--- title: 'Staff Database Engineer at Harvey' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-database-engineer-harvey-san-francisco-3jn6na8m6kmw' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-07' --- # Staff Database Engineer at Harvey - **Company:** [Harvey](https://feeny.ai/companies/harvey) - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Compensation:** $191k–$286k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-03-20 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/harvey/313d5aa8-bfc9-4057-b9a3-b73b4894f6a7/application **Skills:** PostgreSQL, Database Administration, Database Reliability Engineering, Infrastructure Engineering, PostgreSQL WAL Mechanics, Vacuum Tuning, Logical and Physical Replication, Partitioning Strategies, Database Observability, Datadog, pganalyze, Cloud Database Services, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, GCP Cloud SQL, AWS RDS, AWS Aurora, Terraform, Pulumi, Database Infrastructure for Multi-region Environments, Python > Define and own the technical strategy for Harvey's global PostgreSQL database fleet, including migration governance, multi-region scaling, and reliability. Partner with engineering leadership on infrastructure roadmap, incident response, and platform tooling while ensuring data safety and performance. ## Job description ## WHY HARVEY At Harvey, we’re transforming how legal and professional services operate. By combining frontier agentic AI, an enterprise-grade platform, and deep domain expertise, we’re reshaping how critical knowledge work gets done for decades to come. This is a rare chance to help build a generational company at a true inflection point. We have strong product-market fit and world-class investor support. We’re scaling fast and defining a new category in real time. The work is ambitious, the bar is high, and the opportunity for growth — personal, professional, and financial — is unmatched. Our team moves fast, takes ownership, and is deeply committed to the mission — operating with intensity, staying close to our customers, and pushing each other for excellence. We live by three values: Decisiveness, Simplicity, and Job's Not Finished. We act quickly on clear judgment over perfect information, we believe simplicity is what scales, and we're never satisfied with where we are. If you want to do the best work of your career alongside people who share that drive, we'd love to build with you. At Harvey, the future of professional services is being written today — and we’re just getting started. ## ROLE OVERVIEW As a Staff Database Engineer on the Engineering team at Harvey, you will define how our database infrastructure operates and evolves across our legal AI platform. Harvey runs a global fleet of PostgreSQL databases spanning multiple regions and availability zones. You’ll own the technical strategy for this fleet—setting the standards for migration governance, driving architecture decisions for multi-region scaling, and establishing the operational practices that keep our data layer reliable as we grow. This is a leadership role with deep hands-on expectations. You’ll partner directly with Principal and Staff Engineers on infrastructure roadmap decisions while also being the person who can diagnose a replication lag spike at 2am. You’ll build the migration review framework, define the tooling strategy, and raise the bar for how the entire engineering organization thinks about database safety and performance. This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use an in-person work model and offer relocation assistance to new employees. ## WHAT YOU'LL DO - Migration Governance – Own the migration governance framework end-to-end—design the review workflow, CI gate checks, automated rollback procedures, and fleet-wide deployment sequencing that makes safe migrations the default across the org - Architecture & Scaling – Drive the technical strategy for Harvey’s global database fleet—multi-region replication design, capacity planning, sharding and partitioning approaches, and fleet-wide observability as we scale into new markets - Reliability & Performance – Own database reliability and performance at the fleet level—monitoring replication health, optimizing query performance, tuning vacuum and connection management, and building the alerting that gives us confidence across all production environments - Platform & Tooling – Build self-service tooling and developer guardrails—migration dry-runs, schema diff previews, automated health checks, performance regression detection—so engineering teams can move fast without bottlenecking on a single DBA - Incident Leadership – Lead database incident response and drive systemic improvements—triage production issues, run post-incident reviews, and turn lessons learned into durable process and tooling fixes Even Better If You Can: - Security & Compliance – Partner with Security and Compliance to design and enforce data-layer controls for SOC 2, GDPR, and data residency requirements—access controls, audit logging, encryption standards, and data lifecycle policies - Strategic Partnership – Represent database engineering in vendor evaluations, build-vs-buy decisions, and technology strategy discussions with engineering leadership - Team Building – Shape the database engineering function at Harvey—define the operating model, set the hiring bar, mentor engineers on database best practices, and build the culture where teams proactively think about data safety ## WHAT YOU HAVE - 10+ years of hands-on experience in database administration, database reliability engineering, or infrastructure engineering with PostgreSQL as your primary database, with demonstrated staff-level scope—you’ve set standards across teams, not just operated within one - Expert-level PostgreSQL knowledge (required)—WAL mechanics, vacuum tuning, logical and physical replication, partitioning strategies, and the ability to debug production issues others can’t. PostgreSQL is our core database and deep fluency is non-negotiable - Track record of building migration governance systems—not just reviewing migrations, but designing the frameworks, tooling, and organizational processes that make safe migrations the default - Experience architecting database infrastructure for multi-region, high-availability environments—replication topologies, failover automation, and data consistency trade-offs at fleet scale - Deep fluency with database observability—you’ve built monitoring strategies using Datadog, pganalyze, or custom instrumentation, and you know which metrics actually predict incidents - Experience leading database major version upgrades (e.g., PostgreSQL 14 → 16) or sharding initiatives in production with zero downtime - Proven ability to influence technical direction across teams without direct authority—you’ve written RFCs, set standards, and changed how an engineering organization thinks about database operations - Proficiency with cloud database services at scale (Azure Database for PostgreSQL, GCP Cloud