Senior Software Engineer – Data Science

Communicate Recruitment; Stellenbosch; Hybrid; ZAR 600,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Petabyte-scale data exposure

Mentorship & learning

Cross-disciplinary AI/Data focus

Job summary

Communicate Recruitment in Stellenbosch seeks a data science/software engineering professional to design and implement ML/AI features across the product lifecycle. You will train, deploy, and support models in production and build systems capable of handling large-scale datasets.

The role emphasizes collaboration with engineers and data specialists within a hybrid work model, fostering innovation, mentorship, and continuous learning in a cross-functional team.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of hands-on experience in Data Science or a data-focused software engineering role.
• Proven experience training, deploying, and supporting ML/AI models in production.
• Strong programming ability in Python and/or Java.
• Strong SQL and large datasets experience.
• Data wrangling, feature engineering, model evaluation.
• Unix-based environments, scripting, networking, troubleshooting.
• Version control, containers, CI/CD and microservice architectures.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement ML/AI features from concept through deployment.
• Work across the full product lifecycle from idea to deployment.
• Train, deploy, and support ML models in production environments.
• Build software to process and analyse large-scale datasets.
• Collaborate with engineers, data specialists and cross-functional teams.
• Contribute to scalable distributed systems and microservices.
• Ensure solutions are practical, maintainable and valuable to users.
• Contribute to an engineering culture centred on innovation and learning.

Skills

Python

Java

SQL

Data wrangling

Feature engineering

Model evaluation

Unix

CI/CD

Containers

Microservice architectures

Version control

Big data

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Mathematics or related quantitative discipline

Tools

Apache Kafka

Docker

Job description

Job Description:

The successful candidate will join a specialised team focused on developing machine learning and AI-driven capabilities that deliver valuable insights from large-scale, real-time distributed systems

Key responsibilities include:

• Designing and implementing machine learning and AI features from concept through deployment
• Working across the full product lifecycle, from idea generation and design to implementation and deployment
• Training, deploying, and supporting machine learning models in production environments
• Building software solutions capable of processing and analysing large-scale datasets
• Collaborating with software engineers, data specialists, and cross-functional teams to solve complex technical challenges
• Contributing to scalable, distributed systems and microservice-based architectures
• Ensuring solutions are practical, maintainable, and valuable to both end users and support teams
• Contributing to an engineering culture centred around innovation, learning, knowledge sharing, and technical excellence

Why developers apply for opportunities like this:

• Exposure to petabyte-scale data environments
• The opportunity to work at the intersection of Software Engineering, AI, and Data Science
• Strong focus on mentorship, skills development, and continuous learning
• Hybrid working model that supports flexibility and work-life balance
• The ability to influence products from conception to deployment rather than working on isolated components

Skills & Experience:

Required:

• Minimum 3 years of hands-on experience in Data Science or a data-focused software engineering role
• Proven experience training, deploying, and supporting machine learning or AI models in production environments
• Strong programming ability in Python and/or Java
• Strong SQL and database design skills with experience working on large datasets
• Experience with data wrangling, feature engineering, and model evaluation
• Experience working in Unix-based environments, including scripting, networking, and troubleshooting
• Experience with version control systems, containers, CI/CD processes, and microservice architectures

Advantageous:

• Master's degree in a relevant field
• Experience with Apache Kafka or real-time event processing
• Strong understanding of distributed systems and scalability challenges
• Experience with NLP, LLMs, RAG architectures, or audio processing
• Experience deploying ML services as scalable microservices.
• Leadership or mentoring experience
• Exposure to telecommunications, signal processing, or IP networking

Qualification:

• Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related quantitative discipline
• Minimum 3 years of relevant Data Science or Software Engineering experience