Data Engineer III

Patriot Software is a remote-first, product-led technology company that provides accounting and payroll software for American businesses. The Data Engineer III will design and operate scalable PostgreSQL databases, data platforms, and pipelines while optimizing performance, reliability, security, and availability. The role also provides technical leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and mentorship to other data engineers.

Responsibilities:

• Design, build, and maintain scalable, reliable, and highly available PostgreSQL databases and supporting data infrastructure
• Own complex data engineering initiatives from architecture through implementation, deployment, and long-term operational support
• Design efficient relational data models that support transactional applications, integrations, reporting, and future business growth
• Optimize database performance through query tuning, indexing strategies, execution plan analysis, partitioning, and server configuration
• Troubleshoot complex production issues involving databases, replication, storage, infrastructure, and application performance
• Design and maintain high availability, backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions for critical data systems
• Build and maintain data pipelines, ETL/ELT processes, and supporting infrastructure that move data reliably between operational systems and downstream consumers
• Collaborate with software engineers to improve application performance through efficient schema design, ORM usage, and database access patterns
• Serve as the subject matter expert for PostgreSQL and database technologies across multiple engineering teams
• Evaluate and recommend database technologies, storage solutions, and cloud services that improve scalability, reliability, security, and operational efficiency
• Develop cloud-native data solutions using AWS services such as RDS, Lambda, S3, EventBridge, and related technologies
• Improve observability by implementing monitoring, alerting, automation, and operational tooling for Patriot's data platform
• Identify technical debt and proactively improve database architecture before issues become operational challenges
• Review database changes, migrations, and application designs to ensure long-term maintainability, scalability, and performance
• Guide engineering teams on best practices for database design, query optimization, and efficient data access
• Mentor Level I and II Data Engineers through pairing, design reviews, code reviews, and technical coaching
• Communicate technical decisions through design documents, architecture reviews, technical discussions, and cross-functional collaboration
• Support secure and responsible data management by promoting best practices for governance, compliance, privacy, and secure adoption of modern technologies, including AI
• Support Patriot's values through leadership, collaboration, and customer-focused decision-making

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering, or equivalent professional experience
• 4-7 years of professional experience in Data Engineering, Database Engineering, or Software Engineering with significant database responsibilities
• Advanced expertise with PostgreSQL, including:
• Utilizes software engineering principles for data engineering projects
• Strong understanding of relational database design, normalization, data modeling, and schema design
• Experience designing and supporting highly available, fault-tolerant production database environments
• Experience building and maintaining ETL/ELT pipelines and data integration solutions
• Professional experience with SQL and at least one programming language such as Python, C#, Go, or similar
• Experience with AWS cloud services such as RDS, Lambda, S3, EventBridge, IAM, and CloudWatch
• Strong understanding of ORM technologies and how application design impacts database performance
• Ability to debug complex problems across applications, databases, and cloud infrastructure
• Strong understanding of software architecture and how data platforms support scalable application development
• Ability to work independently, prioritize competing work, and make sound technical decisions with minimal oversight
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and mentoring skills
• Passion for continuous learning and improving engineering practices
• Consistent, reliable high-speed internet access
• Dedicated, quiet workspace free from distractions
• This role requires sitting or standing for extended periods (8+ hours) while working on a computer, including prolonged screen time and extended, repetitive use of a keyboard and mouse
• To deliver a professional customer experience, this role requires a workspace that supports focused, distraction-free work and clear, quiet audio during scheduled hours
• Maintain reliable, high-speed internet access sufficient to support video, chat, and email-based work
• Open to candidates residing in and legally authorized to work in the United States
• Not open to applicants residing in: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Washington D.C
• Core hours: 8 am–5 pm EST, Monday–Friday
• Some flexibility is required during busy seasons or critical “right-now” moments
• Experience with data warehousing technologies and modern analytical data platforms
• Experience with workflow orchestration tools such as Airflow, Dagster, dbt, or similar technologies
• Experience with event-driven architectures, streaming technologies, or messaging platforms
• Experience administering additional database technologies beyond PostgreSQL
• Experience supporting AI, machine learning, or large language model workloads through scalable data infrastructure
• Experience designing and supporting event-driven data architectures using technologies such as Redpanda, Apache Kafka, Debezium, or similar streaming and change data capture (CDC) platforms
• Familiarity with data governance, metadata management, and data cataloging
• Experience in AWS/RDS cost optimization
• Experience working in financial technology or other regulated industries
• Experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives or serving as a technical lead