Specialist: Data Architect 2 year contract

Auditor-General of South Africa; Pretoria; On-site; ZAR 800,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

A national auditing agency in Pretoria is seeking a Data Architect to oversee data migration activities, design EDW and data lake solutions. The ideal candidate has a university degree in computer science and at least 10 years of relevant experience. Responsibilities include evaluating infrastructure, designing databases, and ensuring data integrity and availability. This position supports strategic goals and involves collaboration with various stakeholders, offering a two-year contract.

Qualifications

• 10 years of work experience in data management.
• Experience in securing and classifying data lakes.
• Proven experience with ETL tools and big data components.

Responsibilities

• Oversee data migration activities and design EDW.
• Coordinate with technical staff to develop database architectures.
• Conduct research on ETL tools and data lake products.

Skills

Hadoop ecosystem expertise

Data warehouse design

Data migration experience

Project management

Relational database understanding

Education

University degree in computer science or related fields

Certifications in Data Architecture such as TOGAF

Tools

Hadoop

NoSQL

Python

Kafka

Job description

AGSA data architect’s role involves strategically overseeing AGSA data migration activities, designing and implementing AGSA EDW and Data Lake solutions, data marts, and data stores while ensuring high levels of data availability. This individual is also responsible for defining data standards and models for the data lake.

The data architect will evaluate and select all infrastructure components such as software, hardware, EDW, big data components, and networking capabilities.

The position reports to a Senior Manager: Strategy and Enterprise Architect.

Roles & Responsibilities

Strategic Function

• Assess and cultivate long-term strategic goals for AGSA EDW and data lake in conjunction with data users, Business Units Leaders, clients, and other key stakeholders.
• Coordinate and work with other technical staff to develop database architectures, coding standards, and quality assurance policies and procedures.
• Plan and implement capacity and resource expansion to ensure EDW and data lake scalability.
• Design and implement redundant systems, policies, and procedures for disaster recovery and data archiving to ensure effective availability, protection, and integrity of data assets.
• Support the implementation of the business unit balance score card (BSC) initiatives.

Acquisition and Deployment

• Conduct research and make recommendations on ETL tools, EDW and data lake products, services, protocols, and standards in support of procurement and development efforts.
• Evaluate, recommend, and select EDW and data lake components, including hardware, database management systems, ETL software, data mining tools, and metadata management tools.

Operations Management

• Work with end users and BI and Analytics teams to identify, create, and deliver reports according to requirements.
• Design and manage ETL, EDW, data lake improvement, and growth projects.
• Identify inefficiencies and gaps in current EDW and data lake and leverage solutions.
• Identify data discrepancies and data quality issues, and work to ensure data consistency and integrity.
• Diagnose and resolve AGSA EDW and data lake requirements, access, and performance issues.
• Oversee the installation, management, and configuration of relevant components to ensure access to AGSA EDW and data lake.
• Monitor system details within the EDW and data lake, including stored procedures and execution times, and implement efficiency improvements.
• Perform cost estimates for data migration between development, test, and production systems, and plan and coordinate these migrations.
• Develop, implement, and maintain change control and testing processes for modifications to data systems.
• Mentor and/or provide leadership to AGSA team members.

Stakeholder Management

• Establish, build, and maintain collaborative working relationships with relevant internal stakeholders.
• Build and maintain positive and value-adding relationships with relevant external stakeholders.
• Scan the environment to understand stakeholder needs.
• Proactively interact with stakeholders to determine their needs and deliver accordingly.
• Engage with stakeholders to evaluate performance barriers and success to improve service delivery.
• Collaborate with colleagues to ensure timely delivery of work.
• Establish and maintain relations with professional bodies within the professional sphere.
• Manage service level agreements (SLAs).

People Management

• Manage own performance.
• Participate in the organization’s transformation, culture, diversity, and employment equity initiatives.
• Commit to continuous learning to stay abreast of industry trends.

Financial and Operational Management

• Contribute to the center’s budget and manage project expenditures.
• Ensure compliance with governance policies and processes.
• Manage supply chain processes within the functional area.

Other Responsibilities

• Perform or manage other projects and tasks as delegated by the supervisor.

Skills, Experience & Education

Formal Education

• University degree in computer science, information systems, or computer engineering with 10 years of work experience.
• Relevant certifications in Data Architecture practices, including TOGAF or related certifications.

Experience

• Experience with designing, building, and supporting multi-terabyte data warehouses.
• Expertise in Hadoop ecosystem and big data components like Hive, Scala, Python, NoSQL, Scoop, Flume, Kafka.
• Experience securing and classifying data lakes.
• Knowledge of database platforms and implementing high-volume, high-throughput data ecosystems.
• Strong understanding of relational database principles, data mining, large-scale data modeling, and business requirements gathering.
• Technical knowledge of networks, operating systems, and current system software standards.
• Proven project management and data migration experience.
• Understanding of organizational goals and data privacy laws.

Closing Statement

The AGSA is not responsible for verifying data provided. Ensure your application and CV are accurate and up-to-date. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. This is a 2-year contract, closing on 20 August 2025. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you do not hear within four weeks, consider your application unsuccessful.