Database Engineer

Retelligence Ltd; United States; Remote; USD 96,000 - 152,000; Full time

Job summary

Retelligence Ltd. is seeking a PostgreSQL-centric engineer to own the platform's central database hosted on Supabase, focusing on design, automation and scaling.

You will lead the two-way sync between note-taking platforms, extend schema to store full note content and expose it through the API for AI tools.

The role offers a fully remote arrangement for the East Coast US or Canada, with an initial 3-month contract and potential extension, part-time or full-time considered.

Qualifications

• PostgreSQL as main skill: schema design, migrations and performance.
• Experience keeping two systems or applications in sync.
• Automation mindset: scripts, CI/CD, infrastructure as code.
• Clear written communication explaining trade-offs in PRs and tickets.
• Comfort making decisions with imperfect information and documenting reasoning.

Responsibilities

• Own the central PostgreSQL database for the platform.
• Finish a two-way sync between two note-taking platforms with conflict handling.
• Extend the schema to store full note content and expose via API for AI tools.
• Fix import issues causing sync failures.
• Write short assessment of upcoming data-model changes: costs, impact, timing.

Skills

PostgreSQL

Data synchronization

Automation & CI/CD

Clear written communication

Decision making under uncertainty

Tools

Supabase

AWS RDS

Aurora

Neon

Cloud SQL

Job description

Retelligence is partnering with a small, well-funded tech-for-good organization building products that help research teams organize, connect and make sense of complex information. This is a chance to do meaningful work with real-world impact, alongside a flat, collaborative team where engineers have genuine ownership of what they build. You’ll own the PostgreSQL database at the heart of the platform: designing it, automating it and making it scale, while working on interesting challenges around data sync, structured data and AI.

The role

Every part of the platform connects to one shared PostgreSQL database (hosted on Supabase). You’ll take ownership of that database and improve it steadily, moving towards a more automated, scalable setup as more research teams come on board.

What you’ll work on first

• Finish a two-way sync between two note-taking platforms with very different data models, including handling conflicts on repeat syncs
• Extend the schema to store full note content, not just titles, and expose it through the API so AI tools can read it
• Fix import issues: small data bugs that currently break the sync
• Write a short assessment of an upcoming data-model change on one platform: what it costs, what it affects, and when a decision is needed

What we’re looking for

• PostgreSQL as your main skill: schema design, migrations and performance
• Experience keeping two systems or applications in sync
• An automation mindset: scripts, CI/CD, infrastructure as code
• Clear written communication, explaining trade-offs in pull requests and tickets
• Comfortable making decisions without perfect information, and writing down why

Nice to have

• Supabase or similar managed Postgres (AWS RDS/Aurora, Neon, Cloud SQL)
• Sync, CRDT or offline-first systems
• Knowledge graphs, linked data or scientific infrastructure
• Node.js / TypeScript
• Comfort with AI-assisted development

The essentials

• $70–110 per hour, depending on experience
• Initial 3-month contract, starting ASAP, with a likely extension. Part-time or full-time considered.
• Fully remote, East Coast US or Canada
• Open source: your work ships publicly, with your name on it