Data Engineer

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?

We're looking for a recognized subject-matter expert who operates independently, drives clarity through ambiguity, and raises the bar for those around them.

- 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