Senior Data Engineer

About the Position

Pay@ is a leading South African payment aggregator, enabling secure and efficient bill payments across a wide network of payment channels. We process millions of transactions monthly and are building a modern data infrastructure to support financial reporting, fraud detection, AI, and operational analytics.

We are seeking a skilled Senior Data Engineer to join our growing team. You will be instrumental in designing, building, and maintaining scalable, robust data pipelines and warehouse solutions that integrate transactional, accounting, and CRM data across multiple systems.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain robust ETL/ELT pipelines using Python, SQL, and cloud-native tools to ingest and transform data from 40+ payment networks and internal systems
• Join and harmonize data across diverse sources including transactional databases, accounting systems (Sage One, Xero), and CRM platforms (HubSpot, Dataverse)
• Design, construct, install, test, and maintain highly scalable data management systems
• Build high-performance prototypes and proof of concepts
• Implement data quality checks, performance tuning, and monitoring for pipelines handling tens of millions of rows monthly
• Develop data set processes for data modelling, mining, and production
• Integrate new data management technologies and software engineering tools into existing structures
• Create custom software components (e.g. specialised UDFs) and analytics applications
• Maintain clear documentation and follow best practices for data architecture, version control, and deployment
• Collaborate with data architects, modelers, analysts, and business stakeholders to ensure data accuracy, security, and accessibility
• Research opportunities for data acquisition and new uses for existing data
• Install and update disaster recovery procedures

Requirements

• 8+ years of relevant experience in data engineering or related roles
• Proven experience in Python-based data engineering projects
• Strong proficiency in SQL and Python for data transformation and automation
• Experience with data orchestration tools (e.g. Airflow)
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field

Nice to Have

• Understanding of dimensional modelling and data warehouse design
• Experience with SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Sage One, Xero, Business Central, HubSpot, or Microsoft Dataverse
• Agile (Scrum) development experience
• Experience in the payments or financial services industry

Join Us

Work on impactful data projects in a high-volume, real-time transaction environment alongside a forward-thinking team building a modern data stack. If you enjoy solving complex data challenges at scale - we’d love to hear from you.

About the Company

At Pay@, we value:

• Systems Thinking: Building the model that solves the problem.
• Orientation: Choosing the frame the work is seen from.
• Antifragility: Turning failures into structure, not into stories.
• Security Awareness: Ensuring the safety of our data and systems.
• AI Symbiosis: Leveraging AI to enhance our services.
• Reciprocity: Fostering a culture of mutual benefit.

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