Senior Database Developer

Marcus Thomas LLC•Warrensville Heights, OH

About The Position

We are looking for a highly experienced Senior Database Developer. In this senior, hands-on role, you will design, implement, optimize, and support the databases that underpin our lottery platforms and client solutions. You will help ensure data integrity, performance, security, and scalability across complex, high-availability systems that support mission-critical lottery operations. As the Senior Database Developer, you will serve as the technical authority for client databases, partnering with IT staff, application developers, architects, and implementation teams to design efficient schemas, optimize queries, and resolve performance issues. You will guide database strategy from early solution design through production support, ensuring structures align with application requirements, reporting needs, and regulatory expectations for security and data privacy. You will contribute to project scoping and technical planning by providing database-level estimates and recommendations, translating business and application requirements into durable, well-documented data models. You will also mentor other developers on database best practices, assist with query optimization and schema design, and drive continuous improvement in our data practices.

Requirements

7+ years of hands-on SQL Server experience in production environments, including designing, developing, administering, and supporting databases end-to-end.
Proven experience owning mission-critical databases in high-availability environments, including incident response, root cause analysis, and long-term remediation.
Deep T-SQL expertise, including complex stored procedures, functions, and query tuning at production scale.
Strong experience with query optimization, indexing strategies, and execution plan analysis, with the ability to proactively surface performance risks before they become incidents.
In-depth understanding of data modeling, schema design, and normalization for transactional and reporting workloads.
Strong understanding of data security practices, including role-based access control, permissions, auditing, and encryption, with experience supporting regulated or compliance-sensitive environments.
Demonstrated ability to work directly with clients: writing clear status updates and post-incident communications, facilitating technical discussions with mixed audiences, and leading database issues through to full resolution.
Comfortable operating as the database authority on a cross-functional team, collaborating closely with developers, architects, and IT, and mentoring others on best practices.

Nice To Haves

Experience with loyalty, ecommerce, or regulated transaction platforms.
Familiarity with PostgreSQL or other relational database platforms alongside SQL Server.
MCSE or equivalent Microsoft database certification.
Experience mentoring developers on SQL, data modeling, or performance practices.
Experience in a technical lead or database authority role on a cross-functional team.
Familiarity with Agile methodologies and cross-disciplinary delivery environments.
Background in a marketing, advertising, or digital agency environment. Strong candidates may also come from finance, healthcare, or consulting.

Responsibilities

Provide primary production support for database incidents, including after-hours deployments, maintenance windows, and emergency recovery.
Lead performance tuning across query optimization, indexing strategies, and execution plan analysis. Proactively identify and resolve bottlenecks before they become incidents.
Partner with architects, developers, and IT to align database design with application architecture, performance goals, and platform roadmap. Set database standards and best practices for the team.
Lead all client-facing database communications: incident updates, root cause summaries, mitigation steps, and go-live readiness discussions. Serve as the database point-of-contact in client meetings and design reviews.
Own database architecture, schema design, and data strategy for lottery platforms, client systems, and internal applications. Design and evolve stable, scalable, secure data models for high-volume transactional and reporting workloads.
Translate complex technical tradeoffs into clear, plain-language explanations for non-technical stakeholders. Present recommendations on performance, availability, security, cost, and maintainability in a way that supports confident decision-making.
Ensure data security, privacy, and compliance through access controls, permissions, auditing, and operational monitoring in regulated client environments.
Refine and automate recurring administrative processes to improve reliability and reduce operational risk.
Evaluate and recommend database technologies, tools, and process improvements that advance performance, scalability, or maintainability.
Contribute to solution scoping, estimation, and approach selection, translating client requirements into durable technical plans.
Create and maintain technical documentation, support playbooks, and standardized processes that reduce reliance on tribal knowledge.
Mentor developers on SQL, schema design, and performance practices. Raise the technical floor of the team over time.
Support testing and release readiness by contributing to test plans, QA validation, and issue documentation.

Benefits

Time Off: Flexible policy; most teammates enjoy 4-6 weeks annually
Family Support: 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave
Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, plus telemedicine, behavioral health and access to the Calm app
Lifestyle Perks: Wellness and creative stipends, phone plan support, and partner discounts
Financial Benefits: 401(k) with company contributions, student-loan paydown and college-savings options

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