Data Architect

Description

Kuda is a money app for Africans on a mission to make financial services accessible, affordable and rewarding for every African on the planet.

We’re a tribe of passionate and diverse people who dreamed of building an inclusive money app that Africans would love so it’s only right that we ended up with the name ‘Kuda’ which means ‘love’ in Shona, a language spoken in the southern part of Africa.

We’re giving Africans around the world a better alternative to traditional finance by delivering money transfers, smart budgeting and instant access to credit through digital devices.

We’ve raised over $90 million from some of the world's most respected institutional investors, and we’re rolling out our game-changing services globally from our offices in Nigeria, South Africa, and the UK.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Data Architect to oversee the design, governance, and optimisation of our organisation’s data architecture. This role will blend strategic vision with practical expertise in modern data engineering. The goal is to ensure that our data ecosystem supports advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and real-time decision-making, all while adhering to industry best practices, such as the principles outlined in DAMA-DMBOK.

Roles and responsibilities

• Define and maintain the enterprise data architecture blueprint aligned with business strategy, DAMA-DMBOK principles, and modern data platform best practices.
• Collaborate with enterprise architects to ensure data architecture is fully integrated into the overall IT and business architecture.
• Lead the adoption of data modelling standards (conceptual, logical, and physical), including dimensional modelling and data vault methodologies.
• Oversee Master Data Management (MDM) strategy, implementation, and governance across domains such as Customer, Product, and financial data.
• Ensure architectural compliance with data governance policies, security frameworks, and regulatory requirements (GDPR, NDPR, ISO 27001).
• Design scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across multi-cloud and hybrid environments (Azure SQL, Google BigQuery, on-prem SQL Server).
• Define integration patterns for batch and streaming data ingestion using tools such as Airbyte, Azure Data Factory, and FiveTran.
• Oversee transformation layer design using Dataform and dbt. Cloud, ensuring version control, testing, and deployment best practices.
• Recommend and implement data storage strategies, including Medallion Architecture, Data Mesh, and Lakehouse patterns.
• Collaborate with infrastructure teams to provision infrastructure-as-code (Terraform or Pulumi) for data workloads.
• Partner with Data Governance teams to establish and enforce metadata management, data lineage, and business glossary standards.
• Define data quality frameworks and embed automated validation and anomaly detection in ingestion and transformation pipelines.
• Champion data stewardship practices across the business.
• Act as the primary authority on data architecture, advising C-level executives, engineering teams, and business stakeholders.
• Mentor senior data engineers, analysts, and modellers on best practices in architecture, modelling, and governance.
• Facilitate cross-functional workshops to align business requirements with architectural design.
• Stay ahead of industry trends, recommending emerging tools and patterns for modern data platforms.
• Continuously optimise cost, performance, and scalability of data platforms.
• Lead proof-of-concept initiatives for innovative data solutions, including AI- driven data management tools.

Requirements

• 10+ years in data-focused roles, with 3+ years in data architecture or enterprise architecture positions.
• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field is required.
• DAMA-DMBOK knowledge required; CDMP (Certified Data Management Professional) or equivalent certification preferred.
• TOGAF, Zachman, or Certified Enterprise Architect certification is an advantage.
• Advanced expertise in data modelling (conceptual, logical, physical) and MDM frameworks.
• Strong SQL skills with proven experience in Azure SQL, Google BigQuery, and Microsoft SQL Server.

Hands-on experience with:

• Ingestion: Airbyte, Azure Data Factory, Fivetran
• Transformation: Dataform, dbt Cloud
• Processing: Apache Beam/Dataflow, Spark
• Streaming: Kafka, Pub/Sub, Spark Streaming, or Flink
• Strong knowledge of modern data architectures (Medallion, Data Mesh, Lakehouse).
• Familiarity with orchestration tools (Airflow, Cloud Composer, Workflows).
• Proficiency in infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Pulumi).
• Understanding of data security and compliance best practices.

Preferred Skills

• Experience in cloud cost optimisation for data workloads.
• Familiarity with data catalogue tools such as Collibra, Alation, or Data Catalogue.
• Experience in BI integration (Looker, Power BI, Data Studio).
• Exposure to machine learning data pipelines (Vertex AI, MLflow).

Data Stack

• Databases: Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL, Google BigQuery
• Ingestion: Airbyte, Fivetran, Azure Data Factory
• Processing & Modelling: Dataform, dbt Cloud, Apache Beam/Dataflow, Spark
• Visualisation: Looker, Data Studio
• Cloud: Azure, Google Cloud Platform
• Orchestration: Airflow, Cloud Composer, Workflows
• IaC: Terraform, Pulumi

Benefits

At Kuda, our people are the heart of our business, so we prioritize your welfare. We offer a wide range of competitive benefits in areas including but not limited to:

• A great and upbeat work environment populated by a multinational team
• Pension fund
• Competitive annual leave plus bank holidays
• Competitive paid time off (Parental, Moving day, Birthday, Study leave etc)
• Medical Aid
• Award winning L&D training

Kuda is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Kuda is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent.

We don’t regard colour, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.