Data Engineer – Forward Deployed (Windhoek)

About the role

The NZZ is expanding its data engineering team in Windhoek and seeks a motivated Data Engineer – Forward Deployed. You will work closely with colleagues in Zurich and Namibia to turn complex business challenges into data‑driven products.

Key responsibilities

• Translate business and operational problems into practical, data‑centric solutions.
• Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines, models, and integrations.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to gather requirements, propose solutions, and deliver measurable value.
• Develop production‑ready data applications by combining engineering, analytics, and software development.
• Integrate data from internal systems, third‑party platforms, and APIs into a central data platform.
• Ensure data quality, reliability, observability, performance, and appropriate access controls.
• Work jointly with data engineers, analysts, developers, and business teams across Windhoek and Zurich.

Required profile

• 2+ years of professional experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, software engineering, or a comparable role.
• Strong SQL skills and practical experience with Python or another general‑purpose programming language.
• Experience building and operating production‑grade data pipelines and data models.
• Familiarity with modern cloud data platforms, orchestration tools, transformation frameworks, and APIs.
• Product‑oriented mindset with the ability to turn loosely defined problems into working solutions.
• Excellent communication skills and confidence working with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• High ownership, curiosity, and comfort in changing or ambiguous environments.
• Fluent English and ability to collaborate across Namibia and Switzerland.

Required skills

• SQL
• Python (or comparable programming language)
• Cloud data platforms
• Orchestration tools
• Data transformation frameworks
• APIs