Staff Data Platform Engineer

Overview Location: Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. MoonPay is seeking a Staff Data Engineer to join the Data Platform team in Cape Town. This hands-on technical leadership role involves designing and building core data platform systems to unlock value from data as the company grows. You will tackle architectural design and implementation, mentor the team, and influence the long-term vision. What you'll do Architect, design, and develop data platform capabilities, including real-time streaming, orchestration, data warehousing, and governance. Deep expertise in at least two core areas is valued. Contribute to the technical vision and roadmap, including estimation, planning, and execution of complex data platform projects, service integrations, and major infrastructure upgrades. Contribute to and improve the data platform codebase, data pipelines, and IaC, focusing on scalability, reliability, performance, and cost-effectiveness. Collaborate across engineering and analytics teams to deliver reliable platform capabilities and ensure adoption and impact. Work with engineers, analysts, and data scientists to define requirements and develop implementation plans for platform enhancements. Write well-tested, high-quality, performant code for data processing, platform automation, and infrastructure management. As a Staff Data Engineer, you will also Lead technical initiatives for the data platform from concept to delivery and adoption, partnering with stakeholders. Mentor and coach engineers and other technical team members, promoting best practices in data engineering and system design. Champion high standards for code quality, testing, and documentation; proactively address technical debt. Define and contribute to data engineering standards, patterns, and best practices (data modeling, pipeline design, IaC, monitoring, and alerting). What you'll be working on Within the Data Platform team, you will collaborate across Platform, Security, and Data teams to shape and develop MoonPay’s data capabilities. Primarily Google Cloud Platform (GCP) – Kubernetes, Kafka, Pub/Sub, Dataflow, Airflow, Cloud Storage, Datadog (AWS/Azure experience is a plus). Languages: Python, Terraform, Bash, SQL Projects and systems Real-Time Event Streaming: handling high-volume, low-latency streams Shared Data Tooling & Frameworks: reusable libraries, APIs, services for data-driven apps Core Data Pipelines: ingesting, processing, and making data available Platform Automation & Observability: deployment, monitoring, management Data Governance & Quality Systems: compliance, reliability, security, documentation Data Warehousing: storage and modeling for analytics ML Platform Enablement: infrastructure and data pipelines for ML teams About You You are a seasoned engineer who builds robust, scalable, high-impact data solutions, with a collaborative mindset. You influence, mentor, and lead. History of building beloved data platforms; you’ve designed and delivered shared services used by engineers, analysts, and scientists Proven technical leadership driving data platform architecture and roadmaps Hands-on experience with real-time/event-driven systems (e.g., Kafka, Pub/Sub), data warehousing/modeling, and orchestration (Airflow) Mastery of IaC (Terraform) for production-grade data infrastructure Team-first attitude; enjoy mentoring and sharing knowledge Track record of enabling self-service, real-time analytics, or data governance Commitment to staying at the forefront of data engineering technologies and best practices We’re looking for people who live our core values: Be Hungry, Level Up, Own It, Crypto Curious, Kaizen. What’s in it for you Competitive salary package Equity package: ownership at MoonPay Pay-for-performance equity bonus Unlimited holidays Hybrid working schedule Private healthcare benefits Enhanced parental leave Annual training budget Home office setup allowance Remote working allowance Monthly budget to spend on MoonPay products and zero-fee crypto transactions Employee referral programme: 10K in USDC Regular remote company offsites What’s it like to work at MoonPay? At MoonPay, you’ll work with driven, resourceful people who are passionate about excellence. We value Kaizen, think big, take risks, and support your growth. We’re listed in the Sunday Times best places to work guide and strive to provide an environment where everyone can do their best work. Whether you’re remote or collaborating with teammates around the world, you’ll have opportunities to do the best work of your career while shaping the future of the decentralized economy. Commitment To Diversity We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds. While the listing describes a set of experiences, skills, and qualifications, we would still love to hear from you if you feel you are close to the requirements. Skills can be learned, diversity cannot. We also provide accommodations for interview processes upon request. At MoonPay we believe that every voice matters. We strive to create a mindful and respectful environment free of harassment, racism, and discrimination. We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. MoonPay provides reasonable accommodations in our application procedures for qualified individuals with disabilities. Please inform our Talent Team if you need any assistance completing forms or participating in the application process. Please note: MoonPay does not request an AI-led interview without seeing a recruiter or team member on video. We will not ask for personal identification documents or money during the interview process. If you receive an email claiming to be from MoonPay but from a non-moonpay.com domain, beware of fraud. #J-18808-Ljbffr