Senior Data Engineer

Nithio is seeking a Senior Data Engineer in Kenya to design and maintain data infrastructure for analytics and lending platforms. Responsibilities include building data pipelines, optimizing workflows, and ensuring data quality. The role requires collaboration with data scientists and product teams, as well as international travel. Candidates should have over 5 years of experience in data engineering, strong skills in Spark and AWS, and excellent communication abilities.
About the role

As a Senior Data Engineer at Nithio, you will architect and maintain scalable, efficient, and automated data infrastructure to power our analytics and lending platforms. You will be responsible for building robust pipelines and systems that integrate diverse data sources, enable real-time insights, and support the deployment of predictive models. You’ll work closely with data scientists, analysts, and product teams to ensure data is accessible, reliable, and actionable. We’re looking for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment.

The Senior Data Engineer will report to the Chief Data Scientist. This role will require international travel.

Who You Are
• A self-starter with a strong ability to work independently and within teams.
• Highly analytical and capable of leveraging data to drive decision-making.
• Passionate about technology and climate finance, with experience working in emerging markets.
• Strong communicator who can articulate product concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Adaptable and comfortable operating in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

You align with Nithio’s values: Collaboration, Commitment, Growth, Making a Difference, and Adaptability.

What you'll do

Primary Responsibilities
• Lead the design and development of data architecture, ETL/ELT pipelines, and infrastructure to support analytics and machine learning applications
• Manage and optimize data workflows and orchestration to ensure reliable and automated operations
• Build and maintain scalable systems on modern data tools and platforms (e.g., Spark, Databricks, AWS) with a focus on performance, cost-efficiency, and modularity
• Design and oversee implementation of data delivery and model deployment systems that feed into Nithio’s analytical and software products, including APIs and integrations
• Apply rigorous testing, validation, and CI/CD practices to ensure data quality, pipeline reliability, and logging of system behavior.
• Create and maintain high-quality documentation to ensure reproducibility and consistency
• Lead project kick-off & close-out, serving as project manager and point of contact with external partners for relevant initiatives
• Serve as a technical resource who can train others on our systems, pipeline, and data engineering principles and communicate complex concepts to a variety of stakeholders

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience
• 5+ years working at the intersection of data and engineering — building pipelines, tooling, and systems in data-driven environments
• Strong expertise in Spark, SQL, and Python, with experience managing large-scale data pipelines
• Deep understanding of data warehousing, distributed computing, and cloud-native architectures (AWS preferred)
• Hands-on experience with Databricks or similar modern data platforms
• Experience with CI/CD practices for data systems and version control (e.g., Git, Terraform)
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex data systems for non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Skills and Experience
• Bachelor’s degree+ in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field
• Expertise in R scripting
• Familiarity with job orchestration frameworks like Apache Airflow or dbt
• Exposure to MLOps or model deployment frameworks
• Experience with data governance, lineage, and cataloging tools
• Familiarity with APIs and building internal data tooling

Personal Attributes
• Entrepreneurial mindset with a proactive approach.
• Attention to detail and ability to work independently and within a team.
• Strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

Please note that Nithio cannot sponsor employment visas. All applicants must have permanent work authorization.

Company Details

Founded in 2018, Nithio is a remote-first global company with teams in Nairobi, Lagos, and Washington, D.C.

Compensation

For U.S.-based candidates, the salary range for this role is $119,000-133,000. For candidates based in other geographies, a geographic differential will be applied to ensure market alignment.

Why Join Nithio?
• Gain experience at the intersection of climate finance and technology.
• Collaborate with a diverse, purpose-driven, global team.
• Contribute to projects with measurable social and environmental impact.

Some of our benefits and perks include:
• Competitive benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life, 401(k)
• Flexible work environment and generous leave policies, including global holidays
• Remote-first workforce with stipends to set up work-from-home
• Parental leave
• Monthly stipend for meals & phone
• Annual professional development funds
• An annual, in-person retreat

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At Nithio, we value the diversity of perspectives and backgrounds that our team brings, recognizing it as essential to achieving our mission of expanding energy and financial access. We strongly encourage applications from people of color, individuals with disabilities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those with intersectional identities.

We are an equal opportunity employer dedicated to fair recruitment, training, compensation, and promotion practices, regardless of race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, family status, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.