CLOUD ENGINEER (Data Ops and Analytical Workflows)

Overview

CLOUD ENGINEER (Data Ops and Analytical Workflows) – NATURAL STATE is seeking a Cloud Engineer to join the Conservation Technology team and lead the operationalisation of scientific and analytical processes that drive impact.

Location and Terms

Location : Cape Town or Remote (depending on the applicant)

Employment Type : One year Contract, Renewable

Travel : Occasional travel to Kenya (1-3 times a year)

Benefits : Consultants do not qualify for a benefit package

About Natural State

Natural State is a not-for-profit headquartered in the northern rangelands of Kenya. Our goal is to develop technology and financial systems that will catalyse large-scale restoration globally and train future leaders for this sector. In the short term, we are revolutionising impact monitoring for carbon, biodiversity and human-wellbeing, so that the success or failure of restoration efforts can be clearly defined. We are using this technology to help test a broad range of innovative financing mechanisms that aim to support large-scale restoration, sequester carbon, and provide benefits to local communities.

Position overview

We are seeking a highly skilled Cloud Engineer to join our dynamic Conservation Technology team and lead the operationalisation of scientific and analytical processes that drive our impact.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, and maintain robust and scalable data and ML pipelines using Azure cloud services and Databricks.
• Operationalise analytical / statistical models developed by Natural State’s Biometrics team, ensuring reproducibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
• Use dbt (Data Build Tool) to build and maintain modular, production-ready SQL-based transformation workflows.
• Develop automated workflows and CI / CD pipelines using GitHub Actions to enable continuous delivery of analytical models and metrics.
• Collaborate closely with :
• Natural State’s Conservation Technology team to integrate analytical products into core technical systems.
• Natural State’s Biometrics team to translate analytical needs into scalable, cloud-native workflows.
• Lead the data engineering and orchestration aspects of analytical delivery : defining input data requirements, transformation logic, and output pipelines.
• Leverage Azure Machine Learning for model training, evaluation, and deployment where relevant.
• Apply Great Expectations to automate QA / QC checks and monitor data integrity and model performance.
• Support data governance and metadata management using DatabricksUnityCatalog .
• Act as a bridge between scientific domain experts and engineering teams, ensuring that analytical intent is faithfully executed in technical implementation.
• Continuously evaluate and optimize system performance, cost, and maintainability.
• Contribute to web-based analytical tools by supplying APIs or output data that serve operational dashboards and reporting systems.

Requirements

Why Join Us

How to Apply

Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume and cover letter (PDF format only) describing your aptitude and interest in the position. We look forward to reviewing your application and learning about how you can contribute to our mission.

Natural State is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age.

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