Database Engineer/Architect
About The Position
Most companies treat their database as plumbing — invisible until it bursts. We treat ours as the single source of truth that hundreds of fleets rely on to keep their vehicles, and their people, safe and moving. Do you think in schemas and see the elegant data model hiding inside a messy one? Do you get a little thrill from turning a query that took 40 seconds into one that takes 40 milliseconds? And have you already made AI a real part of how you work — not a buzzword on your resume, but a tool you reach for daily to design faster, debug smarter, and ship better? If so, read on… I'm the Manager of Infrastructure, Cloud Operations and SRE at RTA, and I'm looking for a Database Engineer/Architect to own the design, performance, and reliability of the data layer that powers our platform. We run a fleet of SQL Server databases across our customer base, increasingly on AWS, and the data they hold is the heartbeat of the product. But we're also growing — and we know that the data infrastructure we need tomorrow may look very different from what we have today. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role: you won't just tune indexes and respond to tickets — you'll help us understand what we need before we've figured it out ourselves, set the data architecture standard, drive migrations and modernization, and bring a modern, AI-augmented way of working to the whole team. If this sounds like you, you could be the peanut butter to our jelly. Read on and apply. This role is not for everyone. If you prefer clearly scoped tasks, minimal ambiguity, and steady incremental work, we'd still love to have you — just not in this seat. This role is for engineers who see an undefined data problem and feel a pull toward it, not away from it.
Requirements
- 5–7+ years of hands-on database engineering/administration experience, with demonstrated depth — not just tenure.
- Strong proficiency with Microsoft SQL Server and T-SQL; familiarity with MongoDB and/or other non-relational systems is a plus.
- Working knowledge of non-relational database paradigms — document, key-value, wide-column, graph — and a track record of knowing which fits which problem. Hands-on experience with one or more of DynamoDB, MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, or Neptune is a plus.
- Familiarity with AWS data platform services across relational (RDS, Aurora), non-relational (DynamoDB, ElastiCache, Neptune), warehousing (Redshift), data lake (S3, Glue, Athena, Lake Formation), and pipeline tooling (Kinesis, Glue ETL, or equivalent).
- Experience with data quality practices and tooling — validation, lineage, governance, and anomaly detection.
- Demonstrated, hands-on use of AI tools in day-to-day technical work — and ideally an understanding of the data infrastructure behind AI features (vector databases, RAG, embeddings).
- Experience with data modeling, query optimization, indexing/partitioning, high availability, and backup/disaster recovery.
- Familiarity with scripting (PowerShell, Python, or Bash) and monitoring/observability tooling.
- Prior lead or management experience is a meaningful bonus.
- Bachelor's Degree not required but preferred, especially in computer science or a related field. Relevant certifications (e.g., Microsoft SQL Server, AWS Database Specialty, AWS Data Analytics Specialty) are a plus.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with PostgreSQL is a strong plus.
- Prior lead or management experience is a meaningful bonus.
- Bachelor's Degree not required but preferred, especially in computer science or a related field. Relevant certifications (e.g., Microsoft SQL Server, AWS Database Specialty, AWS Data Analytics Specialty) are a plus.
Responsibilities
- Architect & Own the Data Layer: Design scalable, secure, well-documented database schemas and data architecture that the rest of engineering builds on with confidence. You set the direction, not just implement it — and you help us see around corners we haven't looked around yet.
- Guide Technology Selection: When a problem walks through the door, you know whether it needs a relational database, a document store, a graph, a cache, a warehouse, or a lake — and you can make that case clearly to engineers and non-engineers alike.
- Work AI-First: Bring AI into the team's daily workflow — using it to accelerate schema design, query optimization, documentation, and troubleshooting — and help establish what responsible, effective AI-assisted database work looks like at RTA.
- Build and Evolve Our Data Platform: Lead the design and implementation of data pipelines, data quality frameworks, and data lake or warehouse capabilities on AWS as our analytics and reporting needs grow.
- Performance & Scalability: Proactively find and fix bottlenecks — at the query, index, schema, and configuration level — so our systems stay fast as we grow.
- High Availability & Recovery: Design and maintain backup, replication, and disaster-recovery strategies, and prove they work through regular testing.
- Migrations & Modernization: Plan and execute database upgrades, consolidations, and cloud migrations with minimal disruption to clients.
- Security & Compliance: Partner with Security to enforce secure configurations, access controls, and encryption across every database.
- Standards & Mentorship: Set the data standards for the org, review schema and query changes, and level up engineers on writing data access that scales.
- Observability: Build the monitoring, alerting, and baselining that let us catch problems before clients do.
- Continuous Improvement: Don't maintain the status quo — find the inefficiencies, propose the fix, and drive it through to done.
- Collaboration: Work closely with engineering, product, SRE, and support to plan releases, define environment needs, and resolve data issues quickly.
Benefits
- 401(k) with 6% Safe Harbor match (100% vested day one)
- Flexible PTO model built on trust and manager-approved time off
- Cigna PPO and HSA medical plan options with company contributions ($780–$1,950 annually)
- Garner Health HRA program: up to $1,000 individual / $2,000 family reimbursement opportunity
- Wellness rewards up to $350 annually
- Virtual care and mental health support resources
- Company-sponsored benefits including dental, vision, EAP, life, STD, LTD, legal plan, and identity theft protection options
- Additional employee perks, wellness initiatives, and discount programs
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
Associate degree
