Azure Data Engineer (Contract)
Contract Azure Data Engineer in Johannesburg (hybrid) building a Medallion (Lakehouse) architecture — landing data into the bronze layer, supporting semantic modelling to gold, and delivering governed, AI-ready data products. Core stack: Azure Databricks, Azure Data Factory, Python, SQL, Unity Catalog and Power BI.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Data engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Advanced Azure Databricks experience
- Strong proficiency in Python and SQL
- Hands-on experience with Azure Data Factory (ADF) pipelines
- Experience with Medallion / Lakehouse architecture (bronze, silver, gold layers)
- Semantic data modelling skills
- Familiarity with Unity Catalog / Gateway
- Solid understanding of Git and DevOps practices
- Ability to produce clear technical documentation
- Experience working in Agile environments
Nice to have
- Databricks Data Engineer certification
- Databricks AI certification
- Exposure to Databricks Genie
- Experience delivering data products for analytics, Power BI and AI use cases
- Background in Marketing & Sales or similar commercial data domains
Full description
We are seeking two experienced Data Engineers to join a project focused on implementing a Medallion (Lakehouse) architecture. The successful candidates will be responsible for landing data into the bronze layer and supporting semantic modelling through to the gold layer, ensuring data is governed, reusable and AI-ready.
You will work closely with an in-house data scientist to develop production-ready data products and business views for Power BI, with a strong emphasis on production deployment and operational excellence.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, build and maintain data pipelines (Databricks and Azure Data Factory) to ingest and land data into the bronze layer.
- Support semantic data modelling across silver and gold layers to create high-quality, governed data products.
- Collaborate with data scientists to deliver analytics-ready datasets and Power BI business views.
- Ensure data is production-ready, well-documented and aligned with AI use-case requirements.
- Apply Unity Catalog / Gateway for data governance and access control.
- Contribute to technical documentation covering design decisions, pipelines and data models.
- Work within an Agile delivery framework and follow Git + DevOps best practices.
- Support the use of Databricks Genie where relevant.
Required Skills & Experience
- Advanced Azure Databricks experience (Databricks Data Engineer certification preferred; Databricks AI certification advantageous).
- Strong proficiency in Python and SQL for developing data products and pipelines.
- Hands-on experience with Azure Data Factory (ADF) pipelines.
- Experience with Medallion / Lakehouse architecture (bronze, silver, gold layers).
- Semantic data modelling skills.
- Familiarity with Unity Catalog / Gateway.
- Solid understanding of Git and DevOps practices.
- Ability to produce clear technical documentation.
- Experience working in Agile environments.
Preferred / Advantageous
- Exposure to Databricks Genie.
- Previous experience delivering data products for analytics, Power BI and AI use cases.
- Background in Marketing & Sales or similar commercial data domains.
Working Arrangement
- Hybrid – based in Johannesburg.