About ACE GROUP

ACE Group is a mission-driven consulting and non-profit organization committed to eliminating health and social inequities across Africa. We combine systems thinking, research implementation, and impact measurement to design contextually relevant solutions that scale and endure.

Our core capabilities include strategy and systems design, program implementation, monitoring, evaluation, research & learning (MERL), digital innovation, and knowledge translation.

Role Overview

The Data Engineer Graduate Trainee will support the Digital Innovation team in designing, building, and maintaining data pipelines and infrastructure that power program reporting and decision-making. The role provides practical exposure to data integration, automation, and systems development within a mission-driven organization committed to health equity across Africa.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist in designing and building data pipelines to ingest, clean, and transform data from multiple partner and program sources
• Support the development and maintenance of scripts for automated data collection, processing, and loading (ETL/ELT)
• Assist in integrating data from different formats (Excel, CSV, APIs, databases) into centralized data stores
• Help maintain and document data schemas, data models, and pipeline workflows
• Support the development of data validation and quality-checking routines
• Assist in migrating and consolidating program data across systems and reporting periods
• Contribute to building reusable data tools and templates that support program teams’ data workflows
• Monitor and troubleshoot data pipeline errors and inconsistencies under supervision
• Collaborate with data analysts and MERL teams to understand data requirements and translate them into technical solutions
• Support documentation of technical processes, including pipeline architecture and data flow diagrams

Requirements

Education / Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Statistics, or a related field (minimum of Second Class Upper (2:1) or First Class)
• Must have completed NYSC
• Minimum of 1-year relevant experience in data engineering, software development, or a related technical role
• Demonstrable experience writing and running code on real datasets (academic projects, internships, or personal projects accepted)

Skills & Competencies

• Proficiency in Python or R for data processing and automation (pandas, openpyxl, or equivalent libraries)
• Working knowledge of SQL for querying and transforming relational data
• Familiarity with Excel for data inspection, validation, and lightweight transformations
• Basic understanding of ETL/ELT concepts and data pipeline design
• Exposure to at least one data storage format or tool (CSV, JSON, SQLite, PostgreSQL, Google Sheets API)
• Strong attention to detail and systematic approach to debugging and troubleshooting
• Ability to write clean, readable, and documented code
• Good understanding of data quality principles; null handling, deduplication, schema validation
• Ability to collaborate with non-technical program staff and translate their data needs into technical requirements
• Strong willingness to learn and adapt to evolving data tools and program needs