Senior Data
Engineer
Cloud & Streaming
Senior Data Engineer with 10+ years building Azure/AWS-native data platforms. Specialising in high-throughput streaming pipelines (3TB+/day), cloud-native architecture, and data governance.
My Journey & Vision
Senior Data Engineer focused on building scalable, secure data platforms using cloud-native patterns (Azure & AWS). Experienced with high-throughput streaming and batch pipelines, governance with Azure Purview, and performance-led platform modernisation that reduces cost and increases reliability.
10+ Years
Data Engineering
Senior Data Engineer with 10+ years building Azure/AWS-native data platforms for mission-critical environments. Hands-on with Spark/PySpark, Kafka, ADLS Gen2, Synapse, dbt and orchestration (Data Factory + Airflow). Azure DP-203 certified.
Selected Achievements
- Built and operated real-time platforms processing 3TB+/day with sub-second alerting.
- Delivered ~30–40% cost reductions through platform optimisation and cloud migration.
- Modernised 50+ production pipelines, improving performance by ~40–50%.
- Implemented governance with Azure Purview, reducing discrepancies by ~30%.
Technical Skills (selected)
Azure: ADLS Gen2, Synapse Analytics, Data Factory, Purview; Data Engineering: Spark/PySpark, Kafka, Flink, dbt, Airflow; Warehousing: Synapse, Snowflake; Programming: Python, SQL; Datastores: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Elasticsearch.
Professional Experience
Data Solutions
That Drive Results
Design and build Azure/AWS-native data platforms with ADLS Gen2, Synapse Analytics, and Databricks. Lakehouse architecture with bronze/silver/gold layers using Delta Lake.
High-throughput event streaming with Kafka and Flink processing 3TB+/day. Near real-time analytics with sub-second alerting for mission-critical environments.
Scalable ELT workflows with dbt and orchestration via Apache Airflow and Azure Data Factory. Data quality frameworks and modular pipeline design.
Azure Purview implementation for cataloguing, lineage tracking, and POPIA/compliance-aligned data classification. RBAC and Azure Key Vault security practices.
Legacy pipeline modernisation and cloud migration delivering 30–50% performance improvements and significant cost reductions (R10M+ savings delivered to date).
Technical Skills
Data Engineering Projects
What the People Saying
About Me
Choose the Plan
That's Right for You
For projects with a clear brief and existing assets.
- You already have design, UI, or references
- Clean front-end implementation
- Pixel-perfect build from provided files
- Webflow, WordPress, or custom HTML/CSS
- Responsive & performance-focused
- Async communication
- Weekday availability
- 3-month post-delivery support
For clients who want the whole thing handled end-to-end.
- You already have design, UI, or references
- Clean front-end implementation
- Pixel-perfect build from provided files
- Webflow, WordPress, or custom HTML/CSS
- Responsive & performance-focused
- Async communication
- Weekday availability
- 3-month post-delivery support
"Thabo is one of the most technically capable data engineers I've worked with. His work on our streaming platform was exceptional — delivered on time, on budget, and beyond spec."
Kevin Lawson, CTO — Teraco Data Environments