Database Engineer (SME) on the Professional Archive team at Smarsh, owning architecture, scaling, and reliability of SQL Server data infrastructure. Environments include multi-terabyte volumes, tables with billions of rows, and sustained throughput above 100,000 transactions per second. Work covers real-time data pipelines, performance tuning, and mentoring engineers, with stack tools including Splunk, Datadog, Grafana, and CI/CD pipelines.
As a Database Engineer on the Professional Archive team, you'll operate as a subject-matter expert for the data infrastructure that powers our platform – driving the architecture, scaling, and reliability decisions that keep high-velocity, compliance-critical systems performant and secure. You'll work with SQL Server environments spanning multi-terabyte data volumes, tables with billions of rows, and sustained throughput exceeding 100,000 transactions per second.
You'll work independently through ambiguous and unfamiliar problems, set technical direction for real-time data pipelines and system performance, and act as a go-to resource for engineers across the wider organization. Your work will directly shape how Smarsh clients meet their compliance needs through scalable, dependable data and search capabilities.
You'll partner with leaders across Product Management, Engineering, and Site Reliability, weighing a range of inputs to resolve complex challenges and influence strategy beyond your immediate team. We're looking for someone who brings deep technical judgment, mentors others, and is motivated to make an impact through thoughtful, high-leverage engineering.
How will you contribute?
Serve as a subject-matter expert for database architecture and performance, guiding engineers through complex or ambiguous technical problems where established principles don't fully apply
Set the technical approach for scalable data solutions, partnering with stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and Site Reliability to shape direction rather than simply implement it
Drive larger, cross-functional projects from design through delivery, proactively identifying and addressing upstream and downstream impacts before they become issues
Informally mentor other engineers, modeling sound engineering discipline and raising the technical bar for the wider team
Shape how the team adopts modern engineering practices, including Agile methodologies, CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps principles
Review code and database changes with an eye for systemic risk and performance, while also leading efforts to pay down technical debt across systems
Track emerging technologies and make the call on which are worth adopting, guiding the team's direction
Interpret database health and performance data (Splunk, Datadog, Grafana) to proactively flag and address risk before it surfaces as an incident
What will you bring?
Advanced, wide-ranging experience with database systems, with the judgment to operate independently in unfamiliar or ambiguous situations
Deep expertise designing logical and physical data models, including schema design and data relationships, at a level others rely on for direction
A demonstrated ability to set database performance strategy by tuning queries and indexes and establishing standards that others follow
Strong command of data security practices (encryption, access controls, auditing), with the ability to shape how the team approaches them
A track record of independently troubleshooting complex issues in systems that require high availability, serving as an escalation point for others
Ability to plan for data growth and scale infrastructure with the full flow of work in mind, not just the immediate ask
The credibility and collaborative instinct to influence peers and cross-functional partners, not just execute their requests
Strong command of modern development practices and Agile methodologies, with a voice in how the team applies them
Ability to communicate technical direction, trade-offs, and risk clearly to stakeholders outside your immediate team
Comfort setting a course through evolving, ambiguous requirements rather than waiting for them to be resolved
A proactive approach to identifying and solving problems that cross team boundaries
Preferred Qualifications
If you don't meet every qualification listed below, we still encourage you to apply. We value diverse experiences and perspectives. Progression to this level reflects demonstrated ability to perform as a subject-matter expert, not years of experience alone.
7+ years of hands-on experience with Microsoft SQL Server in a production environment, with demonstrated impact as a subject-matter expert
Deep expertise in schema and data model design, including normalization, partitioning, and indexing strategy for both OLTP workloads
Advanced proficiency in performance tuning, including T-SQL and stored procedure optimization, execution plan analysis, and query tuning at scale
Proven, hands-on experience managing and troubleshooting SQL Server databases at terabyte scale, including tables with billions of rows, and sustained throughput exceeding 100k transactions per second
Demonstrated ability to diagnose and resolve production capacity and contention issues at this scale, including lock/latch contention, TempDB performance, and transaction management
Experience designing for horizontal as well as vertical scalability, anticipating data growth before it becomes a production risk
Familiarity with NoSQL technologies (e.g., MongoDB, Cassandra, DynamoDB) is a plus
Experience with cloud database platforms (e.g., AWS RDS/Aurora, MongoDB Atlas) is a plus
What do we offer?
Don't meet every requirement? Apply anyway! We value diverse candidates and encourage applications, even if you don't perfectly match the job description. Studies have shown that some strong candidates may self-select out of the interview process prematurely, at Smarsh we encourage an inclusive, high-performing environment.
Smarsh is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to their race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. Smarsh invites all qualified interested applicants to apply for career opportunities. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. Including frequency of functions
Compensation: USD 160,000 – 180,000 per year salary
