AI-Driven Database Architect for Legacy Modernization

WEX; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

WEX seeks a Senior Database Architect to modernize legacy SQL Server systems and architect AI-native data infrastructure. You will decompose large stored procedures, separate business logic from data access, and lead domain-driven modernization across relational, NoSQL, and analytical platforms.

You will design vector DB solutions, embedding pipelines, and knowledge graphs to support AI agents and RAG workflows, while ensuring scalable, observable data platforms and governance.

Qualifications

• 8–12 years in database engineering and architecture, with significant experience in enterprise-scale SQL Server environments.
• Deep SQL Server expertise: T-SQL optimization, stored procedure design and refactoring, query plan analysis, indexing strategies, and performance tuning.
• Hands-on modernization experience: track record of decomposing complex stored procedures and migrating business logic to application services.
• Multi-platform data architecture: experience designing solutions across relational SQL Server, PostgreSQL, NoSQL MongoDB/Cosmos DB, and analytical Snowflake/data lakehouse.
• Event-driven data patterns: CDC, Kafka, outbox pattern, event sourcing, CQRS—practical experience implementing these in production.
• Data modeling expertise: canonical models, dimensional modeling, schema evolution, and designing for extensibility.

Responsibilities

• Lead legacy database modernization by analyzing and decomposing large stored procedures and creating migration strategies.
• Design patterns to separate business rules from data access and move logic to application services.
• Guide refactoring to align structures with domain-driven design: bounded contexts, aggregates, and domain events.
• Architect vector database solutions for AI/NLP workflows: embedding strategies, chunking, and hybrid retrieval.
• Develop embedding pipelines transforming domain content into vector representations for AI agents.
• Establish knowledge graph patterns for complex domain reasoning and retrieval.
• Define data architectures for AI agent context and ensure data freshness and governance.

Skills

SQL Server

T-SQL optimization

Stored procedures

Architecture design

Data modeling

Vector databases

Embedding pipelines

Knowledge graphs

Event-driven patterns

C#, Java, Python

Tools

SQL Server

MongoDB

Cosmos DB

Snowflake

Pinecone

Weaviate

pgvector

Azure AI Search

Job description

WEX seeks a Senior Database Architect to modernize legacy SQL Server systems and architect AI-native data infrastructure. You will decompose large stored procedures, separate business logic from data access, and lead domain-driven modernization across relational, NoSQL, and analytical platforms.

You will design vector DB solutions, embedding pipelines, and knowledge graphs to support AI agents and RAG workflows, while ensuring scalable, observable data platforms and governance.