Senior Database Engineer: SQL Server on AWS

CalAmp; Carlsbad (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

CalAmp’s K-12 transportation platform tracks the buses that move ~1 million students across 400+ North American districts, with 9 production SQL Server instances on AWS EC2 and 600+ customer databases.

We’re hiring a hands-on Database Engineer who will grow into architecture, automation, and modern engineering practices. Expect on-call rotation, collaboration with developers, and a focus on performance and data architecture.

Qualifications

• 4–8 years of hands-on DBA / Database Engineering experience with a meaningful share on SQL Server.
• Database SME mindset with participatory design reviews and collaboration with developers.
• Proficiency in PostgreSQL or willingness to develop it for future reporting architecture.
• Cloud database experience on AWS; self-hosted SQL Server on EC2 today; RDS familiarity a plus.
• Strong SQL: query writing, plan reading, index design, locking and isolation.
• Ability to script in Python or PowerShell for automation.
• Experience with HA / replication topologies (Always On, log shipping).
• Excellent written communication; able to defend proposals in an opinionated engineering team.
• Bachelor’s in CS, Information Systems, or equivalent practical track.

Responsibilities

• Diagnose and fix slow queries and plan regressions across multiple SQL Server instances.
• Lead design for reporting replica architecture, separating analytical workload from operational SQL Server.
• Define archival strategy and automation for data retention across 600+ customer databases.
• Identify cost-saving opportunities in AWS (RAI, sizing, replication strategies).
• Automate schema-change processes across all customer databases with low risk.
• Review schema changes from developers and provide actionable design insights and optimization.
• Participate in on-call rotation (light by industry standards, with defined hours).
• Collaborate with AI-enabled tooling to improve development and operational workflows.

Skills

SQL Server

Performance tuning

Python/PowerShell

Linux/Windows

Always On/Replication

Index design

SQL plan analysis

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s in CS / Information Systems or equivalent

Tools

AWS EC2

AWS RDS (plus)

PostgreSQL (plus)

Job description

CalAmp’s K-12 transportation platform tracks the buses that move ~1 million students across 400+ North American districts, with 9 production SQL Server instances on AWS EC2 and 600+ customer databases.

We’re hiring a hands-on Database Engineer who will grow into architecture, automation, and modern engineering practices. Expect on-call rotation, collaboration with developers, and a focus on performance and data architecture.