Described is a system (and method) that provides a framework for performing data transformations, which may be part of an Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) process. The system may perform a data transformation by creating a pipeline that executes a set of independent software components (or component, plugins, add-ons, etc.). The components may be executed as individual services (e.g., microservices) that may be provided within containers to allow the components to be deployed as self-contained units on various types of host systems including cloud-based infrastructures. In addition, to provide further flexibility for the framework, the components may be implemented using preexisting software libraries.