We are seeking an experienced Senior Data Engineer to take ownership of end-to-end Data Platform & AI infrastructure. This role leads the evolution of our proprietary Data Management Platform (DMP), ensuring data scalability, accuracy, and real-time impact across the business.
You’ll work alongside a multidisciplinary team of data engineers, analysts, and AI developers, and report directly to senior leadership. This is a hands-on leadership role suited for a proactive technologist who thrives on optimisation, automation, and measurable business outcomes.
Responsibilities:
- Own and evolve our GCP-based Data Platform (BigQuery, Cloud Functions, Composer, Dataflow, Pub/Sub, etc.)
- Architect, build, and maintain robust ETL/ELT pipelines to ingest structured and unstructured data from multiple internal and external sources
- Implement and enforce data governance, validation, deduplication, and enrichment standards
- Optimise cost, speed, and performance across data storage, compute, and pipeline operations
- Develop data tools and dashboards to support analytics, AI, and marketing performance measurement
- Establish and document best practices, SOPs, and technical standards for data workflows
- Monitor and resolve pipeline failures and ensure data quality, uptime, and operational continuity
- Collaborate cross-functionally with AI, analytics, marketing, and operations teams to design data-driven products and insights
- Lead and mentor data engineers and analysts, ensuring strong technical delivery and professional growth
- Provide leadership during mission-critical incidents and maintain high system reliability
Qualification & Experience
- 5+ years of experience as a Data Engineer or Data Platform Lead
- Advanced proficiency with Google Cloud Platform (BigQuery, Dataflow, Pub/Sub, Cloud Storage, Composer)
- Strong coding expertise in Python, SQL, and either Java or PHP
- Deep understanding of data modelling, schema design, and query performance tuning
- Proven experience managing complex data pipelines, debugging, and ensuring data security
- Familiarity with AI/ML concepts and tools (experience with Gemini is an advantage)
- Strong understanding of cost optimisation and scalable cloud architecture
- Excellent communicator with a track record of professional accountability and ownership
- Familiarity with Salesforce, Meta Conversions API, or Google Analytics integrations
The Reference Number for this position is NG60896 which is a Permanent Hybrid position based in Johannesburg offering a cost to company of R700k up to R900k per annum negotiable on experience and ability. Contact Nokuthula at nokuthulag@e-merge.co.za or call her on 011 463 3633 to discuss this and other opportunities.
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