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JOB TITLE: Senior Product Development & Data Solutions Specialist DEPARTMENT: Product & Infrastructure / SMART Suite and API Products MAIN PURPOSE OF ROLE: The Senior Product Development & Data Solutions Specialist supports the Company’s product development function by designing, developing, and maintaining enterprise-grade software and data solutions across the full application life-cycle — analysis, design, development, testing, documentation, implementation, and support. The role focuses on building scalable product capabilities, backend services, APIs, database structures, reporting layers, and data-driven platform components for the Company’s SMART product suite. It also includes sharing expertise in implementing these solutions, providing technical support for complex queries, and partial responsibility (with the Head of Product) for team members on specific products. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE ● ACCOUNTABLE TO: Head of Product & Infrastructure ● ULTIMATELY ACCOUNTABLE TO: Chief Operating Officer / Executive Management ● REPORTEES: No direct reports (Product dependent: partial responsibility for 2–3 other ICT team members or outsource partner resources). KEY RELATIONSHIPS: Product Owners, Consultants, Business Analysts, Clients, SMART team members, QA, Implementation and Support teams, Marketing, Sales, and Outsource partners. REQUIRED MINIMUM EDUCATION / TRAINING ● Minimum: Grade 12 with relevant work experience. ● Advantageous: NQF level 4–6 qualification — BSc Information Systems, B.Tech (Information Technology) or equivalent. ● 3–6 months of on-the-job training will be required. REQUIRED MINIMUM WORK EXPERIENCE ● 7+ years of professional software development experience. ● 5+ years hands-on experience with C#, .NET Core / .NET, ASP.NET Core, and SQL Server. ● Strong experience developing scalable enterprise applications. ● Strong experience designing and optimizing SQL Server databases. ● Experience building REST APIs and backend services. ● Experience with data integration, data migration, or ETL processes. ● Experience working in Agile/Scrum or structured SDLC environments. ● Proven track record of delivering production systems. ● Experience working with product owners, business analysts, QA teams, and stakeholders. WORK LEVEL COMPLEXITY This role requires the job incumbent to follow an analytical / sequential approach, following clear, linear procedures to diagnose and solve problems. Outputs cannot be completely specified and obstacles cannot be overcome by direct action alone; it requires reflection to diagnose problems prior to initiating action. Existing knowledge and experience, together with theoretical knowledge, are needed to interpret information. The work often requires face-to-face interaction and providing technical direction to those who perform direct operating tasks. KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS 1. Product Development (35%) ● Design, develop, test, and maintain enterprise applications using C#, .NET Core / .NET 6+, ASP.NET Core, and REST APIs. ● Enhance existing Company products and internal platforms. ● Build backend services, APIs, batch processes, integration services, and data- processing components. ● Refactor and improve existing product components. ● Participate in product roadmap delivery and sprint execution. ● Convert business and product requirements into technical tasks and working software. ● Apply SOLID principles, design patterns, clean architecture, and maintainable coding practices. ● Follow internal change control, coding standards, release management, and documentation processes. ● Conduct unit testing, code reviews, technical walkthroughs, and troubleshooting. 2. Data Solutions & Platform Enablement (25%) ● Design and maintain SQL Server databases for product and analytical use cases. ● Create and optimize tables, views, stored procedures, functions, indexes, and database scripts. ● Design scalable data models for transactional, configuration, historical, and reporting purposes. ● Develop database structures that support auditability, versioning, traceability, and data quality. ● Design and support data integration processes between internal and external systems. ● Build staging, transformation, and reporting-ready data layers. ● Design fact tables, dimension tables, historical snapshots, and reporting marts. ● Support ETL/ELT processes for structured data ingestion and transformation. ● Implement data validation, deduplication, cleansing, and reconciliation logic. 3. Database, Data Warehouse & Performance Optimization (20%) ● Analyze execution plans and resolve SQL performance bottlenecks. ● Index tuning, query optimization, and transaction management. ● Design ERDs and maintain technical database documentation. ● Support data migration, transformation, cleansing, validation, and reconciliation. ● Build and maintain RESTful APIs and backend services. ● Integrate with internal systems, third-party services, and external data providers. ● Work with JSON, XML, XSD, XSLT, SOAP, and REST-based services. ● Implement authentication, authorization, logging, validation, and exception handling. 4. Testing, Documentation & Quality Assurance (10%) ● Create and execute unit, integration, regression, and end-to-end tests. ● Debug application, API, SQL, and data-processing issues. ● Support UAT and client testing where required. ● Document test results, defects, and resolutions. ● Review code, database scripts, deployment packages, and implementation outputs. ● Prepare user guides, technical guides, administration guides, ERDs, and FAQs. 5. Implementation, Support & Knowledge Transfer (10%) ● Support product implementation and deployment activities. ● Assist with release planning and environment preparation. ● Investigate and resolve complex support queries. ● Provide standby / on-call support when required. ● Liaise with client technical teams during onboarding and rollouts. ● Transfer knowledge to internal teams, junior developers, analysts, and support teams. TECHNICAL SKILLS ● Backend Development: C#, .NET Core / .NET 6+, ASP.NET Core, REST API development, Dependency Injection, Middleware, Async/await, LINQ, Error handling. ● Database Development: SQL Server 2012/2019+, Database design/normalization, Stored procedures, Views, Functions, Triggers, Query optimization, Transaction management, ETL/ELT. ● Integration & API Skills: REST, JSON, XML, XSD, XSLT, SOAP, Swagger/OpenAPI, Postman, IIS hosting. ● Architecture & Design: SOLID principles, Design patterns, Clean Architecture, Domain-Driven Design, Event-driven architecture. ● DevOps & Deployment: Git, branching strategies, CI/CD pipelines, Docker, Kubernetes. ● Testing: Unit, integration, regression, and API testing; Mocking frameworks. PREFERRED EXPERIENCE ● Experience in banking, fintech, credit, bureau data, decisioning, scoring, affordability, regulatory reporting, or financial services platforms. ● Experience with data warehousing, reporting databases, or analytical data models. ● Experience handling large transactional or historical datasets. -----Would you like me to refine this description for a specific role or adjust the focus based on your current project needs?