Developer DBA

We are seeking a Developer DBA who can help define what great database engineering looks like at Aeroflow. This is not a traditional production DBA role centered primarily on backups, recovery, or disaster planning. Instead, this position sits at the intersection of senior SQL engineering, database architecture, code quality, and technical mentorship. You'll help establish engineering standards, review and improve SQL code, guide architectural decisions, and modernize our database environment thoughtfully—without treating 'new' as automatically better than stable, maintainable, and valuable.

Your Primary Responsibilities

• Code Review (~30%): Review SQL engineering work and help establish clear standards for high-quality, maintainable T-SQL, database design, and development practices.
• Architecture & Technical Consulting (~30%): Serve as a senior database resource to our Technology teams, helping engineers make sound decisions around schema design, implementation, performance, and database architecture.
• Coaching & Mentoring (~20%): Help raise the technical capability of the SQL Engineering team through practical guidance, feedback, knowledge sharing, and technical mentorship.
• Hands-On Development (~20%): Remain close to the code through T-SQL development, optimization, database modeling, and targeted platform improvements.
• Partner closely with Database Administration while maintaining a development-focused scope centered on query performance, T-SQL logic, schema architecture, and reliability.
• Improve database engineering practices around source control, peer review, testing, documentation, CI/CD, deployment automation, and post-deployment validation.
• Modernize thoughtfully by reducing technical debt, operational risk, and unnecessary manual effort while protecting production stability.
• Reduce recurring performance and reliability issues through root-cause analysis, T-SQL optimization, observability, and durable engineering improvements.
• Partner with Analytics Engineering and Product teams to define and maintain reliable data contracts, helping ensure database changes do not unexpectedly disrupt downstream systems or data pipelines.
• Maintain HIPAA and patient confidentiality.

Skills for Success

• Deep SQL expertise: You understand Microsoft SQL Server beyond simply writing queries and can recognize the difference between code that works and database engineering that will remain performant and maintainable at scale.
• Systems thinking: You understand how database architecture, application behavior, deployment practices, and downstream systems affect one another.
• Pragmatic technical judgment: You can distinguish meaningful modernization from unnecessary complexity and clearly explain the tradeoffs.
• Technical influence: You can establish credibility with experienced engineers, provide thoughtful code-review feedback, and help raise engineering standards without relying on formal authority.
• Operational discipline: You improve reliability through repeatable practices, automation, observability, documentation, and prevention rather than hero-driven firefighting.
• Collaborative mentorship: You enjoy helping other engineers improve and can translate deep technical knowledge into practical, actionable guidance.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional SQL engineering experience or 3+ years of development-focused DBA experience; equivalent combinations of SQL engineering and DBA experience will also be considered.
• Deep production expertise with Microsoft SQL Server, including database architecture, data modeling, T-SQL development, query optimization, and index optimization.
• Demonstrated experience reviewing SQL code and establishing or improving engineering and development standards.
• Hands-on experience with database deployments and modern database engineering workflows, including source control, CI/CD, deployment automation, testing, and monitoring.
• Experience with database modeling and designing maintainable schemas for production applications.
• Experience with database engineering and operational tooling such as DataDog, DPA, Flyway, Redgate, Liquibase, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or comparable technologies.
• Experience implementing or working with data contracts, APIs, or other defined interfaces between transactional databases and downstream consumers.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence and mentor technical peers.

You Might Also Have

• Experience working with large-scale databases of approximately 1TB or greater, where database organization, performance, and tuning require additional scale-specific considerations.
• Experience leading or contributing significantly to a database modernization or platform transformation initiative across legacy and modern systems.
• Experience with Azure SQL, AWS RDS for SQL Server, managed database platforms, Infrastructure as Code, or DevOps automation.
• Knowledge of data warehousing, ETL, data integration, analytics platforms, or Microsoft Access applications in enterprise environments.
• Experience establishing database development standards across a team or organization.
• Experience coaching or mentoring SQL Engineers or other technical professionals.
• Experience using AI-assisted engineering tools responsibly to improve analysis, documentation, development, or code review.