Job Details

Senior Database Platform Architect (Hands-On) – Remote (U.S.)

Location: 100% Remote (U.S.-based candidates only)

Eligible States: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, KY, MA, MI, MN, MO, NC, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, UT

Employment Type: Contract-to-Hire or Full-Time

Compensation (FTE): $175,000 – $200,000 OR Contract to Hire

Position Overview

We are hiring a senior-level, hands-on Database Platform Architect to build and operate highly resilient, distributed data platforms. This role sits at the intersection of database architecture, infrastructure engineering, and low-level systems design

You will take ownership of end-to-end platform delivery—from database design through infrastructure, networking, and automation—supporting mission-critical environments running across multi-region and bare-metal deployments

This is a deep technical role, not a managerial or oversight position. The ideal candidate is someone who has personally designed and operated production systems at scale and is comfortable working directly in the stack without reliance on pre-built enterprise abstractions.

What You'll Do

• Architect and deploy high-availability database platforms across distributed environments (cloud and bare metal)
• Own performance, reliability, and scalability of database systems in production
• Diagnose and resolve complex issues involving replication, latency, failover, and system bottlenecks
• Build and maintain Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines
• Design and support cross-region networking and system connectivity
• Implement backup, recovery, and data protection strategies
• Collaborate closely with engineering teams to guide platform decisions and best practices
• Participate in production support and on-call rotations

Required Qualifications (Must-Haves)

• Deep, hands-on experience with MariaDB in production environmentsMust have designed, deployed, and supported high-availability MariaDB clusters
• Strong expertise in replication, failover, and performance tuning
• Strong experience working with bare-metal infrastructure and low-level networkingProven ability to design and troubleshoot networking in non-cloud (bare-metal) environments
• Deep understanding of routing, latency, and cross-region connectivity without relying solely on managed services
• Advanced Linux expertise (RHEL, Rocky, Ubuntu, etc.)
• Comfortable operating at the system level (packages, builds, debugging)
• Experience building and operating systems in multi-region environments
• Hands-on experience with:
• Kubernetes
• Terraform or similar Infrastructure as Code tools
• CI/CD pipelines
• Programming experience in Golang and/or Python for automation and tooling
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex production issues independently

What Sets You Apart

• Experience designing platforms from the ground up (not just maintaining them)
• Strong intuition for system behavior under failure conditions
• Ability to operate without heavy reliance on vendors or managed tooling
• Clear communication across engineering and infrastructure teams