Staff Database Engineer

Solvd, Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Solvd is expanding its AI-native consulting practice and migrating a Tier-1 US payments platform to a multi-region AWS architecture. The role focuses on building reliable cross-region data replication, infrastructure as code, and robust observability.

You will implement DynamoDB Global Tables, CDC pipelines, and failover/runbooks while collaborating with engineers to ensure data integrity and scalable deployment patterns across regions.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of production database engineering on AWS with payments/banking workloads.
• Hands-on with DynamoDB and two of Aurora MySQL, Cassandra, ElastiCache, DocumentDB, Neptune.
• Experience with cross-region replication using DynamoDB Global Tables in production.
• Strong Terraform (or CDK) skills to build multi-region modules.
• Familiarity with CDC tooling and operational considerations.

Responsibilities

• Implement and operate cross-region replication with DynamoDB Global Tables.
• Codify infrastructure with Terraform (or CDK).
• Build the observability layer for replication health using Datadog and CloudWatch.
• Write runbooks and design docs for client handover.
• Support data extraction from monolith to microservices; build CDC pipelines.

Skills

Production database engineering

Cross-region replication

Written communication

Regulated client environments

Tools

Terraform

CDK

DynamoDB

Aurora MySQL

Cassandra

ElastiCache

DocumentDB

Neptune

DMS

DynamoDB Streams

Kafka Connect

Debezium

Datadog

CloudWatch

KMS

IAM

Job description

Solvd Inc. is a rapidly growing AI-native consulting and technology services firm delivering enterprise transformation across cloud, data, software engineering, and artificial intelligence. We work with industry-leading organizations to design, build, and operationalize technology solutions that drive measurable business outcomes. Following the acquisition of Tooploox, a premier AI and product development company, Solvd now offers true end-to-end delivery—from strategic advisory and solution design to custom AI development and enterprise-scale implementation. Our capability centers combine deep technical expertise, proven delivery methodologies, and sector-specific knowledge to address complex business challenges quickly and effectively. Solvd is migrating a Tier-1 US payments platform from a single AWS region to a multi-region architecture in three phases (pilot light by EOY 2026, warm standby by EOY 2027, full active-active by EOY 2028). The data layer spans Aurora MySQL, Cassandra, ElastiCache (Redis / Valkey), DynamoDB, DocumentDB, OpenSearch, and Neptune.

What you’ll do

• Implement and operate cross-region replication using Amazon DynamoDB Global Tables, ensuring reliable multi-region data replication, high availability, consistency, and disaster recovery.
• Codify everything in Terraform (or CDK).
• Build the observability layer for replication health: lag metrics, consistency checks, alarm thresholds, and runbook automation. Datadog is the primary observability stack; CloudWatch is the baseline.
• Author and execute failover and failback runbooks. Run game-days using AWS Fault Injection Service. Measure and report against RTO and RPO targets.
• Implement KMS cross-account replication, IAM service principals for replication roles, and the secrets and parameter strategy for region-local dependencies.
• Support data extraction from the monolith into microservices: build CDC pipelines (DMS, DynamoDB Streams, Kafka Connect, Debezium), validate data integrity, and own the cutover sequence for individual extractions.
• Pair with application engineers on connection-string abstraction, retry and idempotency patterns, and graceful degradation during region failover.
• Write design docs and runbooks the client team can take over after the engagement.

What you’ll bring (required)

• 8+ years in production database engineering on AWS, with hands-on responsibility for at least one of: payments, banking, brokerage, or comparable financial-services workloads.
• Deep production experience with DynamoDB and at least two of: Aurora MySQL, Cassandra, ElastiCache (Redis or Valkey), DocumentDB, Neptune. Working knowledge of at least two more.
• Practical experience with cross-region replication in production using DynamoDB Global Tables: you’ve configured and operated multi-region DynamoDB deployments and handled failure scenarios such as replication conflicts, regional outages, replication delays, and consistency or version-skew issues.
• Strong Terraform (or CDK). You can build a multi-region module from scratch and explain the trade-offs.
• Comfort with CDC tooling (DMS, DDB Streams, Kafka Connect, or Debezium) and the operational gotchas (schema drift, ordering guarantees, replay).
• Linux, networking fundamentals (VPC, Transit Gateway, peering, DNS), and IAM / KMS proficiency.
• Solid written communication and ability to operate in a regulated client environment.

Nice to have

• Cassandra multi-DC operations experience at scale (nodetool workflows, repair strategy, tombstone management, cross-region anti-entropy).
• AWS MSK or Kafka MirrorMaker 2 experience for cross-region event replication.
• Experience with Datadog Database Monitoring and custom CloudWatch metrics.
• AWS Database Specialty or Solutions Architect Associate / Professional certifications.

When you join Solvd, you’ll ... Shape real-world AI-driven projects across key industries, working with clients from startup innovation to enterprise transformation.

Be part of a global team with equal opportunities for collaboration across continents and cultures.

Thrive in an inclusive environment that prioritizes continuous learning, innovation, and ethical AI standards.

Ready to make an impact? If you’re excited to build things that matter, champion responsible AI, and grow with some of the industry’s sharpest minds.

Solvd is an equal opportunity employer.