Principal Database Engineer

About DAT

DAT is an award-winning employer of choice and a next-generation SaaS technology company that has been at the leading edge of innovation in transportation supply chain logistics for 45 years. We continue to transform the industry year over year, by deploying a suite of software solutions to millions of customers every day - customers who depend on DAT for the most relevant data and most accurate insights to help them make smarter business decisions and run their companies more profitably. We operate the largest marketplace of its kind in North America, with 400 million freights posted in 2022, and a database of $150 billion of annual global shipment market transaction data. Our headquarters are in Denver, CO, and Beaverton, OR, with additional offices in Seattle, WA; Springfield, MO; and Bangalore, India. For additional information, see www.DAT.com/company

Job Application Deadline: 04/30/2026

The Opportunity

At DAT, our leaders optimistically share future possibilities to inspire and motivate others toward their full potential. We expect our employees to find ways to embrace positive change, be curious and challenge the status quo, and provide solutions to unmet problems. Joining DAT means joining a culture focused on fostering development, building genuine connections, recognizing each other's strengths and sharing in successes.

Candidate profile

As a Principal Database Engineer, you will be responsible for establishing database administration patterns, practices, and standards within the organization and team. You will support us in designing, building, and maintaining our database and data platform infrastructure, with special focus on reliability, availability, scalability, security, and governance in AWS. You will have the opportunity to work on challenging database platforms and data-related problems and to have a measurable impact on the organization. Leading the evolution of our data platform including database architecture, performance optimization, security hardening, disaster recovery, and observability while introducing new ideas, patterns and technologies in support of our customers and internal stakeholders.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the evolution of our data platform architecture with focus on PostgreSQL, DocumentDB, and AWS-native database services
• Establish and enforce database administration best practices including performance tuning, capacity planning, backup/recovery strategies, and high availability configurations
• Implement comprehensive observability solutions for database monitoring, alerting, and performance analytics
• Design and enforce data security policies, access controls, encryption strategies, and compliance frameworks
• Establish data governance standards including data quality, lineage, cataloging, and discoverability
• Optimize database performance through query optimization, indexing strategies, and resource management
• Knowledge of implementing known patterns and their impact to a microservices architecture-based data platform, such as Event Driven, CQRS, event sourcing, Saga pattern, etc
• Database modeling expertise (relational, document-based, and distributed database design patterns)
• Provide solutions for complex business problems, enabling insights that can empower better decision-making
• Take an active role in fostering a culture of learning and excellence

The Skills and Experience You’ll Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related technical discipline
• 8+ years of relevant database and platform engineering experience with at least 3+ years in a lead or principal capacity
• Ability to lead, teach, mentor and execute at the highest level
• You are a strong database platform engineer with deep expertise in PostgreSQL, DocumentDB (or MongoDB), and AWS database services (RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift)
• Expert-level knowledge of database administration including performance tuning, high availability architectures, disaster recovery, backup/restore strategies, and capacity planning
• Proven experience implementing comprehensive observability and monitoring solutions (CloudWatch, DataDog, or similar)
• Strong know