Database Platform Distinguished Engineer

Dayforce is a global human capital management (HCM) company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, with operations across North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and the Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region. Our award-winning Cloud HCM platform offers a unified solution database and continuous calculation engine, driving efficiency, productivity and compliance for the global workforce. Our brand promise – Makes Work Life Better – reflects our commitment to employees, customers, partners and communities globally.

About The Opportunity

We are redefining the data foundation that powers Dayforce. As a Distinguished Database Platform Engineer, you will set the technical direction for how we design, scale, and operate our data platforms—spanning transactional systems and modern lakehouse architectures. This is a hands-on architectural role for a technical leader who thrives on solving complex data challenges, influencing engineering at scale, and modernizing data platform engineering through cloud, automation, and AI.

What You'll Get To Do

• Define and drive the architecture of highly scalable, resilient data platforms across OLTP and analytical systems
• Lead the evolution of Lakehouse architecture, supporting unified data and analytics
• Own performance, reliability, and scalability across critical database platforms through deep, hands-on expertise
• Guide adoption of modern platforms and tooling (e.g., Databricks, cloud-native services, automation frameworks)
• Partner with engineering and data teams to shape data models, access patterns, and platform capabilities
• Influence technical strategy and raise engineering standards across the organization
• Lead hands-on investigation and resolution of complex customer database and data lake performance, reliability, and data consistency issues, including direct analysis of production systems when needed

Skills And Experience We Value

• Expert-level experience with large-scale database platforms (e.g., SQL Server, PostgreSQL) in production environments
• Strong background in modern data architecture and distributed data systems
• Experience with Databricks and cloud data platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Familiarity with both relational and NoSQL systems (e.g., MongoDB)
• Deep expertise in performance tuning, scalability, and high-availability design
• Proven ability to operate as a technical leader—setting direction while remaining hands-on
• Comfort leveraging AI and automation to improve database platform operations and engineering productivity
• 10+ years of experience designing, operating, and optimizing large-scale production database platforms
• Deep hands-on expertise with enterprise relational database technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server and PostgreSQL
• Strong experience with distributed data systems and modern data architectures, including Data Lake, Delta Lake, or Lakehouse platforms
• Experience troubleshooting complex database performance, scalability, reliability, and data consistency issues in production environments
• Experience with cloud platforms and cloud-native data services (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Strong understanding of high availability, disaster recovery, backup/recovery, indexing, query optimization, performance tuning, Change Data Capture, and Event Driven systems
• Experience working with automation, observability, and infrastructure-as-code approaches for platform operations
• Proven ability to influence technical direction and collaborate effectively across engineering, infrastructure, and data teams
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience

What would make you really stand out

• Experience with Databricks and modern Lakehouse implementations supporting unified analytics and operational workloads
• Experience with NoSQL technologies such as MongoDB or other distributed document/key-value databases
• Experience designing and operating platforms that support both transactional and analytical workloads at enterprise scale
• Experience modernizing legacy database environments into cloud-native or hybrid architectures
• Demonstrated technical leadership in architecting shared platform capabilities, standards, and engineering best practices
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted tooling or automation to improve operational efficiency, troubleshooting, and engineering productivity
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and leading cross-functional technical initiatives
• Experience designing secure data platforms with strong governance and access-control models
• Familiarity with compliance frameworks and data residency requirements (SOC2, GDPR, HIPAA, etc.)
• Expertise with encryption, secrets management, auditing, and zero-trust approaches
• Advanced cloud, database, or data engineering certifications are considered an asset
• Experience in large-scale SaaS, HCM, fintech, or other highly regulated enterprise software environments is an asset

Why this role stands out

This is a rare opportunity to operate as a top-level technical leader while staying close to the technology. You will shape the future of data at Dayforce—bringing together operational systems, lakehouse architectures, and AI-driven capabilities to power the next generation of enterprise software.

What’s In It For You

Dayforce is fueled by the diversity of our talented employees. We are an equal-opportunity employer and consider and embrace all individuals and what makes them unique. We believe our employees should be happy and healthy, with peace of mind and a sense of fulfillment. Dayforce encourages personal and professional growth. We offer excellent time-away programs, comprehensive wellness initiatives and recognition through competitive pay and benefits. With a commitment to community impact, including volunteer days and our charity, Dayforce Cares we provide opportunities for you to thrive both in your career and personal life. Our focus is not just on your job but on supporting you to be the best version of yourself.

This job posting is for an existing vacancy. Artificial intelligence may be used in the screening, assessment, or selection of applicants for this position.

About The Salary Ranges

Please note that the salary range mentioned in this job description should serve simply as a guide. The final compensation offered may vary based on a variety of factors, including bonuses and/or incentives, or a candidate’s experience, skills, budget and location. Our company is committed to providing a fair, equitable, and competitive package that reflects the value an individual brings to the organization.

Proficiency in English

Proficiency in English is required for this position as this role will regularly interact with English-speaking stakeholders, co-workers, managers, and/or clients across the world. Employees need to be able to communicate with these departments in English to appropriately administer their business relationship. Due to the significant high volume of interactions with these English-speaking co-workers, managers, stakeholders and/or clients, which is inherent to this position, it is not possible to reorganize the company's activities to avoid this requirement.

Fraudulent Recruiting

Beware of fraudulent recruiting. Legitimate Dayforce contacts will use an @dayforce.com email address. We do not request money, checks, equipment orders, or sensitive personal data during the recruitment process. If you have been asked for any of the above, or believe you have been contacted by someone posing as a Dayforce employee, please refer to our fraudulent recruiting statement found here: https://www.dayforce.com/be-aware-of-recruiting-fraud. Dayforce actively monitors all job applications to ensure authenticity. Submissions determined to be fraudulent or misleading will be declined from the recruitment process.

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