Job Description

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Senior Data Engineer
Job Grade: P6
Ref No.: E100001
Location: Pretoria
Job Type: 5 years fixed term contract
Job Purpose: The primary purpose of this role is to take a leading role in designing, implementing, and optimising CIPC's data infrastructure to support strategic goals. This position is central to building scalable, high-performance data pipelines, driving data engineering best practices, and ensuring the delivery of robust data solutions that empower data scientists and analysts to generate critical business insights.
Required Minimum Education / Training
Candidates must meet one of the following requirements:
Formal Education Pathway (Preferred):

• Education:Bachelor's Degree / Advanced Diploma in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field. Advanced degrees are a plus.

• Added Advantage Certifications: Holding one or more of the following advanced professional certifications is a strong advantage:
• Specialized Tools: Databricks Certified Data Engineer (Professional or Associate), Confluent Certified Developer for Apache Kafka, or Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA).
• Cloud Platforms: Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer, Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate, or AWS Certified Data Analytics - Specialty.
• Data Management: Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) (Practitioner or Professional level).

Specialized Certification and Experience Pathway (Alternative):
Education: Senior Certificate (NQF 4) and relevant technical certifications

• Mandatory Certifications:The candidate must hold a combination of at least two advanced professional certifications, which must include one specialized tool certification and one cloud platform certification:

Specialized Tool Certification (MUST include one):

• Databricks Certified Data Engineer (Professional or Associate)
• Confluent Certified Developer for Apache Kafka
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)

Cloud Platform Certification (MUST include one):

• Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate
• AWS Certified Data Analytics - Specialty

Added Advantage Certification (Choose one more from any category):

• Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) (Practitioner or Professional level)
• DAMA Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP)
• Any other certification listed above not yet counted.

Required Minimum Experience

• Experience: Minimum 5+ years (preferred 8+ years) of proven experience as a Data Engineer or in a similar technical role, with a strong track record of building scalable data solutions.

Experience: Minimum 10+ years of proven experience as a Data Engineer or in a similar technical role, with a strong track record of building scalable data solutions.
Key performance areas
1. Data Pipeline & System Development
?Pipeline Design and Implementation: Lead the design, build, and maintenance of scalable and secure data pipelines (batch and real-time) and databases to process complex, high-volume structured and unstructured data.
?ETL/ELT Development: Develop and optimize ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes to efficiently transform raw data into usable, high-quality formats for analysis and consumption.
?Infrastructure Optimization: Manage and optimize data warehousing solutions (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, Synapse) and implement and maintain data storage solutions, including SQL and NoSQL databases.
?Automation: Automate data processing tasks using frameworks like Apache Airflow and optimize deployment and orchestration to improve efficiency and reduce manual effort.
2. Data Quality, Performance & Compliance
?Performance Monitoring: Monitor data pipeline performance, troubleshoot issues promptly, and optimize data processing frameworks to handle increasing data volumes with low latency.
?Quality and Standards: Develop and enforce standards and best practices for data quality, security, documentation, and compliance across all data systems and processes.
?Architecture Contribution: Ensure data pipelines and databases are optimized for performance, security, availability, and scalability, and contribute actively to overall data architecture decisions.
3. Collaboration, Mentorship & Strategy
?Stakeholder Collaboration: Work closely with data scientists, data analysts, and business teams to understand their data needs, ensure data accessibility, and deliver solutions tailored for their analysis requirements.
?Technical Leadership: Serve as a technical leader, coach, and mentor for junior data engineers and adjacent data and engineering teams.
?Project Leadership: Lead end-to-end data engineering projects, including requirements gathering, technical deliverable planning, output quality control, and stakeholder management.
?Strategy Contribution: Contribute technical expertise to the development and evolution of the CIPC data strategy.
Minimum Functional Requirements (Technical Skills & Knowledge)
?Core Programming: Expertise in programming languages such as Python, Java, or Scala.
?SQL Mastery: Advanced proficiency with SQL and deep experience in database optimization techniques for high-volume data.
?Big Data & Distributed Systems: Strong hands-on experience with distributed systems and big data technologies, including Apache Spark, Hadoop, or Flink.
?Cloud Data Platforms: Strong knowledge of cloud-based data platforms and their services across major providers (AWS, Azure, and GCP).
?ETL/Orchestration Tools: Proven experience with ETL tools and orchestration frameworks (e.g., Apache Kafka, Apache Airflow, Apache Spark).
?Architecture Design: Experience in designing and implementing data architectures that specifically support large-scale data processing and machine learning initiatives.
?Soft Skills: Strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills, excellent interpersonal skills, and the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
?Mentorship: Proven experience leading and mentoring junior data engineers.
Applicants may, as a step in the recruitment process, be subjected to competency assessment. In addition, the successful candidate must be prepared to undergo a process of security clearance prior to appointment.
Qualifications and SA citizenship checks will be conducted on the successful candidate. It is the applicant's responsibility to have foreign qualifications evaluated by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).
It will be expected of candidates to be available for selection interviews on a date, time and place as determined by CIPC.
CIPC is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. Preference will be given to candidates whose appointment will enhance representation in accordance with the approved employment equity plan.
Feedback will only be given to shortlisted candidates.
CIPC reserves the right not to fill an advertised position.
For further details regarding these positions please click on the link: https://cipc.mcidirecthire.com/default/External/CurrentOpportunities or visit the CIPC website at www.cipc.co.za
Kindly note that faxed, emailed, posted and or hand delivered applications will not be considered.
Should you experience any difficulty in applying please contact the CIPC Recruitment Office by dialing: 087 743 7074, 7075, 7197 or 087 260 1554
Closing date: October 31, 2025
Required Minimum Education / Training
Candidates must meet one of the following requirements:
Formal Education Pathway (Preferred):

• Education: Bachelor's Degree / Advanced Diploma in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field. Advanced degrees are a plus.

• Added Advantage Certifications: Holding one or more of the following advanced professional certifications is a strong advantage:
• Specialized Tools: Databricks Certified Data Engineer (Professional or Associate), Confluent Certified Developer for Apache Kafka, or Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA).
• Cloud Platforms: Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer, Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate, or AWS Certified Data Analytics - Specialty.
• Data Management: Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) (Practitioner or Professional level).

Specialized Certification and Experience Pathway (Alternative):
Education: Senior Certificate (NQF 4) and relevant technical certifications

• Mandatory Certifications: The candidate must hold a combination of at least two advanced professional certifications, which must include one specialized tool certification and one cloud platform certification:

Specialized Tool Certification (MUST include one):

• Databricks Certified Data Engineer (Professional or Associate)
• Confluent Certified Developer for Apache Kafka
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)

Cloud Platform Certification (MUST include one):

• Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate
• AWS Certified Data Analytics - Specialty

Added Advantage Certification (Choose one more from any category):

• Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) (Practitioner or Professional level)
• DAMA Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP)
• Any other certification listed above not yet counted.

Required Minimum Experience

• Experience: Minimum 5+ years (preferred 8+ years) of proven experience as a Data Engineer or in a similar technical role, with a strong track record of building scalable data solutions.

Experience: Minimum 10+ years of proven experience as a Data Engineer or in a similar technical role, with a strong track record of building scalable data solutions.

Skills Required