Senior Data Engineer

Smart4 Cloud Limited; Wes-Kaap; Hybrid; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Smart4 Cloud Limited in Cape Town or Johannesburg invites a hands-on Senior Data Engineer to lead the migration from legacy reporting to a modern, scalable data architecture. You will design Snowflake data models and pipelines, build automated ingestion, and support Power BI reporting for the MVP.

Ideal candidates bring strong Snowflake, AWS and Azure expertise, senior data engineering experience, and the ability to collaborate across technical and business teams to establish reusable patterns

Qualifications

• South African citizenship.
• Based in or able to work onsite in Cape Town or Johannesburg.
• Willing and able to work onsite 3 days per week.
• Strong senior-level experience in Data Engineering.
• Extensive hands-on Snowflake experience.
• Strong experience with AWS and Azure.
• Proven experience designing and implementing data pipelines and data models.
• Experience migrating from legacy reporting/data environments to modern data architectures.
• Strong SQL and data transformation skills.
• Experience with automated testing and data quality frameworks.
• Experience supporting Power BI reporting solutions.
• Solid understanding of cloud-based data architecture and engineering best practices.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across technical and business teams.

Responsibilities

• Support the migration from legacy reporting processes to the target data architecture.
• Design and develop scalable Snowflake-based data models and data pipelines.
• Build automated ingestion and transformation processes across data sources.
• Work across AWS and Azure cloud environments.
• Implement automated testing, data quality controls and monitoring.
• Establish robust engineering foundations, standards and reusable development patterns.
• Collaborate with data, architecture, BI and business stakeholders to deliver the MVP.
• Develop and support the Power BI reporting layer for the MVP.
• Contribute to the design of the future-state architecture and ensure scalability for subsequent phases.
• Champion engineering best practices around CI/CD, version control, documentation, testing and data quality.

Skills

Data engineering

Senior-level experience

SQL

Tools

Snowflake

AWS

Azure

Power BI

Job description

Senior Data Engineer - Snowflake / AWS / Azure

Location: Cape Town or Johannesburg, South Africa

Work Arrangement: Hybrid - 3 days onsite per week

Employment Type: Contract / Permanent

Seniority: Senior

We are looking for an experienced Senior Data Engineer to play a key role in modernising our data and reporting environment. This is an exciting opportunity for a South African citizen to help drive the migration from legacy reporting processes to a modern, scalable target architecture.

You will be responsible for delivering the future-state MVP, establishing strong data engineering foundations, and creating reusable standards and patterns that will support future phases of the programme.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the migration from legacy reporting processes to the target data architecture.
• Design and develop scalable Snowflake-based data models and data pipelines.
• Build automated ingestion and transformation processes across data sources.
• Work across AWS and Azure cloud environments.
• Implement automated testing, data quality controls and monitoring.
• Establish robust engineering foundations, standards and reusable development patterns.
• Collaborate with data, architecture, BI and business stakeholders to deliver the MVP.
• Develop and support the Power BI reporting layer for the MVP.
• Contribute to the design of the future-state architecture and ensure solutions are scalable for subsequent phases.
• Champion engineering best practices around CI/CD, version control, documentation, testing and data quality.

Key Deliverables

• Future-state MVP
• Snowflake-based data models and pipelines
• Automated data ingestion and transformation
• Automated testing and data quality controls
• Foundational architecture for future phases
• Reusable engineering standards and patterns
• Power BI reporting layer supporting the MVP

Must-Have Requirements

• South African citizenship
• Based in or able to work onsite in Cape Town or Johannesburg
• Willing and able to work onsite 3 days per week
• Strong senior-level experience in Data Engineering
• Extensive hands-on Snowflake experience
• Strong experience with AWS and Azure
• Proven experience designing and implementing data pipelines and data models
• Experience migrating from legacy reporting/data environments to modern data architectures
• Strong SQL and data transformation skills
• Experience with automated testing and data quality frameworks
• Experience supporting Power BI reporting solutions
• Solid understanding of cloud-based data architecture and engineering best practices
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across technical and business teams

What We're Looking For

We need someone who can do more than build pipelines - someone who can help establish the engineering foundations for the next phases of the data transformation journey.

If you are a hands-on Senior Data Engineer with strong Snowflake, AWS and Azure experience and enjoy building modern, scalable data platforms from the ground up, we would love to hear from you.

Location: Cape Town or Johannesburg | Hybrid: 3 days onsite per week