Senior Database Design Engineer

QuidelOrtho unites the strengths of Quidel Corporation and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, creating a world-leading in vitro diagnostics company with award-winning expertise in immunoassay and molecular testing, clinical chemistry and transfusion medicine. We are more than 6,000 strong and do business in over 130 countries, providing answers with fast, accurate and consistent testing where and when they are needed most – home to hospital, lab to clinic.

Our culture puts our team members first and prioritizes actions that support happiness, inspiration and engagement. We strive to build meaningful connections with each other as we believe that employee happiness and business success are linked. Join us in our mission to transform the power of diagnostics into a healthier future for all.

The Role

At QuidelOrtho, we’re advancing the power of diagnostics for a healthier future for all. Join our mission as our next Senior Database Design Engineer to join our R&D Instrument Platforms organization. This role serves as the subject matter expert for relational database design and tuning for Linux-based medical devices with on-device databases, with ongoing stewardship of the database architecture over the product lifecycle.

The successful candidate will own database schema design, query strategy, and cross-component data access patterns to ensure long-term maintainability, performance, and regulatory compliance. This is an opportunity to shape the data backbone of safety-critical systems that must operate reliably for years in the field, often without frequent upgrades or migrations.

This position is remote eligible but candidates local to Rochester, NY are highly desirable.

NOTE: If you are working remotely, you must be able to travel to Rochester, NY on as-needed basis (about once a quarter).

The Responsibilities

This role will focus on the design and implementation of robust applications for distributed Linux-based software systems while leading efforts in database schema and integration. Candidates should demonstrate expertise in relational database design and on-device database integration.

• Serve as the database architecture owner for PostgreSQL or equivalent database instances embedded within medical devices running Linux on workstation-class hardware.
• Design relational schemas, views, indexes, and constraints that balance performance, maintainability, and regulatory traceability.
• Own and maintain the database design over time, including governance of schema changes, technical debt management, documentation, and coordination of design evolution across releases.
• Act as the central design authority for how multiple software components read from and write to shared database resources.
• Design database interfaces and usage patterns that minimize the need for future migrations, while still enabling safe, versioned evolution when required.
• Lead query optimization and performance tuning, including execution plan analysis, indexing strategy, and long-term capacity planning.
• Define standards for database versioning, migration strategy, and backward compatibility suitable for regulated, fielded systems.
• Collaborate with system architects, middleware developers, and UI teams to ensure database access patterns are well-defined, testable, and stable.
• Provide technical leadership in design reviews related to data modeling, persistence strategy, and cross-process communication via the database.
• Support backup, restore, and recovery strategies appropriate for on-device databases in production medical equipment.
• Participate in requirements, architecture, design, verification, and validation activities within a regulated quality management system (FDA, IEC 62304, ISO 13485).
• Perform other work-related duties as assigned.

The Individual

Required:

• B.S. or M.S. Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a related discipline required.
• Minimum of 5 years required with bachelor’s or 3 years with master’s degree, preferably leading in a medical device environment or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing and evolving relational schemas; optimizing queries through execution plan analysis; and defining indexing, view, and data-access layers that support multiple consumers.
• Experience supporting on-device or embedded databases, where the database runs locally on a deployed system rather than as a managed cloud service.
• Strong understanding of data evolution strategies, including migrations, versioned schemas, and backward compatibility.
• Experience working in regulated or safety-critical environments (medical devices strongly preferred).
• Working knowledge of C++ or similar programming language sufficient to collaborate with application developers and review database interaction code.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to reason about system-wide performance and data integrity tradeoffs.
• Ability to travel 5% or less, domestically.

Preferred:

• Experience tuning databases for non-cloud, appliance-style deployments.
• Familiarity with Linux-based embedded or semi-embedded systems (Yocto, Ubuntu, or similar).
• Experience designing database schemas that support concurrent access by multiple services or processes.
• Knowledge of database migration tools and strategies suitable for deployed products with limited upgrade windows.
• Prior experience executing database migrations (including planning, risk mitigation, validation, and rollback) and applying lessons learned to improve future migration practices.
• Familiarity with scripting or automation (SQL, Python, Bash) for diagnostics, profiling, and maintenance tooling.
• Understanding of observability concerns related to databases (logging, metrics, tracing).
• Experience collaborating across software, systems, quality, and regulatory teams.

The Key Working Relationships

Internal Partners:

• Systems Engineers, Hardware Engineers, Quality/Regulatory, Operations, Marketing, Manufacturing, Service, Clinical Medical Affairs, Project Management Office

External Partners:

• Software development partners and suppliers.

The Work Environment

This role is based at our beautiful waterfront campus with walking trail, fitness center, and full-service onsite cafeteria in the Rochester, NY region.

The work environment characteristics are representative of a manufacturing, laboratory, or warehouse environment. Up to 60% of the time at desk, standing or sitting extended periods of time. Flexible work hours to meet project deadlines

Physical Demands

Must be able to work at desk, standing or sitting for extended periods of time. Other physical demands include bending, kneeling, talking, hearing, and vision.

Salary Transparency

The salary range for this position takes into account a wide range of factors including education, experience, knowledge, skills, geography, and abilities of the candidate, in addition to internal equity and alignment with market data. At QuidelOrtho, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. The salary range for this position is $100,000 to $120,000 and is bonus eligible. QuidelOrtho offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, along with a 401(k) plan, employee assistance program, Employee Stock Purchase Plan, paid time off (including sick time), and paid Holidays. All benefits are non-contractual, and QuidelOrtho may amend, terminate, or enhance the benefits provided, as it deems appropriate.

Equal Opportunity

QuidelOrtho believes in Equal Opportunity for all and is committed to ensuring all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, have an opportunity to apply for those positions that they are interested in and qualify for without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic. QuidelOrtho is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals so that an individual can perform the duties. If you are interested in applying for an employment opportunity and require special assistance or an accommodation to apply due to a disability, please contact us at [email protected].

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