Product Data Engineer

Job level: Skilled / Middle Management
Work location: Cape Town, Western Cape
Contract type: Long Term Contract
Period of Contract: 7 years
Closing date: 04 August 2022

The National Research Foundation (NRF) supports and promotes research and human capital development through funding, the provision of National Research Facilities and science outreach platforms and programmes to the broader community in all fields of science and technology, including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) spearheads South Africa’s activities in the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope, commonly known as the SKA, in engineering, science and construction. SARAO is a National Facility managed by the National Research Foundation and incorporates radio astronomy instruments and programmes such as the MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in Gauteng, the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (AVN) programme in nine African countries as well as the associated human capital development and commercialisation endeavours.

The Product Data Engineer will need to define and populate the Product Breakdown Structures and the associated product defining and product associated data within the appropriate product data management (PDM) tools, for a set of assigned development products. This will include products directly under development by SARAO as well as those being developed under contract of SARAO and/or SKAO.

The successful incumbent will report to a Senior Systems Engineer.

Key responsibilities:

• To plan the product data management activities based on organisational and higher level product plans, systems and structures.
• To work within the product development team in support of the lead systems engineer to develop the product data structures.
• To consolidate, categorise and commit the product data to the PDM system(s) for baselining and control.
• To perform configuration audit of product data in support of design reviews and baseline establishment.
• To make available to the organisation product data which has integrity and remains current.
• To ensure that change control of product data is managed in a consistent and expedient manner.
• Establishing baselines and design configurations, including preparing and delivering data packs and MRIs.

Key requirements:
Qualification:

• B.Tech in an Engineering discipline with + 6 years’ experience; or
• B.Eng/B.Sc (Eng)/ MTech with 4+ years’ experience; or
• CICM/CM2/CMDB or equivalent Certification

Experience:

• Applied product data engineering.
• Across the multiple lifecycle stages of a system or product.
• At all levels up to user systems (L6) of the systems hierarchy.
• Supporting development teams in managing technical data during various development lifecycle phases.
• Compilation of data management plans and procedures.
• Use of Product Data Management (PDM) or Product Life-cycle Management (PLM) systems such as eB (historical), ALIM, SolidWorks PDM, etc.
• Application and control of data management processes and procedures.
• Baseline establishment and management.
• Engineering change control.

Knowledge:

• Recognised domain knowledge of product data management based on
• Experience in product development and systems engineering processes
• Configuration management standards, e.g. IEC/IEA 649, IEEE 828, ISO 10007
• Quality assurance systems (ISO 9001)

Additional Notes:
Skills/ Ability/ Competencies

• Operate as part of a team which engineers products and systems, typically at any level of the systems hierarchy from materials & components up to systems of systems.
• Undertake product data engineering activities covering multiple lifecycle phases of the system under development.
• Perform detailed data management tasks with limited or no supervision, employing practical experience.
• Provide data management simultaneously on multiple products across multiple domains.
• Use advanced interpersonal skills in order to influence engineering attitudes and improve the integrity of the product data management environment.

Desirable additional education, work experience and personal qualities:

• The Product Data Engineer will operate within a matrix engineering organisation and thus may be deployed between various projects and teams with different specific roles as dictated by the current organizational needs. Formal configuration management accreditation (CICM/CM2/CMDB/etc.) will be an advantage.

Information:

The website www.nrf.ac.za provides more details on the NRF initiatives and activities.

Applications:

Applicants should submit a comprehensive CV by logging to https://ess.nrf.ac.za/Account/Recruitment and apply online. Applications should be accompanied by a letter of motivation indicating the applicant’s suitability for the position. The names and contact details of at least three referees should be provided.

The NRF offers a challenging career and competitive remuneration package which is commensurate with qualifications and experience.

The NRF is committed to employment equity and redress and the appointment to the position will be made in line with the NRF Employment Equity Plan.

The NRF reserves the right not to make an appointment.

Correspondence will be sent to short-listed candidates only.