Database System Engineer (NWS 00958)

North Wind Group; Livermore (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401(k) with company match

Generous paid leave

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

North Wind Services (NWS) is seeking a Database System Engineer to manage and optimize database infrastructure for LLNL in Livermore, CA. The role emphasizes automation, monitoring, data security, and production reliability across Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, MySQL, and DynamoDB. On-site work is required several days a week; telecommuting is limited.

Eligible candidates must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain a DOE Q-level clearance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in CS/SE/MIS.
• Experience automating database services in production.
• Knowledge of DB reliability, availability, and recovery practices.
• Experience with Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or MySQL in production.
• Familiarity with Windows/Linux administration and observability tools.

Responsibilities

• Build and operate reliable database platforms with monitoring and dashboards.
• Automate provisioning, patching, backups, and compliance to reduce outages.
• Support DB design, migration, and cloud/container transitions.
• Maintain non-production environments for development and QA.
• Tune queries and improve performance and cybersecurity posture.

Skills

Database automation

SQL tuning

Cloud services

Monitoring/observability

Shell scripting

Python

Ansible

Containerization

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Oracle

MS SQL Server

PostgreSQL

MySQL

MongoDB

Cassandra

DynamoDB

WebLogic

Tomcat

Job description

Location: Livermore, CA Title: Database System Engineer (NWS 00958)

North Wind Services (NWS) is a high performing, low risk company with a successful history of contributing to their client’s missions. NWS executes and manages a wide range of technical services such as environmental investigation and restoration, construction, demolition, radioactive and hazardous waste management, public communication/involvement, information management, health and safety, industrial hygiene, and emergency response/HAZMAT services.

North Wind Services is actively seeking individuals who can contribute to national security within the science, technology, and engineering fields as part of our supplemental labor team at vital federal research and development installations supporting the Department of Energy. Qualified applicants must be a US citizen, at least 18 years of age, and able to meet pre-employment requirements including any required physicals, drug screen, and/or background investigation to satisfy clearance requirements from the Department of Energy.

Successful candidates will be employees of NWS supporting the missions of their federal client, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, CA. Pay, benefits, Human Resources, and employment management functions are all provided by NWS. As an NWS employee working at LLNL, within the client’s environment, you will complete day-to-day tasks, with direction from technical personnel directly employed by LLNL.

The Computing Directorate has an opening within the Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS) Division for a Database System Engineer. The successful candidate will support the database administration activities required to manage the database infrastructure and to keep systems available, fast, resilient, and secure. This position is in support of the Strategic Deterrence Applications Program and Nuclear Security Enterprise-wide (NSE) PRIDE Program. Business needs dictate that this position requires an on-site presence multiple days a week. Therefore, telecommuting options will be limited.

Essential Duties

• Build and operate reliable database platforms using practices such as monitoring, alerting, and continuous improvement.
• Automate repetitive work, including provisioning, patching, upgrades, backups, and compliance, to improve system consistency and reduce outages.
• Provide database administration support for Oracle, MySQL, MS SQL Server, MongoDB, Cassandra, PostgreSQL, and DynamoDB databases.
• Support database management system design, architecture, and migration activities involving cloud-based services, containerization, and cross-platform database transitions.
• Create and maintain non-production database environments for development and quality assurance activities.
• Tune queries, review database data models, and help improve application performance and database cybersecurity posture.
• Build dashboards, alerts, and runbooks from logs and metrics, and participate in incident response and post-incident reviews.
• Support enterprise COTS application implementation, configuration, triage, and customization efforts.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Essential Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. DOE Q-level security clearance, which requires U.S. Citizenship.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Management Information Systems, or a related field, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Broad experience leveraging automation and orchestration to build, provision, patch, and/or secure database services within a production environment.
• Demonstrated ability to implement and follow Database Reliability Engineering practices to ensure database availability, performance, scalability, resilience, monitoring, backup and recovery, and operational excellence.
• Broad experience administering application servers such as WebLogic and Tomcat, including installation, configuration, patching, deployment, performance tuning, and troubleshooting.
• Broad experience administering Oracle, MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and/or MySQL databases in a production environment, and experience with one or more development tools and languages such as SQL, Oracle Forms/Reports, PL/SQL, Java, or Python.
• Broad experience in Windows and/or Linux operating system administration, security, performance tuning, enterprise-class storage array usage and integration within a database environment, and database backup and recovery procedures, software, strategies, and verification methodologies.
• Broad experience utilizing observability and infrastructure monitoring tools such as Oracle Enterprise Manager, Datadog, Grafana, SQL Server Management Studio, and/or Icinga for proactive system monitoring, alert management, and database administration.
• Proficient verbal and written communication skills necessary to effectively collaborate in a team environment and present and explain technical information.
• Ability to work outside normal business hours to provide support for production infrastructure patching, upgrades, testing, and the ability to work on-premises to support job duties.

Desired Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Experience developing and using Ansible, SCCM, Python, and Unix/PowerShell shell scripting to automate and orchestrate database and application infrastructures.
• Experience leveraging containerization to deliver database and mid-tier services to meet customer needs and managing database and application infrastructures within a highly secure and compliance-driven environment.

Special Requirements

Pre-Placement Medical Exam: A job-related pre-placement medical examination may be required.

Pre-employment drug test: External applicants selected for this position will be required to pass a post offer, pre-employment drug test.

Anticipated Government Clearance Level: Q (position will be cleared to this level). Applicants who are selected will be subject to a federal background investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information or matters. In addition, all L or Q cleared employees are subject to random drug testing. Q-level clearance requires U.S. citizenship. If you hold multiple citizenships (U.S. and another country), you may be required to renounce your non-U.S. citizenship before a DOE L or Q clearance will be processed/granted.

North Wind offers a competitive pay and benefits package to include health, life, and disability insurance benefits, 401(k) with company match, generous paid leave, and tuition reimbursement for eligible employees. As a company, we are committed to employee wellness, professional development, and work-life balance. We value safety, reliability, and commitment to our people. For more information about benefits or hiring philosophy, visit the North Wind Career Opportunities Page.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The nature of those accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or are limited in the ability or unable to access or use this online application process and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact our Helpline +1.208.528.8718 or use the Request for Reasonable Accommodation form to get assistance.

North Wind is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic data, religion, or other legally protected status. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants privacy rights to all California residents. The law also entitles job applicants, employees, and non-employee workers to be notified of what personal information NW collects and for what purpose. The Employee Privacy Notice can be accessed here: https://northwindgrp.com/wp-com.