing APIs, backend services, and reusable software components.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain robust production data integrations.
• Build reusable integration frameworks, libraries, and shared engineering components.
• Improve data processing pipelines, validation processes, reliability, and overall platform performance.
• Contribute to the ongoing development and modernization of the data platform architecture.
• Ensure high standards for data quality, maintainability, and scalability.
• Design and implement scalable, maintainable software solutions.
• Translate architectural requirements into practical technical implementations.
• Develop backend services and internal applications using modern technologies.
• Build and enhance shared application frameworks and developer tooling.
• Drive initiatives to reduce technical debt and improve system architecture.
• Evaluate and implement engineering best practices to support long-term platform growth.
• Investigate and resolve complex production issues and technical challenges.
• Enhance monitoring, observability, error handling, and recovery processes.
• Develop sustainable solutions that improve platform reliability and operational efficiency.
• Support mission-critical systems and ensure business continuity.
• Partner with architects, engineers, and cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality solutions.
• Participate in technical design discussions and strategic engineering decisions.
• Conduct code reviews and promote software engineering best practices.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Support the continuous improvement of development processes, standards, and tooling.

Skills

Python

Go (Golang)

React

Svelte

API design

Software architecture

Data processing

SQL

Data integration

Collaborative skills

Tools

Git

CI/CD Pipelines

Automated Testing

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

S3

Lambda

Step Functions

PostgreSQL

TimescaleDB

Job description

Key Responsibilities

Data Engineering & Platform Development

• Design, develop, and maintain robust production data integrations.
• Build reusable integration frameworks, libraries, and shared engineering components.
• Improve data processing pipelines, validation processes, reliability, and overall platform performance.
• Contribute to the ongoing development and modernization of the data platform architecture.
• Ensure high standards for data quality, maintainability, and scalability.

Software Architecture & Application Development

• Design and implement scalable, maintainable software solutions.
• Translate architectural requirements into practical technical implementations.
• Develop backend services and internal applications using modern technologies.
• Build and enhance shared application frameworks and developer tooling.
• Drive initiatives to reduce technical debt and improve system architecture.
• Evaluate and implement engineering best practices to support long-term platform growth.

Production Engineering & System Reliability

• Investigate and resolve complex production issues and technical challenges.
• Enhance monitoring, observability, error handling, and recovery processes.
• Develop sustainable solutions that improve platform reliability and operational efficiency.
• Support mission-critical systems and ensure business continuity.

Technical Leadership & Collaboration

• Partner with architects, engineers, and cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality solutions.
• Participate in technical design discussions and strategic engineering decisions.
• Conduct code reviews and promote software engineering best practices.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Support the continuous improvement of development processes, standards, and tooling.

Required Skills & Experience

Software Engineering

• Strong commercial experience building and supporting production software applications.
• Advanced Python development skills.
• Experience developing applications and services using Go (Golang).
• Experience building modern web applications using React or Svelte.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, design patterns, and modular application development.
• Experience designing and developing APIs, backend services, and reusable software components.

Data Engineering

• Strong SQL and database development experience.
• Experience developing and maintaining data integrations and data-intensive applications.
• Understanding of data quality, validation, integrity, and reliability principles.
• Experience working with large datasets and complex data processing workflows.

DevOps & Engineering Practices

• Strong experience with:
  • Git
  • Code Reviews
  • Automated Testing
  • CI/CD Pipelines
  • Monitoring and Observability Tools
• Experience troubleshooting and supporting complex production environments.
• Ability to assess technical trade-offs and independently deliver complex engineering solutions.

Preferred Experience

Experience with any of the following technologies would be advantageous:

Data & Integration Technologies

• Apache Airflow
• Pandas
• Data Quality Frameworks
• Data Contracts
• Industrial Data Integrations

Cloud & Infrastructure

• AWS
  • S3
  • Lambda
  • Step Functions
• Docker
• Kubernetes
• Cloud and Hybrid Infrastructure Environments

Databases

• PostgreSQL
• TimescaleDB

Platform Engineering

• Internal Developer Platforms
• Application Framework Development
• Developer Tooling
• Integration Frameworks

Key Competencies

• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent software design and architectural judgment.
• Ability to take ownership of complex technical initiatives.
• Strong collaboration and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.
• Passion for mentorship and developing engineering talent.
• Adaptability and a practical approach to solving technical challenges.
• Commitment to engineering excellence and continuous improvement.