Senior GCP Data Engineer

Our Story

At (formerly SovTech) we believe the future of software lies in the talent innovation and creativity found on the African continent. For over a decade we have been pioneering world-class software development for a global audience. We are the leading custom software development company from Africa that like any great tech company was founded in a garage. has now grown to more than 350 of the best AI-powered software engineering experts building world-class platforms for growing businesses across four cities on three continents.

Looking ahead we remain committed to growing Africas tech ecosystems. Africa is home to the worlds youngest population with over 50% of Africans under the age of 25. Recent estimates indicate there are over 700000 professional software developers across Africa today. That number is projected to double by 2025. We believe in the future of African tech talent and the impact it will have on scaling global companies.

Accelerating business growth with expert tech talent

Trusted by 400 companies helps businesses scale with our cloud-based engineering subscription platform offering consistent cost-effective AI-powered experts teams and reliable developer analytics.

Our Culture

Our culture is underpinned by 8 core values.

Earths leading software company from Africa- thats where were going.

Why Join Us

Be part of a dynamic people-first team thats showcasing and advancing Africas tech landscape on the global scale. At we celebrate your individuality empower your decision-making and create meaningful experiences. Together were driving innovation and building exceptional teams Take a look at some of the highlights:

Embrace Our African Talent Footprint Flexibility and Autonomy

• At we champion an empowered workplace where you shape the culture influence decisions on tech stacks and take charge of user testingall while working from wherever you thrive best across our interconnected Guilds.

• Our distributed teams span South Africa Nigeria Kenya Zimbabwe and other parts of the continent showcasing the diversity and brilliance of African talent.

The Vibes

• Annual Foos-Fest : Showcase your skills at our legendary Foosball Festival and take home quirky sought-after awards.

• AI-Powered Hackathons : Collaborate with your team to create innovative market-ready products in just 24 hoursall while enjoying live music and family-friendly fun.

• Year-End Celebrations : Reflect and connect at our unforgettable year-end events a decade-old tradition we continue to cherish.

• Popcorn Fridays Dev Chats and Braais : Bond with colleagues over insightful discussions and sizzling good vibes.

• Fluid Clubs : Join like-minded peers in activities like hiking running and more to foster shared interests beyond work.

• Weekly All-Hands : Stay inspired and in the loop with our weekly All-Hands sessions that bring us together as one team.

• Explore Week : Our annual tradition encourages you to work from anywhere around the globe for one exciting weekfreedom meets inspiration!

Rewards & Recognition

• Stacos (our company currency) : Reward and recognise your peers with Stacos and exchange them for cool vouchers to celebrate accomplishments big and small.

• Commission Incentives : Unlock attractive rewards for successful business development leads and employee referrals.

Continued Career Growth & Support

• Internal AI Platforms : We empower our teams with access to both closed and open source LLMs that make work easier and empower your professional growth. We love AI!

• High-Performance Culture : Stay aligned and on track with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and structured annual reviews.

• Personalized Mentorship : Receive dedicated guidance from leadership and the Talent SuccessTeam through one-on-one sessions and quarterly check-ins tailored to your career aspirations.

Transforming How We Work

• Our teams embrace cutting-edge AI platforms agents and tools creating smarter workflows and accelerating career development with AI.

• OpenAI Anthropic Llama - we use them all so choose what suits you best!

• You dont need your own licenses - we cover the costs and have our own internal AI platforms that gives you access to them all in a secure environment.

Outstanding Employee Benefits*

• Discovery Medical Aid : Prioritizing your health with the best care.

• Half-Day Birthday Leave : Celebrate your special day with an afternoon off!

• Family responsibility & Parental Benefits : Providing full support for a meaningful work-life balance.

*Please note: Benefits may vary depending on employment type

Join us and be part of a dynamic supportive team thats making waves across Africa.

We are seeking a highly skilled and self-sufficient Data Engineer contractor to design and build their core end-to-end data ingestion and processing workflow on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This is a greenfield project meaning all components will be developed from the ground up. The solution must adhere to modern data engineering best practices with a strong focus on modularity scalability and maintainability to ensure smooth future ownership by the internal team.

Key Skills

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Terraform Python SQL

Responsibilities

• Architect a comprehensive Google Cloud Platform (GCP) data solution including networking security and storage strategy.

• Use only GCP-native services and implement the Medallion Architecture pattern (Raw Bronze Silver Gold layers).

• Provision all required GCP infrastructure using Terraform for repeatability and maintainability.

• Build robust end-to-end ETL/ELT pipelines using Cloud Functions and Dataflow for processing.

• Use Dataform for in-BigQuery data transformations.

• Orchestrate Workflows and Implement pipeline scheduling logging and monitoring using Cloud Composer (Apache Airflow).

• Complete the full end-to-end data pipeline for the first companys SFTP data source making data ready for business reporting.

• Create high-quality documentation architecture diagrams and runbooks.

• Conduct workshops and sessions to transfer knowledge to the in-house Analytics Team ensuring they can operate and extend the pipelines independently.

Requirements

• GCP Data Engineering Expertise

• BigQuery: Data modeling partitioning clustering cost optimisation complex SQL.

• Cloud Storage (GCS): Folder structures security lifecycle management.

• Cloud Dataflow (Apache Beam): Scalable serverless batch and stream processing (preferably Python SDK).

• Secure reliable data ingestion using Cloud Functions or Cloud Run (APIs SFTP etc.).

• Strong proficiency in Python and advanced SQL.

• Production workflow management with Cloud Composer (Apache Airflow).

• Hands-on experience with Dataform (or dbt on GCP) for version-controlled testable automated data transformations in BigQuery.

• Mandatory experience with Terraform for provisioning all GCP resources.

• Deep knowledge of GCP IAM service accounts and network access controls (least privilege principle).

• Familiarity with Cloud Data Catalog/Dataplex for data governance and asset discovery.

• Ability to produce clear concise architecture diagrams and documentation for non-data engineers.

• Proven mentorship and knowledge transfer skills.

• Ability to operate independently drive decisions and define best practices from scratch.