Principal Database Engineer

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in India.

📋 Description

• Act as the global Tier-3 escalation authority and database Subject Matter Expert.

• Oversee, triage, and respond to advanced SQL and database alerts within AWS and GCP production environments.

• Spearhead Sev-1/Sev-2 production database incident mitigation, diagnostics, and stabilization efforts.

• Investigate recurring alert patterns and collaborate with SRE and engineering teams on automated self-healing solutions.

• Implement and confirm database performance tuning requests.

• Perform execution plan analysis, DMV/DMF audits, index maintenance, and query recompilation.

• Identify and resolve blocking chains, deadlocks, lock escalation, latch contention, and tempdb bottlenecks.

• Offer optimization advice and establish query refactoring standards.

• Conduct database maintenance tasks including index upkeep, statistics updates, partition management, and DBCC CHECKDB.

• Ensure backup integrity, snapshot consistency, and cross-region replication health in line with RPO/RTO objectives.

• Execute point-in-time restores, schema deployments, storage expansions, failover drills, and configuration alterations.

• Assist with database upgrades, security patches, and parameter group changes.

• Develop automation scripts utilizing PowerShell, Python, Bash, and T-SQL.

• Create diagnostic runbooks, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and self-service troubleshooting tools.

• Facilitate post-incident reviews and author root cause analysis (RCA) documentation.

• Collaborate with Platform Engineering on database release pipelines, schema migrations, and CI/CD tooling.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Computer Applications (MCA), or a related technical field; or equivalent education, relevant certifications, and significant professional experience.

• Over 10 years of progressive experience in enterprise relational database administration and engineering, supporting mission-critical, high-availability 24/7 cloud production systems.

• Demonstrated experience functioning as a Principal or Lead Database Engineer/SME, with responsibilities for off-hours/overnight incident response.

• Extensive hands-on experience with enterprise databases on AWS or GCP, including RDS, Aurora, Cloud SQL, or EC2/Compute Engine.

• Profound knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server 2016 through 2022, including AlwaysOn Availability Groups, query optimizer behaviors, locking/latching mechanics, and storage engine architecture.

• Strong operational expertise in PostgreSQL or other equivalent open-source relational database engines.

• Proficient in query performance tuning, index optimization, wait-event analysis, and dynamic tracing.

• Familiarity with Dynatrace, Datadog, Prometheus/Grafana, or similar APM and observability platforms.

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate or legacy MCSE: Data Management and Analytics credentials.

• AWS Certified Database – Specialty or AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional certification.

• Google Cloud Professional Cloud Database Engineer certification.

• Practical knowledge of Terraform and Ansible.

• Previous experience in Healthcare IT, HIPAA/HITRUST compliance, or EHR/PM clinical data systems.

• ITIL Foundation or SRE/DevOps certifications.

• Expert understanding of SQL Server and PostgreSQL storage engines, transaction logging, buffer pool management, ACID properties, isolation levels, and execution plan operators.

• In-depth knowledge of AlwaysOn AG failover, replica management, DR replication topologies, and cloud automated failover.

• Strong grasp of cloud compute, provisioned IOPS storage, VPC networking, security groups, and IAM least-privilege controls.

• High level of proficiency in PowerShell, Python, T-SQL, or Bash.

• Outstanding written and verbal communication abilities.

• Capacity to exercise sound judgment independently during off-hours shifts.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive salary and performance-based bonuses.

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Flexible working hours and remote work options.

• Opportunities for continuous learning and professional development.

• Supportive team culture and a collaborative work environment.