Job description

About The Coca-Cola Company's Digital Transformation

The Coca-Cola Company is progressing toward becoming a digital-first, data-driven organization to support sustainable growth, faster market delivery, and uncover novel value opportunities. By leveraging rapid advances in technology, data, and AI, the company aims to enhance its core strengths, moving from initial achievements to comprehensive, impactful growth, productivity, and efficiency improvements through modernized infrastructure and digital experiences.

Role Overview

The Director of Data Engineering is instrumental in advancing Coca-Cola’s digital transformation efforts by architecting and expanding enterprise-grade data platforms that facilitate cutting-edge analytics, AI, and data-informed decision-making. This role emphasizes the transition from segmented data systems to a unified, high-quality, domain-aligned data foundation that supports business goals.

This leader collaborates closely with cross-functional digital, technology, and business units to deliver dependable, scalable, and secure data pipelines and platforms. They balance immediate project delivery with strategic long-term platform goals, fostering modern engineering practices and promoting data and AI literacy across teams.

Key Responsibilities

Design, build, and scale advanced data platforms and pipelines to provide enterprise-wide high-quality data access for analytics, reporting, and AI initiatives.
Develop domain-specific data products aligned with business capabilities and a product-focused operating methodology.
Collaborate with digital product, analytics, and AI stakeholders to convert business requirements into scalable engineering solutions that yield measurable outcomes.
Define and uphold data engineering standards encompassing data quality, governance, security, and interoperability across various domains and systems.
Lead modernization efforts by migrating legacy data systems to cloud infrastructures, enhancing speed, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.
Implement best practices encompassing data architecture, including real-time and batch processing, data modeling, metadata management, and observability.
Ensure data readiness and integrate platforms to support AI and advanced analytics capabilities.
Work in partnership with global teams to harmonize shared data models, governance standards, and reusable technologies.
Recruit, mentor, and guide engineering teams to foster a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and responsibility.
Monitor and optimize data platform performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency aligned with strategic business objectives.

Qualifications and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical discipline.
Over 10 years of experience in data engineering or data platform development.
Proven expertise designing and scaling cloud-native data platforms and distributed data systems.
Deep knowledge of contemporary data technologies including data lakes, warehouses, and streaming platforms.
Hands-on experience with cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
Strong capability in creating data models and pipelines facilitating AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics.
Established track record implementing data governance, quality frameworks, and security practices at scale.
Solid understanding of software engineering concepts including version control, continuous integration, and automated testing.
Experience in product-centric agile environments collaborating with multidisciplinary teams.
Strong communication skills to translate complex tech concepts into business value and influence diverse stakeholders.
Demonstrated leadership in building and growing high-performing technical teams.
Commitment to digital and data fluency coupled with a growth mindset focusing on continuous advancement.

Additional Information

Location: Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Travel Requirement: Up to 25% travel
Relocation Assistance: Not provided
Company Culture: The Coca-Cola Company fosters an inclusive culture rooted in its purpose to refresh the world and make a difference, emphasizing curiosity, empowerment, inclusivity, agility, and continuous learning, which have contributed to over 130 years of successful operations.
Incentive: Annual incentive target at 30% of base compensation

Data Engineer

Where you'll work