Senior Data Engineer - Python and AWS Integrations

SENIOR DATA ENGINEER — PYTHON, AWS & INTEGRATIONS Founding Team | Cogna8 Sydney, NSW · Full-time · On-site / hybrid Competitive salary · Founding partner equity · Pathway to functional leadership ABOUT COGNA8 Cogna8 is an AI Governance and Action Control platform helping enterprises manage AI assets and risk, enforce policies, and demonstrate compliance. We focus on AI systems that trigger workflows, update systems, and act across business processes at machine speed. Our platform connects enterprise policy, governed information, operational controls, accountability, and audit evidence. We bring together governance, assurance, and AI-related cybersecurity with controls that operate at the point of action. We are building for regulated and risk-sensitive organisations, where knowing what AI is doing—and controlling what it is allowed to do is essential. THE OPPORTUNITY We are looking for a Senior Data Engineer with strong Python development and AWS integration experience to join our founding team. This is a hands-on engineering role with meaningful influence over the platform’s architecture and technical direction. You will design and build the data pipelines, services, and integration layers connecting enterprise information, AI governance capabilities, and cloud infrastructure. Working directly with the founders, you will help decide what we build, how we build it, and which tools and platforms we integrate. As the company grows, there is a pathway to lead the data and integrations function, shape its roadmap, and build the team around it. WHAT YOU WILL OWN • Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines and integration services using Python and AWS. • Connect enterprise systems, APIs, document sources, and AI platforms through reliable ingestion and processing workflows. • Develop data models and storage architectures supporting governance, operational controls, reporting, and traceable audit evidence. • Build production-grade APIs and services, including validation, error handling, retries, monitoring, and recovery. • Establish data quality, lineage, access control, and security practices appropriate for sensitive enterprise information. • Drive architectural decisions across data processing, storage, and integrations, balancing delivery speed with reliability, cost, and maintainability. • Evaluate new tools and platforms, make build-versus-buy recommendations, and oversee integrations from technical assessment through production operation. • Own the quality and operation of what you deliver, including testing, deployment, observability, documentation, and ongoing improvement. • Work directly with the founders and fellow contributors to translate product and customer needs into practical engineering decisions. • Mentor colleagues and help establish engineering standards, with increasing responsibility for technical and functional leadership. WHAT YOU BRING • Strong experience building and operating production data pipelines, backend services, and enterprise integrations. Adopting AI native working approach, adopting latest tools. • Advanced Python skills, including API development, automated testing, and maintainable software design. • Hands-on AWS experience with services such as S3, Lambda, RDS, Glue, Step Functions, IAM, and CloudWatch. • Strong SQL skills and sound judgement in data modelling, database design, and storage choices. • Experience with ETL/ELT, data validation, schema evolution, and processing structured and unstructured information. • Understanding of secure integration patterns, authentication, authorisation, and the handling of sensitive data. • Ability to explain architectural choices clearly and make practical trade-offs under changing requirements. • Strong interpersonal skills: you listen, challenge constructively, communicate directly, and follow through on commitments. • A degree in a relevant discipline or equivalent practical experience. Experience with AI or ML platforms, event-driven architectures and enterprise governance is highly desirable. Previous exposure in regulated industries is highly regards HOW WE WORK We are a small team where every contributor has a foundational influence on the product and the business. You should be comfortable working with evolving requirements, making informed decisions, and taking responsibility for outcomes. We are looking for someone who wants to engage as a founding partner: bringing initiative, commercial awareness, technical judgement, and a shared commitment to building the enterprise. That means identifying what needs attention, raising issues early, and working through difficult decisions together. You do not need to arrive as a finished leader. You do need the maturity, ambition, and willingness to grow into one while remaining close to the engineering work. WHAT WE OFFER • A competitive salary and founding partner equity, with terms agreed to reflect your experience, contribution, and responsibilities. • Direct collaboration with the founders and meaningful influence over product direction and architecture. • Ownership of a core part of the platform, including the tools and integrations that support its growth. • A pathway to lead the data and integrations function, with scope to shape hiring, technical standards, and delivery. • A Sydney-based on-site / hybrid working arrangement. This is an opportunity to build technology addressing a significant enterprise challenge: actively govern AI systems as industry matures.