Data Engineer (Intermediate) (Python, BigQuery, SQL) (Hybrid - Cape Town)

SUMMARY:
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POSITION INFO:
ENVIRONMENT: Our Client is a digital management company specialising in delivering innovative digital solutions for leading travel and hospitality brands. They are seeking a Data Engineer to maintain and continuously improve their data infrastructure which powers our client reporting, custom analytics software, and AI-driven initiatives across our client portfolio. Working with cloud-based infrastructure built on Google Cloud Platform and BigQuery, you will be responsible for designing, building, and maintaining data pipelines, creating custom reporting views and dashboards, and driving our data platform's ongoing evolution and operational excellence. You will collaborate with different internal departments to help deliver tailored and impactful data solutions for improved strategic decision making.   DUTIES: Data Warehouse & Environment Management •       Manage and maintain their data warehouse in Google BigQuery, ensuring performance, cost efficiency, and data integrity. •       Administer and optimise resources within Google Cloud Platform (GCP), including access, scheduling and monitoring. •       Ensure data quality, reliability, and performance across the data platform. •       Support and enhance existing data solutions and identify opportunities to improve and modernise the platform. Data Cleaning & Pipeline Management •       Build, maintain, and monitor ETL\/ELT (extract, transform, load) pipelines that ingest data into their Google BigQuery warehouse. •       Design and implement new data pipelines to bring additional data sources\/connectors into the warehouse. •       Build and support data integration pipelines and interfaces between internal and third-party systems. •       Write and optimise SQL to transform raw data into usable, well-modelled tables. •       Monitor pipeline health and resolve data quality issues before they reach downstream users. Custom Reporting & Dashboards •       Assist with improving their custom reporting software to meet internal and client data requirements. •       Build and maintain ad-hoc reporting dashboards, translating brief requirements into clear, accurate outputs. •       Collaborate with the team to define metrics and maintain reporting consistency across clients. •       Improve and maintain their retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)capabilities, including data preparation, indexing, and retrieval quality. •       Support the integration of their data warehouse with AI tools and internal software systems. Delivery & Collaboration •       Collaborate with business stakeholders to understand and translate requirements into technical solutions. •       Participate in project delivery, testing, and solution deployment activities. •       Contribute to version-controlled, tested data pipeline code, and to data governance, architecture, and best practices. •       Maintain data pipeline documentation and lineage to support long-term maintainability.   REQUIREMENTS: •       A graduate with 1-2 years of experience in data engineering, software engineering, or a backend database role. •       Strong SQL skills - comfortable writing, debugging, and optimising complex queries. •       Strong Python skills for scripting, data transformation, and automation. •       Hands-on exposure to BigQuery and the wider Google Cloud Platform (GCP). •       Experienced in building and maintaining data pipelines and ETL\/ELT processes. •       Understanding of version control (Git)and basic continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI\/CD)concepts. •       Comfortable working with a range of data sets. •       Familiar with data cleaning, transformation, and validation techniques. •       Experience with, or keen to develop exposure to, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)and AI\/large language model (LLM)tooling. •       A relevant certification in data engineering, GCP, or analytics is advantageous.   ATTRIBUTES: •       Comfortable developing reporting solutions and building dashboards. •       Strong attention to detail while maintaining a high work output pace. •       Skilled in written and verbal communication, able to explain technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders. •       Strong in planning, time management, and prioritisation across multiple clients. •       A creative problem-solver with strong decision-making abilities. •       Capable of working in a collaborative environment across in-house and freelance teams. •       Passionate about travel, conservation, or the digital world.