Senior Specialist : Cloud Data Architect

Vodafone Global Enterprise; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 800 000 - 1 000 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading telecommunications company in South Africa is seeking a Senior Specialist: Cloud Data Architect. This role involves providing strategic guidance in the design and implementation of enterprise-wide data solutions. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in data warehousing, cloud technologies, and strong analytical skills. Competitive benefits and a focus on advanced analytics will be part of the offering.

Benefits

Competitive benefit packages

Retirement funds and medical aid benefits

Cell phone and data benefits

Qualifications

• 5+ years in data warehousing, ETL integration.
• 7+ years’ experience in IT projects including analysis and design.
• 2+ years leading an architectural development process.

Responsibilities

• Ensure data architecture aligns with business strategies.
• Lead design of scalable, high-performance data platforms.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate requirements.

Skills

Expert-level proficiency in SQL

Data modelling

Critical thinking

Education

Degree or Diploma in Information Systems / BSc Computer Science / BSc Engineering

Matric

Tools

Big Query

AWS / GCP

Job description

Job title

Senior Specialist : Cloud Data Architect

Job Location

Western Cape, Cape Town

Deadline

October 23, 2025

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Role Purpose / Business Unit

• As the recognized authority in data and analytics architecture, the Solution Architect provides strategic guidance and technical leadership in the design, development, and implementation of enterprise-wide data and analytical solutions.
• This role is pivotal in translating complex business requirements into scalable, secure, and high-performing data architectures that enable advanced analytics, data-driven decision-making, and digital transformation.

Your responsibilities will include

• Enterprise Data Strategy Alignment – Ensure all data and analytics architecture designs align with the organisation’s enterprise architecture principles, business strategies, and technology roadmap.
• Solution Design Leadership – Lead end‑to‑end design of scalable, secure, and high‑performance data platforms, including data warehouses, data lakes, streaming pipelines, and analytics platforms.
• Stakeholder Collaboration – Partner with business, IT, & analytics leaders to translate complex business requirements into technical architectures & implementation roadmaps.
• Technology Evaluation & Selection – Assess, recommend, & govern the adoption of data management, integration, & analytics technologies based on business needs, scalability, and total cost of ownership.
• Standards & Best Practices – Define & enforce architectural standards, frameworks, & patterns for data modelling, governance, & security.
• Data Governance Enablement – Support & embed data governance policies for data quality, lineage, stewardship, privacy, & compliance with relevant regulations (e.g., GDPR, POPIA).
• Solution Delivery Oversight – Provide architectural guidance throughout the project lifecycle — from proof‑of‑concept to production — ensuring solutions meet non‑functional requirements (performance, reliability, scalability).
• Risk & Issue Management – Identify technical risks, develop mitigation plans, & proactively address architectural challenges.
• Thought Leadership – Keep abreast of emerging trends in data architecture, analytics, cloud, & AI, and translate these into actionable innovation opportunities.

Decision ownership

• Architectural Direction – Own decisions on the overall design and architectural approach for enterprise data & analytics solutions.
• Technology Standards – Approve & maintain the organization’s data architecture frameworks, standards, & patterns.
• Platform & Tooling Selection – Make final recommendations on the adoption of core data platforms, tools, & analytics technologies.
• Data Integration & Interoperability – Decide on integration patterns, APIs, & data exchange mechanisms to ensure seamless interoperability across systems.
• Security & Compliance Controls – Implement data security measures & controls to protect sensitive information & ensure compliance.
• Solution Approval – Ensure approval for solution designs before implementation to ensure alignment with enterprise & security architecture principles.
• Scalability & Performance Trade‑offs – Weigh cost, time‑to‑market, and long‑term scalability when making architectural choices.

The ideal candidate for this role will have

• Matric essential
• Degree or Diploma in Information Systems / BSc Computer Science / BSc engineering (or similar tertiary qualifications)
• 5+ years in data warehousing, ETL integration
• 7+ years’ experience with all aspects of IT projects from business analysis, architectures, system analysis & design through development, testing, implementation, & production support (SDLC).
• 2+ years leading an architectural development process and collaborate with application development teams, architects and other members of the software development team.
• AWS / GCP Certifications would be advantageous.

Core competencies, knowledge and experience

• Expert-level proficiency in SQL, including complex query design, performance optimization, data modelling, and integration across cloud platforms & BI tools to support advanced analytics & business decision‑making.
• Able to analyse complex use cases to model & interpret data through critical thinking.
• Deep subject matter knowledge of data staging, data lakes, data warehousing, data marts & operational data stores, big data, & analytics as applicable to the telecoms business domain is essential.
• Experience with modern data processing & analytics technologies such as Big Query, Redshift, Teradata, Exadata, Abinitio, Cloudera, etc.
• Demonstrated expertise in implementing & managing IT controls within an analytics environment, including proficiency in ensuring data integrity, system reliability, & compliance with relevant governance frameworks & risk mitigation practices.
• Experience working high‑volume data & file processing (real‑time & batch processing).

Advantageous

• Big Data knowledge (Hadoop, Map Reduce, Spark, Kafka, etc.)
• Analytics : Python knowledge
• Experience architecting and designing cloud & big data solutions
• Experience with Analytics production implementations in the Cloud (AWS, GCP)
• Broad understanding of governance best practices for analytics platforms, data warehousing & business intelligence.
• Experience with Data Quality / Data Profiling, Metadata Integration, Master Data Management.

We make an impact by offering

• Enticing incentive programs & competitive benefit packages
• Retirement funds, risk benefits, & medical aid benefits
• Cell phone & data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, & exclusive staff discounts offered in collaboration with partner companies

Closing date for Applications

16 October 2025.