Senior Database Engineer

Peregrine Advisors; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefit Corporation

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Job summary

Peregrine Advisors in Washington, DC is seeking a senior database engineer to own the database layer of a federal enterprise data platform. You will shape physical design, tuning, and data models across Aurora, DynamoDB, and Iceberg on S3, ensuring scalable, auditable data services for analysts and systems.

You will lead schema migrations, stored procedures, access controls, and load patterns within a regulated environment, delivering reliable performance and governance as part of a

Qualifications

• At least seven years of database development and administration experience.
• Experience with Amazon Aurora (PostgreSQL-compatible), DynamoDB and Apache Iceberg on S3.
• Strong skills in physical design, partitioning, indexing and performance tuning.
• Ability to work in a regulated environment with auditability and governance.

Responsibilities

• Own the database layer’s physical design, tuning, and data models within an enterprise data platform.
• Perform schema migrations, S3 load patterns, and create robust access controls.
• Develop and optimize SQL and stored procedures for large-scale datasets.
• Collaborate with engineers and stakeholders to ensure reliability and auditability.

Skills

Amazon Aurora

DynamoDB

Apache Iceberg

PL/pgSQL

Data modeling

Query tuning

Partitioning

Indexing

S3 data stores

Stakeholder communication

Tools

PowerPoint

Excel

AWS tooling

Job description

Peregrine Advisors is a firm founded on a simple conviction: the best solutions come from the people closest to the problem, given real ownership and the tools to deliver. We are a data and technology innovation hub and a Benefit Corporation working at the center of the federal government's mission to deliver for client stakeholders and the US public, looking for highly motivated contributors who thrive when trusted to own a hard problem and equipped to deliver the solution.

Your first assignment

In your first assignment, you will own the database layer of a federal agency's enterprise data platform. You will own its physical design, data models, database-architecture decisions, and the performance that lets analysts and systems trust that layer at scale. You will shape, structure, and tune it across Amazon Aurora, DynamoDB, and Apache Iceberg tables on Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), within a large, high-volume platform. The work is real and hard, and it matters. This first assignment is a starting point, not the shape of your career here. We hire people, not seats, and move our best to where the hardest problems are.

What you'll build

• A database layer that performs at scale, with physical design covering partitioning, indexing, and storage layout for large datasets.


• Tuned queries and execution plans on large datasets, together with logical and physical data models that hold up within the wider platform architecture.


• Schema migrations, S3 load patterns into the relational and Iceberg stores, stored procedures, and Apache Ranger access controls, all supporting the database layer.


• And over time, the firm itself, through the new capabilities, tools, and lines of business you help launch.

Who you are

You make databases fast and keep their data trustworthy, and you take that ownership seriously. You have designed and tuned large data platforms and understand why the physical model matters. You experiment, learn from failure, and try again quickly. You would rather own an outcome than simply be given a task.

What you'll bring

• Deep, hands-on ownership of a database layer spanning Amazon Aurora (PostgreSQL-compatible), DynamoDB, and Apache Iceberg tables on S3, including physical design, tuning, data modeling, and database-architecture decisions within the broader platform.


• The practical craft of stored procedures, schema migration, S3 load patterns into the platform stores, and governed access.


• Sound judgment in a regulated environment where accuracy and auditability are not optional.

What you'll need

Sole United States citizenship and the ability to obtain a Public Trust determination are required for this initial engagement. This is a hybrid role based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and it requires commuting into DC regularly. Everything else, including the years, certifications, and specific tools, we ask in the application and discuss during the interview.

What we offer

A high-performing team of developers, engineers, data scientists, architects, and strategists solving complex, real-world problems, with work that runs from strategy formulation to hands-on implementation. We develop people across roles and clients, with extensive onboarding and sponsored training and professional development. And Peregrine has been a Benefit Corporation from day one: public value is built into the work itself, not bolted on afterward. Work worth your best years.

What we commit to

As a Benefit Corporation, our commitment runs three ways: real, measurable value for our clients; government that works better for the public; and a team that makes everyone in it better.

We hire people who want to help build the firm, not just work at it.

Peregrine Advisors is an equal opportunity employer.

Requirements

• At least seven years of database development and administration experience


• Amazon Aurora (PostgreSQL-compatible), DynamoDB, and Apache Iceberg tables on S3


• Physical design at scale, including partitioning, indexing, and storage layout


• Query and EXPLAIN-plan tuning on large datasets


• Logical and physical data modeling


• Database-architecture design within an established enterprise data platform


• PL/pgSQL stored procedures and S3 load patterns into the relational and Iceberg stores


• Basic proficiency in writing, PowerPoint, and Excel

Preferred

• Schema migration tooling, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) Schema Conversion Tool


• Access controls using Apache Ranger


• Neptune or Neo4j


• Federal information technology or high-volume transaction experience


• Familiarity with artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted developer tooling