Database Architect (Cloud) for SRA

Overview

Black Canyon Consulting (BCC) is searching for a Database Architect with expertise in Cloud Technologies to support National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), part of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. This opportunity is full time and onsite at the NCBI in Bethesda, MD.

The Database Architecture will design, optimize, and maintain large-scale, distributed database systems powering NCBI’s premier biomedical data resources. This role focuses on scalable database architectures, partitioning strategies, and cloud-native solutions to support massive, complex datasets driving global biomedical and public health research.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Design and optimize cloud-based database architectures to support petabyte-scale biomedical datasets.
• Implement and manage database partitioning, sharding, and replication strategies to ensure performance, scalability, and reliability.
• Tune queries, schemas, and indexing strategies for high-throughput workloads.
• Support production-level data operations in complex, high-availability environments.
• Work with cross-functional teams to integrate cloud-native data services with pipelines and APIs.
• Troubleshoot database performance issues and implement proactive monitoring solutions.

Core Expertise

• 5+ years of professional database experience with large, distributed, or cloud-hosted databases.
• Advanced proficiency in SQL: schema design, query optimization, indexing, stored procedures.
• Deep knowledge of database partitioning and sharding strategies in cloud environments.
• Hands-on experience with Linux/UNIX environments and scripting (Bash, Python).
• Familiarity with cloud database services (AWS RDS, Aurora, Athena, Google BigQuery, or equivalent).
• Experience operating databases in production with high concurrency and large-scale data ingestion.
• Strong troubleshooting skills for performance bottlenecks, query execution plans, and distributed systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Microsoft SQL Server and advanced features (partitioning, indexing strategies).
• Familiarity with bioinformatics databases or large scientific datasets.
• Experience with containerized workloads (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes).
• Knowledge of XML schemas and structured/unstructured data integration.
• Exposure to Data Warehouse, Data Lake, or Data Lakehouse concepts.
• Interest in learning Big Data platforms (Apache Spark, Hadoop) and data science tools (Jupyter).
• Proficiency in additional programming languages (Python, C++).

Benefits and Salary

We offer a competitive salary commensurate with experience and location. If you enjoy being a part of a high performing, professional service and technology focused organization, please apply today!