IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Only applications that meet Aquafin's stated criteria (skills, work experience, language proficiency, and availability) in this job post will be considered. If the above is not respected, Aquafin reserves the right to reject the application.

About Aquafin

At Aquafin, we connect people to people, people to water, and people to technology. We stay ahead of change and work towards a living environment in harmony with water. We do this through water purification and sewage, but also through innovation and the energy transition.

Help build smart data products that truly impact water purification in Flanders. Use your analytical ability and technical skills to build reusable, high-quality, and scalable data products together with the business. As a Data (Analytics) Engineer, you combine technical knowhow with a good understanding of the business, so you actively help shape what we build and why.

Job Description

Your Team

In a world where data is the driving force behind innovation, Aquafin offers you a unique opportunity to use your IT expertise for a sustainable future. With a wealth of data—from wastewater analyses and flow measurements to energy consumption and asset information—the IT-Solutions team plays a key role in managing our infrastructure and investments more intelligently with innovative IT solutions.

As a Data Engineer, you will work on an ambitious, company-wide digital program to modernize our digital infrastructure. Your goal? Provide clear information that leads to cleaner water and a living environment in harmony with water.

You will be part of the Smart Data team—a cloud-driven, agile SAFe product team of about 10 colleagues where open collaboration with business stakeholders, analysts, and IT colleagues is central. You will work within a domain-oriented subteam (data stream) where, together with your counterpart Business Information Analyst colleague, you build data products that meet the needs of that domain.

Your Role

As a Data (Analytics) Engineer, you do not start from a technical ticket, but from a business question or opportunity. Together with the BIA and business stakeholders, you explore which data insights are needed to make better decisions.

You build data products from A to Z: you ask the right questions, determine which data is needed, model based on the needs, and deliver a high-quality product that can be reused by multiple teams. In addition, you help further shape our data product architecture. You translate the reference architecture into concrete standards, templates, and patterns that the team can follow.

You take ownership: from data source to consumption layer. You guard quality, document your work, and coordinate with stakeholders. You pay attention to governance: every product you deliver is findable, understandable, reliable, and built according to our standards.

Your Responsibilities

• Designing and delivering data products that are reusable for multiple consumers. You don't just build reports, but invest in products that scale.
• Helping to define and promote the data product architecture. You contribute to the reference architecture, define contracts between producers and consumers, and ensure that every new product follows the same structure and quality standards. You coach colleagues in this approach.
• Building domain knowledge and understanding the business. You actively immerse yourself in the functional domain in which you work. You understand the processes, speak the language of your stakeholders, and translate business questions into the right data models.
• Working closely with Business Information Analysts. Together, you analyze which data insights are needed, which sources are relevant, and how best to expose them as a quality data product.
• Modeling and transforming data. You design dimensional models, build data pipelines, and ensure correct, reliable data from source to consumption. You expose data models to Power BI, in close collaboration with analysts.
• Embracing AI-accelerated delivery. We increasingly use AI to deliver data products faster, from model generation to automated tests and documentation. You help shape this new way of working.
• Safeguarding quality and governance. You document your work, implement data quality checks, and ensure that your data products are findable, understandable, and reliable.
• Promoting and implementing industry standards regarding data product thinking, software-oriented data design, incremental dataflows, data modeling, security, and so on.
• Actively contributing to the further digitalization of Aquafin and the implementation of innovative technologies.

Required Competencies

• Analytical & business-minded
• You have an analytical mindset and quickly grasp the core of an issue.
• You have experience analyzing business processes and translating business questions into data models or data products.
• You communicate fluently with both technical and non-technical stakeholders and can convey complex information clearly.

• You work in a structured and accurate way, with attention to documentation and alignment.

• Architecture & product thinking

• You have experience setting up or helping to shape a data platform or data product architecture.
• You can define standards and guide colleagues in a new way of working.

• You think in terms of reusability, contracts, and lifecycle, not one-off deliveries.

• Collaboration & mindset

• You work smoothly with colleagues across different departments.
• You function within the agile SAFe planning process and proactively and communicatively handle changing and/or overlapping priorities.
• You are independent and want to move things forward.

• You are curious about the domain you work in: you want to understand what the data means, not just how it flows.

• Technically skilled

• You have thorough knowledge of SQL and use it daily in your work.
• You have experience with Python and/or PySpark.
• You have experience with data modeling (dimensional model, Kimball star modeling).
• Practical experience with the Azure ecosystem (Azure Databricks, Azure Data Factory, and/or Microsoft Fabric). Knowledge of DBT is a clear asset.
• You know the basic principles of software engineering: version control (git), testing, CI/CD.
• Experience importing and processing data from a broad source landscape (ERP systems (SAP), asset management, …) is considered an asset.

Exceptionally for talent

At Aquafin, we connect people to people, people to water, and people to technology.

We work towards a living environment in harmony with water and stay ahead of change. We do this through water purification and sewage, but also through innovation and the energy transition.

We encourage everyone to apply, regardless of age, gender, origin, sexual orientation, disability, … We are working towards an accessible and inclusive organization. This means that everyone at Aquafin feels involved and valued, precisely because of our differences.