# Principal Cloud Database Engineer

**Company**: Ford Motor Company
**Location**: MI, United States
**Work arrangement**: remote
**Experience**: senior
**Job type**: full-time
**Salary**: $115,000-$192,900
**Category**: Engineering
**Industry**: Automotive
**Wikidata**: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44294

**Apply**: https://efds.fa.em5.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/job/66461?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply
**Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_937e0a0a-a16

## Description

We are seeking a Principal Cloud Database Engineer (GCP & AI) to drive architecture, engineering, and innovation across enterprise-scale database platforms.

This role will lead modernization efforts using Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services such as Cloud SQL, AlloyDB, and Spanner while integrating AI-driven capabilities into database operations and data platforms.

The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in relational database systems and cloud architecture with hands-on exposure to AI/ML technologies to enable intelligent, automated, and scalable data solutions.

## Responsibilities

### Technical Leadership

- Lead architecture design and engineering for GCP relational database platforms (Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL, Cloud SQL for SQL Server, AlloyDB, Spanner).

- Define and implement enterprise database standards aligned with security, scalability, and performance best practices.

- Drive modernization initiatives including database migrations to GCP using tools such as DMS, Striim and migration frameworks.

### Cloud & Platform Engineering

- Design highly available, resilient, and cost-optimized database solutions on GCP.

- Implement infrastructure-as-code (IaC) using tools such as Terraform.

- Enable secure connectivity patterns (IAM, VPC, Private Service Access, Private Service Connect, serverless integrations).

- Lead Cloud Databases financial accounting, performance tuning, capacity planning, and database reliability engineering.

### AI & Data Innovation

- Integrate AI/ML capabilities into database platforms (e.g., MCP, data agents, context engineering, anomaly detection, query optimization).

- Consult with application teams to enable data pipelines for AI/ML workloads.

- Evaluate and adopt AI-assisted database operations and automation solutions.

- Drive initiatives on AI-enabled observability and self-healing systems.

### Operational Excellence

- Establish best practices for backup, recovery, disaster recovery, and compliance.

- Define monitoring, logging, and alerting strategies for database services.

- Lead database governance and continuous cost optimization initiatives.

- Provide CUD evaluation and recommendations.

### Collaboration & Leadership

- Mentor Summer Interns, Ford College Graduates, Cloud engineers and Database Specialists; act as Subject Matter Expert for GCP relational databases.

- Partner with application, DevOps, and architecture teams to deliver scalable solutions.

- Influence platform strategy and roadmap for database and AI adoption.

- Advocate with GCP product and engineering teams to enhance/mature GCP database services.

## Qualifications

- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or related field.

- 10+ years of experience in relational database engineering (PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MySQL, AlloyDB or Spanner).

- 5+ years of hands-on experience with GCP, especially:

- Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL and/or Cloud SQL for SQL Server

- AlloyDB

- Cloud Spanner

- Strong expertise in:

- Database platform automation, design, indexing, and performance tuning

- Backup/recovery and high availability architectures

- Migration strategies and tools (e.g., DMS, Striim, replication tools)

- Experience with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and IaC.

- Programming experience (Terraform, Python, Java, or Go).

## Benefits

- Immediate medical, dental, and prescription drug coverage

- Flexible family care, parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more

- Vehicle discount program for employees and family members, and management leases

- Tuition assistance

- Established and active employee resource groups

- Paid time off for individual and team community service

- A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day

- Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

## Skills

### Required
- GCP
- Cloud SQL
- AlloyDB
- Spanner
- Terraform
- Python
- Java
- Go
- PostgreSQL
- SQL Server
- MySQL
- Database Engineering
- DevOps
- CI/CD
- IaC

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Source: [Apply at efds.fa.em5.oraclecloud.com](https://efds.fa.em5.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/job/66461?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)