Group Analyst Data Integration and Development (Durban North) at Aspen Pharma Group

JOB PURPOSE:

• Operational role in the Group Digital Technology team. The Group Analyst: Data Integration & Development role is responsible for supporting and improving Aspen’s data integration interfaces and custom-built solutions that enable seamless process execution and reliable data flow across the group’s business entities. The role delivers secure, scalable, and well-governed integrations and lightweight custom applications/components that compliment Aspen’s core platforms (e.g., ERP, Manufacturing, Quality, Commercial, Analytics, and corporate systems).

KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS:

Data Integration, Development, and Delivery 

• Build, based on signed-off designs from the solution architecture team, and maintain integrations (real-time, near-real-time, and batch) across Aspen platforms and third parties. Management of service providers for more complex interfaces. 
• Develop APIs and integration flows using approved integration platforms (e.g., iPaaS/ESB/API gateway tooling as applicable).
• Implement data transformation and mapping logic (XML/JSON/CSV), including validation, error handling, retries, and reconciliation.
• Produce integration artefacts: interface specifications, mapping documents, sequence diagrams, and operational runbooks.
• Ensure consistent use of enterprise integration patterns (API-led, event-driven, message-based, ETL/ELT), aligned with Aspen standards.

Custom Development (Business-Enablement Solutions)
Develop and support custom components such as:

• microservices / lightweight APIs,
• workflow automations,
• integration utilities,
• Basic AI enablement
• PowerApps
• reporting extraction tools,
• custom portals/forms (where approved),
• extensions to enterprise platforms (within governance limits).
• Build solutions using secure coding practices, reusable components, and standard frameworks.
• Participate in solution design to ensure custom development is justified, supportable, and cost-effective versus configuration or COTS options.
• Maintain clean documentation, version control, packaging, and release notes for custom deliverables.

Operational Support and Service Management Alignment

• Provide BAU support for integrations and custom applications:
• triage incidents,
• identify root causes,
• implement fixes,
• support post-incident reviews and preventive actions.
• Monitor integration health, queues, job schedules, API performance, and pipeline failures using available monitoring/logging tools.
• Ensure support readiness through accurate runbooks, knowledge articles, and escalation paths.
• Adhere to ITSM processes: incident, problem, and change, thereby ensuring compliance with change governance and documentation standards.

Security, Compliance, and Quality Assurance 

• Ensure all integrations and custom developments align with Aspen security requirements (authentication, authorization, encryption, secrets handling).
• Support compliance obligations typical in regulated environments (e.g., audit trails, controlled access, validation evidence where applicable).
• Participate in testing activities, including unit tests, integration tests, regression tests, performance tests, and UAT support.
• Ensure traceability from requirements to delivered solution and support audit evidence requests when required.

Continuous Improvement and Standardisation 

• Identify opportunities to reduce manual work through automation, standard connectors, and reusable patterns.
• Improve reliability by reducing single points of failure and strengthening retry/recovery strategies.
• Contribute to integration and development standards: coding guidelines, naming conventions, documentation templates, and CI/CD practices.
• Support modernization initiatives (cloud adoption, API management maturity, event-driven integration, platform upgrades).

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• ITIL Foundation or relevant platform certifications (advantage).
• 3–5 years in integration development and/or custom software development experience.
• Strong experience with:
• API integration (REST/SOAP), JSON/XML, message formats, webhooks
• SQL and relational data concepts
• data transformation, mapping, and error handling patterns
• version control and release management (e.g., GIT)
• modern languages/frameworks (e.g., C#/.NET, Java, Python, Node.js)
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex integration failures using logs and monitoring tools.
• Experience with cloud-native integration and development (Azure/AWS).
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps practices (Preferred).