Senior Database Migration Engineer (Secret Clearance)

Paylocity; Illinois; Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

On-site at Scott AFB, Illinois

Professional growth opportunities

Job summary

Paylocity in Illinois seeks an experienced Database Migration Engineer to lead end-to-end migrations from assessment through cutover in a hybrid work model. You will coordinate with development, data engineering, and security teams to move legacy systems to AWS managed databases such as Aurora PostgreSQL and Aurora MySQL, with emphasis on minimal downtime and data integrity.

The ideal candidate has 8+ years in database engineering or migration, strong SQL, scripting, and cloud tooling, and the

Qualifications

• Eight (8+) or more years of experience in database engineering, database administration, database development, data architecture, or database migration.
• Hands-on experience with Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, Aurora MySQL, Amazon RDS, or comparable managed relational database services.
• Experience with AWS Database Migration Service, AWS Schema Conversion Tool, native database utilities, or comparable migration technologies.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end migration activities from discovery to post-migration stabilization.
• Assess legacy platforms, schemas, data volumes, interfaces, and performance requirements.
• Develop migration strategies, plans, schedules, and validation criteria.
• Lead migrations to AWS managed databases (Aurora PostgreSQL/MySQL).
• Use DMS, SCT, and scripting to support full-load, CDC, and low-downtime migrations.
• Coordinate with development teams to remediate dependencies and security controls.
• Create operational runbooks and cutover procedures.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to DBAs and migration teams.

Skills

Database migration

AWS DMS

Aurora PostgreSQL

Aurora MySQL

SQL performance tuning

Data modeling

CI/CD

Git

Python scripting

Security controls

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

AWS DMS

AWS SCT

GitLab CI/CD

Liquibase

Job description

Description

Key Responsibilities

Migration Assessment, Planning & Execution

• Lead end-to-end database migration activities including discovery, assessment, planning, schema conversion, data movement, validation, cutover, rollback planning, and post-migration stabilization.
• Assess legacy database platforms, schemas, data volumes, stored procedures, functions, triggers, indexes, interfaces, application dependencies, security controls, and performance requirements.
• Develop migration strategies, technical plans, schedules, risk assessments, source-to-target mappings, validation criteria, cutover procedures, rollback procedures, and operational runbooks.
• Lead migration of legacy relational databases to approved AWS managed database platforms, including Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL or Aurora MySQL where implemented.
• Use AWS Database Migration Service, AWS Schema Conversion Tool, native database utilities, and custom scripts, or comparable approved tools, to support full-load, incremental, change-data-capture, and low-downtime migration approaches.

Database Conversion, Compatibility & Performance

• Convert and remediate database schemas, data types, stored procedures, functions, triggers, sequences, indexes, queries, and proprietary database features for target-platform compatibility.
• Analyze and remediate application, ETL, BI, API, and interface dependencies affected by database-platform changes, coordinating required code and query changes with the applicable development teams.
• Develop and optimize SQL queries, views, functions, stored procedures, indexes, and other database objects supporting application and reporting requirements.
• Analyze execution plans, workloads, locks, connections, database metrics, and resource utilization to resolve performance and scalability issues.
• Define database-layer requirements for availability, resiliency, replication, backup, recovery, failover, and performance within the approved IGC cloud architecture.

Validation, Automation & Secure Delivery

• Develop and execute migration-validation and reconciliation procedures to verify record counts, data relationships, business rules, transformations, calculations, referential integrity, completeness, accuracy, and functional equivalence between source and target platforms.
• Identify data-quality issues and coordinate cleansing, correction, exception handling, and remediation activities with the appropriate data owners and technical teams.
• Develop database and migration automation using SQL, Python, Bash, PowerShell, Liquibase, Flyway, or comparable technologies.
• Integrate database changes, migration scripts, validation routines, and deployment controls into established GitLab CI/CD and configuration-management processes.
• Implement database-specific security controls including least privilege, encryption, secrets management, logging, auditing, secure configuration, vulnerability remediation, and applicable STIG/RMF evidence.

Documentation & Technical Leadership

• Prepare and maintain database architecture diagrams, data models, data dictionaries, source-to-target mappings, configuration documentation, migration reports, cutover documentation, and operational procedures.
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to database administrators, developers, cloud engineers, and migration team members.
• Collaborate with application developers, ETL/data engineers, BI developers, cloud/DevSecOps engineers, cybersecurity personnel, testers, functional analysts, operations staff, and Government stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

• Eight (8+) or more years of experience in database engineering, database administration, database development, data architecture, or database migration.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex enterprise database migrations from assessment through production cutover and stabilization.
• Hands-on experience with Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, Aurora MySQL, Amazon RDS, or comparable managed relational database services.
• Experience migrating Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, or comparable enterprise relational databases to cloud-managed database platforms.
• Experience with AWS Database Migration Service, AWS Schema Conversion Tool, native database utilities, or comparable migration technologies.
• Advanced SQL and database-development skills including schemas, stored procedures, functions, triggers, views, indexing, and query optimization.
• Experience converting schemas and remediating incompatible data types, queries, procedural code, and application dependencies.
• Experience developing migration validation, reconciliation, and data-quality controls.
• Experience with database performance tuning, backup, recovery, replication, high availability, and production stabilization.
• Experience scripting database and migration activities using SQL, Python, Bash, PowerShell, or a comparable language.
• Experience using Git and automated database deployment or CI/CD processes.
• Knowledge of database security, access control, encryption, auditing, secure configuration, and vulnerability remediation.
• Strong technical leadership, troubleshooting, documentation, and stakeholder-communication skills.
• Active Secret security clearance or the ability to obtain and maintain one, as required by assigned duties and contract requirements.

Education / Workforce Qualification

• A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Information Systems, or a related software-engineering discipline; or
• One of the following current certifications: Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), CyberSec First Responder (CFR), Federal IT Security Professional–Manager (FITSP-M), GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC), CompTIA Security+, or Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting USTRANSCOM, Department of Defense logistics, or another mission-critical federal system.
• Experience migrating large or highly available databases with minimal downtime using change-data capture, replication, blue-green, or phased migration techniques.
• Experience with Oracle and PostgreSQL/Aurora modernization; familiarity with Teradata or other large-scale enterprise data-warehouse platforms is beneficial where applicable.
• Experience supporting analytics or BI platforms, including Apache Superset, using migrated relational data sources.
• Familiarity with containerized application environments and infrastructure-as-code processes used by cloud/DevSecOps teams.
• AWS, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft, Security+, or related database/cloud certifications.

Work Location

Hybrid. Remote work may be authorized consistent with program requirements. Personnel must be available for required on-site migration planning, testing, cutover, classified-system access, technical reviews, or meetings at Scott AFB, Illinois.