Data Architect (AI, AWS/ Azure) – Johannesburg – R1.2mil to R1.4mil pe

Do you have a passion for building modern data platforms and enabling AI at scale? An established consulting house is looking for an experienced Data Architect who combines strong technical expertise with strategic advisory skills to drive enterprise-wide data transformations. In this role, you will partner with senior executives to design and deliver cloud-native data architectures that unlock the full potential of analytics, AI, and machine learning.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as a trusted advisor to CIOs, CDOs, CAIOs, and other senior stakeholders on data modernization and AI readiness.
• Own the end-to-end architecture lifecycle, from strategic advisory and roadmap development to solution design and implementation.
• Design and govern modern, cloud-native data architectures including Lakehouse, Data Mesh, and Streaming Analytics.
• Lead the development of scalable batch and real-time data pipelines using tools such as Spark, Kafka, DBT, and Airflow.
• Architect and build data platforms to support AI/ML model deployment, monitoring, and feature engineering.
• Implement data quality, governance, lineage, privacy, and metadata management frameworks.
• Guide and mentor teams in delivering secure, scalable, and high-quality data solutions.
• Partner with Data Scientists to operationalize machine learning models using MLOps best practices.

Qualifications and Experiences:

• Bachelor degree in Computer Science or a related field
• Proven experience as a Data Architect or similar leadership role in large-scale data transformation programs.
• Strong background in either one cloud platform (Azure, AWS, or GCP) with expertise in data and analytics services.
• Hands-on experience with Spark, Kafka, DBT, Airflow and other modern data engineering tools.
• Deep knowledge of Lakehouse, Data Mesh, Streaming Analytics, and cloud-native architectures.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and engage C-level stakeholders with strong consulting and advisory skills.
• Experience implementing data governance, lineage, privacy, and compliance frameworks.
• Familiarity with AI/ML platforms, MLOps practices, and productionizing ML models.

The Reference Number for this position is NG60694 which is a Permanent position in Johannesburg offering a salary of R1.2mil to R1.4mil CTC negotiable based on experience. E-mail Nokuthula on nokuthulag@ e-Merge.co.za or call her for a chat on 011 463 3633 to discuss this and other opportunities.

Are you ready for a change of scenery? e-Merge IT recruitment is a niche recruitment agency. We offer our candidates options so that we can successfully place the right people with the right companies, in the right roles. Check out the e-Merge IT website www.e-merge.co.za for more great positions.

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Posted on 01 Sep 14:22, Closing date 31 Oct