Data Scientist (Data Visualization Specialist)

Job Description

• NOV ReedHycalog is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture, and sale of tools and equipment used by the energy industry. We are currently seeking a skilled Data Engineer (Visualization Specialist) to join our team based in Cape Town. The Data Engineer will be responsible for the development and deployment of technical visualization products and analytical software to internal customers. The Data Engineer will work closely with the product team to create technical cloud-based services in support of engineering, manufacturing, and wellbore physics simulation. The candidate will be expected to complete projects in the required time with minimal supervision from a senior member of the Technical Software Development team.
• The Data Engineer will be responsible for designing, coding, and delivering data products that aid operations and decision making within the organization. The Data Engineer will be required to perform the following tasks (among others).

Technical communication.

• The Data Engineer will be expected to effectively communicate with both stakeholders and customers to explain statistical models and promote data products. They should have excellent technical communication skills, and they should be able to build relationships and positively represent our team within the organization.
• Product innovation.
• The Data Engineer will consult with customers and leverage their own domain knowledge to identify novel data products that will bring value to the organization. They will need to keep current on the needs and challenges of the business at large.

Data modelling.

• The Data Engineer will produce data models for complex business processes using standard database tools and software. These data models should promote flexibility, ease of consumption, and performance.

Analytics engineering.

• Using business intelligence tools such as Vega and Power BI, the Data Engineer will design and develop advanced data visualizations that enable end users and non-experts to interpret complex data. They will be responsible for designing custom visual encodings, optimizing visualizations for large datasets and browser rendering performance, and ensuring that all visualizations are statistically correct and informative. The Data Engineer will promote usage of analytics products within the organization by generating documentation and notifying customers of new releases.
• Machine Learning. The Data Engineer will work with data scientists to deploy and interpret machine learning models trained on industry data. The Data Engineer will evaluate strategies for generating accurate visualizations from large language model prompts.
• Data architecture. The Data Engineer will need to make informed decisions about how to manage data. For example, they may need to choose between stream processing and batch processing or justify how historical data in a database is managed.

Job Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative field (e.g., Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics).

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years’ experience in a quantitative discipline (software, engineering, or equivalent postgraduate experience).
• Proven experience developing and delivering software.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Oil & gas industry experience (upstream, drilling, oilfields) preferred.

Technical Competencies:

• Proficiency in a general-purpose programming language and database query language.
• Familiarity with data visualization tools/grammars (e.g., Vega, D3.js) and BI platforms (e.g., Power BI).
• Solid understanding of statistics to produce accurate and meaningful visualizations.
• Experience optimizing visualizations for large datasets.
• Knowledge of algorithms and software design principles (advanced knowledge preferred).
• Experience working in Agile development environments.