Database Engineer

About the Role

Redhorse is transforming how the government utilizes data and technology. We are looking for an experienced Database Engineer to join the team designing, building, and maintaining a new AWS-hosted, web-based internal tool used by non-technical end users to submit, review, approve, and track sensitive, highly regulated data requests on classified systems. The tool replaces a legacy web application and manual email- and spreadsheet-driven review with automated workflows, structured data capture, and AI-assisted review.

As the Database Engineer, you will own the data layer of the application: modeling the request, review, and audit data; designing the relational and NoSQL stores that back the application; migrating data out of the legacy system; and making sure the database is secure, performant, auditable, and compliant with data-handling policies. You will work closely with application developers, cloud engineers, systems engineers, and policy experts across a multi-company team, and with stakeholders, to translate data-access policy into enforceable database design. This role works under general direction and is expected to independently determine the approach to difficult data problems.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain the application's database management systems in the AWS environment, including logical and physical data modeling, relational database architecture, and metadata/repository design.
• Model the request lifecycle (submission, revision, review, approval, fulfillment, dissemination) so that workflow state, justifications, and reviewer decisions are captured as structured, queryable data rather than free text, email, or spreadsheets.
• Implement database-level security controls for sensitive request data, including role- and attribute-based access control, row/column-level security, encryption at rest and in transit, and least-privilege service accounts.
• Design and implement data retention periods, purge workflows, and immutable audit trails that satisfy policy and compliance requirements.
• Analyze the legacy application's data and processes; perform source analysis, data mapping, and data transformation to plan and execute migration into the target environment.
• Determine data storage requirements and evaluate, size, and select database technology components (e.g., Amazon RDS/Aurora PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, S3) for the application.
• Write, review, and tune SQL queries, stored procedures, and indexes for performance and scalability; support developers with efficient data access patterns and APIs.
• Implement comprehensive backup, recovery, and replication solutions; define and test RPO/RTO targets.
• Establish database configuration management and schema change control (migration scripts, versioning) integrated into the team's CI/CD pipeline.
• Structure and prepare data to support rules-based validation and AI-assisted detection of common request errors, and to support reporting and metrics for customer leadership.
• Monitor database health, capacity, and performance; troubleshoot and resolve production data issues.
• Prepare system requirements, data dictionaries, and design documentation throughout implementation.

Required Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI with Polygraph.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field and 5+ years of relevant experience; or a Master's degree and 3+ years of relevant experience. Equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• 5+ years of experience designing, building, and administering relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL).
• Expert SQL skills, including query writing, performance tuning, indexing strategy, and stored procedures/functions.
• Demonstrated experience with data modeling (conceptual, logical, and physical) and relational database design.
• Hands-on experience with AWS database and storage services (e.g., RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, S3), preferably on classified systems.
• Experience implementing database security, including access control, encryption, and auditing.
• Experience implementing backup, recovery, and replication solutions.
• Experience with data migration: source analysis, data mapping, and data transformation from legacy systems.
• Scripting experience (e.g., Python, Bash, or PowerShell) for automation and data processing.

Desired Qualifications

• Master's degree in any of the above fields.
• Experience supporting application development on classified systems.
• AWS certification (e.g., AWS Certified Database - Specialty, Solutions Architect - Associate) or equivalent.
• Experience with NoSQL data stores (e.g., DynamoDB, MongoDB) and choosing between relational and NoSQL designs.
• Experience with regulated or sensitive data: retention schedules, purge/expungement, audit logging, privacy controls, and RBAC/ABAC.
• Experience with workflow- or case-management data models (requests, approvals, state transitions).
• Experience with database schema-change tooling (e.g., Flyway, Liquibase) and CI/CD / SecDevOps practices.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation) and containers (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with ETL/ELT tools and event-driven AWS services (e.g., Lambda, SQS, Glue).
• Experience preparing data for machine learning or AI-assisted applications.
• Experience with Agile methodologies and tools such as Jira and Confluence.