Senior Data Engineer| Contract

iqbusiness is seeking to employ a Senior Data Engineeron a 12-month contract to collaborate with an international partner from our offices in Welgemoed, Cape Town, Northern Suburbs. This is a hybrid role (3 days on-site; 2 days WFH). As a Senior Data Engineer, you will be responsible for designing, building, maintaining, and architecting scalable data pipelines and cloud-native data platforms. You will play a key role in enabling analytics and data science teams by designing robust Snowflake architecture, ensuring high-quality, reliable, and well-modelled data while leveraging dbt for transformation, automation, and governance. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional stakeholders to deliver efficient, modern data solutions aligned with business needs.Key Responsibilities:* Design, build, and optimise scalable data pipelines.* Architect Snowflake environments, security frameworks, and data governance.* Develop and maintain dbt models following best practices (modularity, testing, documentation, lineage).* Build continuous ingestion pipelines using Snowpipe, Streams, and Tasks.* Implement AI-driven ingestion pipelines to process, enrich, and structure unstructured data* Optimise cost and performance within Snowflake (warehousing strategy, query tuning, resource monitoring).* Ensure data quality, reliability, and observability across all transformations.* Work with analytics, product, and data science teams to deliver well-modelled datasets.* Automate deployments and workflows using Git-driven processes.* Maintain documentation and share technical knowledge with the broader team.Minimum Requirements:* Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field* 5+ years of experience as a Data Engineer or in a similar data-focused role* Strong hands-on experience with Snowflake architecture, design, and administration (mandatory)* Strong hands-on experience with dbt (mandatory)* Proven experience designing multi-tenant or multi-schema data warehouse architectures within Snowflake* Proficiency in SQL and Python* Experience building ingestion pipelines that leverage AI or machine learning models* Experience designing and operating data pipelines in cloud environments (Azure, AWS, or GCP)* Experience with version control (Git) and CI/CD workflows* Solid understanding of data modelling (Kimball/Dimensional)Skills Required:* Ability to work with end users to define requirements and identify solutions* Strong analytical and problem-solving skills* Excellent visualisation skills* Excellent communication skills* A mindset focused on quality, reliability, and continuous improvement* Ability to prioritise tasks, solve complex problems, and drive process improvement *Note: As all business roles require honesty in the handling of or access to cash, finances, financial systems, or confidential information, our recruitment process requires that the following background checks be completed: credit, criminal, ID, and qualification verification.**iqbusiness is committed to sustainable growth and transformation; we embrace diversity and employ previously disadvantaged individuals.*