Lead Database Engineer

About the Role

• We are hiring for a Principal Engineer for Data and Platform Architecture to guide the evolution from a single shared SQL Server database toward domain-owned data and service boundaries. This role is central to the microservices modernization program because unsafe data separation can create more risk than the service decomposition removes.
• You will define data ownership, migration sequencing, compatibility patterns, distributed processing, and reporting continuity across the platform. You will work as a peer to the Principal Architect and will not replace database administration, DevOps, analytics, or pod-level engineering ownership.

What You Will Own

• Define the target data architecture, domain ownership model, and transition away from unrestricted shared-database access.
• Create migration patterns for schema separation, data replication, synchronization, reconciliation, and cutover.
• Guide transaction-boundary decisions, consistency models, event flows, and failure recovery across services.
• Protect reporting, auditability, historical access, and client integrations during data migration.
• Establish standards for data contracts, lineage, retention, privacy, quality, and controlled access.
• Review high-risk data changes and lead proofs of concept for difficult migration or scale concerns.
• Mentor Engineering Leads and senior engineers in data architecture and distributed data trade-offs.

What You Bring

• 12+ years in platform, backend, or data-intensive engineering with senior technical leadership experience.
• Deep relational database architecture and SQL performance expertise; SQL Server experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience decomposing a shared database or monolithic data model into owned domains incrementally.
• Strong knowledge of transactions, consistency, messaging, change data capture, reconciliation, and data migration.
• Experience with high-volume processing, operational reporting, audit controls, and production data safety.
• Working knowledge of Java and Spring Boot systems and the operational needs of distributed services.
• Ability to lead through design, code, prototypes, reviews, and written technical decisions.

What Sets You Apart

• You have led a data or platform center of excellence and converted research into production standards.
• You have modernized data architecture while preserving live reporting and client operations.
• You know when a dedicated data pipeline, specialist engineer, or platform investment is justified by sustained demand.

Success in This Role

• Each modernized domain has explicit data ownership and controlled access boundaries.
• Migrations include reconciliation, rollback, observability, and reporting continuity from the start.
• The platform reduces shared-database coupling without creating inconsistent or duplicated sources