Database Engineer/Administrator SME

Altamira Technologies Corporation has a long and successful history providing innovative solutions throughout the U.S. National Security community. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Altamira serves the defense, intelligence and homeland security communities by focusing on creating innovative solutions leveraging common standards in architecture, data and security.

Altamira believes that our people and the culture of our company differentiate us from other companies. We focus on recruiting talented, self-motivated employees that strive to find a way to get things done.

Position Overview

Altamira is seeking a Database Engineer/Administrator to support mission-critical systems by designing, maintaining, and optimizing database platforms in secure, hybrid environments. This role will focus primarily on PostgreSQL and may also include administration and engineering support for NoSQL databases (e.g., ArangoDB) and caching technologies (e.g., Redis). The ideal candidate has strong operational discipline (backup/restore, HA/DR, performance tuning) and the ability to collaborate with platform and application teams to ensure data reliability, security, and availability.

Key Responsibilities

• Administer and optimize PostgreSQL databases supporting production workloads
• Design and implement high availability, replication, backup/restore, and disaster recovery strategies
• Monitor database health and performance; tune queries, indexes, and configurations as needed
• Implement database security controls, auditing, access management, and encryption best practices
• Support database schema changes and migrations in collaboration with application teams
• Automate routine database operations and provisioning where applicable
• Troubleshoot complex database issues including performance bottlenecks, connection limits, and resource constraints
• Support NoSQL and supporting data technologies as required (e.g., ArangoDB, Redis)
• Create and maintain database documentation, runbooks, and standard operating procedures
• Support compliance, accreditation, and audit activities in classified environments
  
  

Required Qualifications

• Ability to obtain TS/SCI clearance
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• Experience in database administration and/or database engineering roles
• Hands-on PostgreSQL experience in production environments
• Experience with HA/DR concepts (replication, failover, backup/restore validation)
• Strong understanding of database security practices and access controls
• Experience troubleshooting performance issues (query plans, indexing, connection pooling, resource constraints)
• Strong Linux skills and scripting/automation ability (Bash, Python, etc.)
• Ability to work effectively in secure, mission-focused environments
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) Certification
• Experience with ArangoDB or other NoSQL databases
• Experience with Redis administration and performance tuning
• Experience with Kubernetes-based database patterns (operators, stateful workloads)
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) in support of database provisioning
• Familiarity with Kafka or event-driven architectures (e.g., CDC patterns)
• Prior experience supporting DoD or Intelligence Community programs
• Relevant certifications (e.g., PostgreSQL, AWS database specialty, Security-focused certs)