Principal Database Engineer – SQL Server & AI Data Infrastructure

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Principal Database Engineer – SQL Server & AI Data Infrastructure based in United States.

The Principal Database Engineer will help modernize and scale enterprise data platforms that support critical business applications and next-generation AI capabilities. This is a deeply technical, hands-on role focused on SQL Server, T-SQL, database performance, scalability, and modernization. You will work with high-volume environments containing complex data relationships and business-critical workloads. The role combines traditional database engineering expertise with cloud data platforms, automation, event-driven architectures, and AI-enabled engineering practices. You will partner across application engineering, SRE, operations, architecture, and AI/ML teams while independently driving complex initiatives from design through production. This is an opportunity to remain highly technical while having Senior Staff-level ownership and influence over the evolution of modern data infrastructure.

• Design, develop, optimize, and modernize large-scale SQL Server databases and data platforms, with a strong focus on scalability, maintainability, reliability, and long-term technical health.
• Analyze and refactor complex T-SQL, stored procedures, functions, and database logic while identifying opportunities to simplify and improve legacy systems.
• Diagnose and resolve database performance challenges through execution-plan analysis, indexing strategies, query optimization, database tuning, and detailed analysis of database internals.
• Drive schema modernization and migration initiatives, developing automation and implementation strategies that protect data integrity and minimize disruption to business-critical systems.
• Engineer replication, synchronization, data integration, and data movement patterns across transactional and analytical environments, including SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Snowflake, and cloud data services.
• Design and support high-volume OLTP and OLAP environments while applying strong knowledge of indexing, locking, transactions, isolation levels, concurrency, and query optimization.
• Implement event-driven database patterns such as Change Data Capture, outbox patterns, and event publishing to support modern distributed architectures.
• Apply AI coding assistants and emerging AI technologies to accelerate development, debugging, documentation, modernization, and database engineering workflows.
• Contribute to AI-enabled data infrastructure, including embedding pipelines, vector databases, semantic search, retrieval systems, and data capabilities supporting AI applications and agentic workflows.
• Independently lead complex database engineering initiatives from problem definition through design, implementation, deployment, and production adoption.
• Serve as a technical authority for complex database and performance challenges, providing guidance through design reviews, code reviews, engineering standards, and technical decision-making.
• Mentor other engineers and contribute to the development of scalable database engineering practices, standards, tooling, and automation.
• Investigate high-impact production incidents using database metrics, logs, CPU and memory utilization, execution plans, and observability data, driving root-cause analysis and durable corrective actions.
• Collaborate closely with application engineering, SRE, operations, architecture, data engineering, and AI/ML teams to ensure reliable delivery and continuous improvement of critical data platforms.

Requirements

• 15+ years of experience in database engineering, data platform engineering, software engineering, or a related technical discipline, with substantial experience operating at enterprise scale.
• Deep hands-on expertise with Microsoft SQL Server and T-SQL, including complex stored procedures, execution-plan analysis, indexing, query optimization, database tuning, and performance troubleshooting.
• Demonstrated experience modernizing, refactoring, or transforming legacy database environments rather than simply maintaining existing systems.
• Strong experience supporting large-scale, high-volume, business-critical databases and applications where reliability, performance, and data integrity are essential.
• Strong programming skills in Python, C#, or a comparable language, with the ability to develop automation, engineering tools, integrations, and data-processing solutions.
• Experience with data pipelines, ETL/ELT, data integration, batch processing, and/or event-driven architectures, along with a strong understanding of distributed data workflows.
• Deep knowledge of database internals, transaction management, concurrency, locking, isolation levels, indexing, and performance optimization.
• Experience using AI coding assistants such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, Augment, or similar tools to accelerate engineering work.
• Familiarity with AI data technologies and concepts such as embeddings, vector databases, semantic search, retrieval-augmented generation, or AI-agent data infrastructure, with the ability and willingness to develop AI-enabled data tooling.
• Experience with or exposure to modern data and cloud technologies such as PostgreSQL, Snowflake, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, AWS data services, or comparable platforms.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code technologies such as Terraform, ARM, Bicep, or similar tools, as well as CI/CD, source control, database migrations, schema versioning, and deployment automation.
• Familiarity with event streaming technologies such as Kafka and NoSQL or document databases is a plus.
• Experience in payments, financial services, healthcare, benefits, or other highly regulated environments is preferred, as is experience supporting highly available, customer-facing or business-critical systems.
• Oracle PL/SQL experience, hands-on RAG or semantic-search development, vector database expertise, and experience building AI-powered internal engineering tools are additional advantages.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, collaboration, and technical leadership skills, with the ability to independently identify complex problems, make sound engineering decisions, and drive initiatives through completion.

Benefits

• Base salary range of $165,800 to $204,400 annually, with actual compensation determined based on qualifications, skills, competencies, experience, and proficiency for the role.
• Eligibility for a quarterly or annual performance-based bonus, depending on the applicable compensation plan.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance options.
• Retirement savings plan to support long-term financial wellbeing.
• Paid time off for personal time, rest, and work-life balance.
• Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account options.
• Life insurance and disability insurance coverage.
• Tuition reimbursement to support continued learning and professional development.
• Fully remote work arrangement within the United States.
• Opportunity to work on large-scale SQL Server modernization, cloud data platforms, and AI-enabled infrastructure.
• Hands-on exposure to emerging technologies including generative AI, embeddings, vector databases, semantic search, RAG, agentic workflows, and AI-assisted engineering.
• Significant technical ownership and influence over critical enterprise data platforms and engineering practices.
• Collaboration with application engineering, SRE, operations, architecture, data, and AI/ML teams in a highly technical environment.
• Inclusive workplace committed to diversity, belonging, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodations.

We use an AI-powered matching process to ensure your application is reviewed quickly, objectively, and fairly against the role's core requirements. Our system identifies the top-fitting candidates, and this shortlist is then shared directly with the hiring company. The final decision and next steps (interviews, assessments) are managed by their internal team.

We appreciate your interest and wish you the best!

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