Working location: Hybrid in Ho Chi Minh City
Salary range: Up to VND 85,000,000 gross
RESPONSIBILITIES
We are building a founding engineering team in Vietnam to modernize a large-scale legacy enterprise platform. This is a greenfield architecture role, not a maintenance or administration position.
The Senior Data Engineer will be responsible for understanding, decomposing, and re-architecting a complex monolithic database into modern, domain-driven microservices. You will work hands-on with architects, developers, and the client to make sure no business logic is lost during the transformation.
This is not a DBA role. We need someone who can think, design, and build - not just administer and monitor.
Phase 1: System Analysis & Decomposition (Current Priority)
- Deep-dive into the existing monolithic database to understand table relationships, stored procedure logic, data flows, and external integrations.
- Map business domains from the existing schema (identify bounded contexts).
- Document dependencies between tables, procedures, and external data sources.
- Identify data ownership boundaries and shared data patterns.
- Produce a decomposition blueprint that the team can act on.
Phase 2: Architecture Design & Business Validation (60% of time at this stage)
- Collaborate with the Solution Architect to design the target microservices data model.
- Work with developers to validate that all business logic captured in stored procedures is preserved in the new architecture.
- Design data contracts and API boundaries between services.
- Define data migration strategies for each bounded context.
- Prototype and validate schema designs with real data.
Phase 3: Migration Execution (Future)
- Work with DevOps, Architecture, and Tech Lead to execute incremental migration
- Implement migration frameworks/scripts (SQL, Python, or AI-assisted tools)
- Support parallel-run strategies (old + new systems running simultaneously)
- Ensure data integrity and consistency during migration windows
Phase 4: Monitoring, Performance & Reliability (Future)
- Set up monitoring and alerting for the new data architecture.
- Performance tuning and query optimization in the new system.
- Ensure high availability, disaster recovery, and data governance.
REQUIREMENTS
- Core skill: Strong SQL Server expertise, hands-on writing and optimizing complex queries, not just administering.
- Architecture: Experience decomposing monolithic databases into domain-based or microservices data models.
- Data modeling: Ability to design normalized/denormalized schemas from scratch based on business requirements.
- ORM migration: Understanding of ORM patterns (EF6 → EF Core or modern alternatives).
- Bounded context: Practical understanding of Domain-Driven Design (DDD) concepts applied to data.
- Communication: Ability to explain technical data decisions to architects, developers, and business stakeholders.
*** Nice to have
- Experience with legacy modernization projects (monolith → microservices).
- Migration framework design or experience (ETL, CDC, dual-write patterns).
- Azure SQL / Azure Data Services.
- Python scripting for data analysis or migration automation.
- Experience working in small, fast-moving teams (startup or founding-stage environment).
- AI/ML tools for code analysis or migration assistance.
Mindset & Culture Fit:
This is a founding team position. We are looking for someone who:
- Can operate in ambiguity, not all processes and tools are defined yet.
- Is comfortable designing solutions from first principles, not just following playbooks.
- Has a builder mentality, willing to create frameworks, not just use them.
- Can work in a small team (5-10 people) with high autonomy and fast iteration.
- Values depth of understanding over breadth of tools.
We are not looking for:
- Pure DBAs who primarily manage infrastructure, backups, and replication.
- Candidates who only work within pre-defined task scopes.
- People who need extensive process and documentation before they can start working.