SQL, or AWS RDS/Aurora) and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Pulumi) - Clear communication across audiences—you can present a database architecture decision to the VP of Engineering and explain a migration risk to a junior developer with equal clarity Bonus - Strong software engineering skills (Python, Go, or similar)—you build production-grade tooling and automation, not one-off scripts - Exposure to vector databases, embedding storage, or adjacent systems (Redis, Elasticsearch, Kafka) relevant to AI/ML workloads in regulated industries - Background building or leading a database engineering function from scratch — defining the team charter, hiring, and operating model ## COMPENSATION $190,720 - $290,000 DEPENDING ON YOUR LOCATION, AN APPLICANT PRIVACY NOTICE MAY APPLY TO YOU. YOU CAN FIND ALL OF OUR APPLICANT PRIVACY NOTICES [HERE https://www.notion.so/harveyai/Harvey-Candidate-Privacy-Policies-319ac3fcdd7a803bb807d5094f249922]. ## #LI-AN2 Harvey is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, or any other basis protected by law. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made by emailing accommodations@harvey.ai ## About Harvey ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Harvey builds domain-specific AI software for legal and professional services, enabling law firms and in-house teams to automate research, contract analysis, due diligence, and complex workflows. - **Entity Type**: Private (backed by leading venture capital firms) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Winston Weinberg (CEO), Gabriel Pereyra (President) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: AI software for legal and professional services (LegalTech) - **Target customers**: B2B – large law firms (AmLaw 100), in-house legal teams at Fortune 500 enterprises, mid-sized firms, and professional service networks across 60+ countries. - **Mission or purpose statement**: To enable legal and professional services teams to focus on high-value work by providing a secure, expert AI platform that handles research, drafting, and complex workflows. ## Products & Services - **Harvey Assistant**: Ask questions, analyze documents, and draft faster with domain-specific AI (SaaS). - **Harvey Vault**: Securely store, organize, and bulk-analyze legal documents (SaaS). - **Harvey Knowledge**: Research complex legal, regulatory, and tax questions across domains (SaaS). - **Harvey Agents**: Purpose-built agents that execute complex legal work end-to-end (SaaS). - **Harvey Contract Intelligence**: Surface insights, strengthen negotiations, and accelerate reviews (SaaS). - **Harvey Command Center**: Analytics, benchmarking, and agentic insights for leading AI transformation (SaaS). - **Harvey Mobile**: Mobile access to stay productive from anywhere (SaaS). - **Harvey Shared Spaces**: Collaborate with legal teams across organizations in secure shared workspaces (SaaS). - **Harvey Ecosystem**: Integration with existing tools to ground answers in trusted sources (API/platform). ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (company is private). - **Key Metric**: Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) – reported in press but exact figure not disclosed; strong growth implied by 1,500+ customers and rapid hiring. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, GV (Google Ventures), OpenAI Startup Fund, Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz, EQT. - **Growth Signals**: - Named Time100 Most Influential Companies (2025). - LinkedIn Top 50 Startup of 2025. - CNBC Disruptor 50 List. - 1,500+ customers across 60+ countries, including AmLaw 100 firms. - Headcount: ~300 employees (as of mid-2025), with aggressive hiring (254 active job postings). - Office expansion: San Francisco, New York City, London. ## Competitive Advantages - **Domain specialization**: AI models trained specifically for legal and professional services, not generic LLMs. - **Enterprise security**: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001/27701/42001, GDPR, CCPA compliance – meeting law firm security requirements. - **Deep investor backing**: World-class VC network provides strategic guidance and access. - **Strong product‑market fit**: Rapid adoption by top-tier law firms and in-house teams, with high switching costs due to embedded workflows. - **First‑mover in agentic legal AI**: Purpose‑built agents execute end‑to‑end tasks, differentiating from simple document Q&A tools. ## Strategic Focus - **Customization, collaboration, and simplicity**: Helping teams embed expertise into Harvey, collaborate across firms, and reduce complexity via agentic workflows. - **Expansion beyond legal**: Long‑term ambition to transform professional services broadly (consulting, accounting, etc.). - **Product innovation**: Continued investment in agentic AI, mobile access, and ecosystem integrations. - **Global growth**: Scaling sales and engineering teams in existing hubs and expanding into new markets. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Fast‑paced, collaborative, ambitious. Values include **Decisiveness** (“take the square root of the weather” – avoid overanalysis), **Simplicity**, and **Job’s Not Finished** (continuous improvement). - **Work environment**: Hybrid – 3+ days per week in office for roles based in San Francisco, New York City, or London. Some fully remote positions available (clearly marked). - **Benefits**: Comprehensive health/dental/vision insurance, 401(k) match, paid parental leave (immediately eligible), annual professional development stipend, in‑office daily lunch, and more. - **Growth opportunities**: Rapidly scaling (~300 employees, 254 open roles) provides internal mobility and ownership of impactful projects. - **Engineering culture**: Strong blend of AI research (DeepMind background) and legal domain expertise. CTO Siva Gurumurthy recently joined. Emphasis on building secure, enterprise‑grade products. ## Sources 1. [harvey.ai](https://www.harvey.ai/) 2. [harvey.ai/company](https://www.harvey.ai/company) 3. [harvey.ai/blog/landing-a-job-at-harvey](https://www.harvey.ai/blog/landing-a-job-at-harvey) 4. [linkedin.com/company/harvey-ai](https://www.linkedin.com/company/harvey-ai) 5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/harvey](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/harvey) ## Other roles at Harvey - [Staff Software Engineer, Model Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-model-infrastructure-harvey-san-francisco-8a16y83nftsj) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Software Engineer, Model Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-model-infrastructure-harvey-san-francisco-6tywmebr0r9h) — San Francisco, CA - [Head of Mid-Market Sales](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-mid-market-sales-harvey-london-n918xg1r4jgb) — London, United Kingdom - [Customer Experience Manager, US](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-experience-manager-us-harvey-san-francisco-2dw5w8905rz6) — San Francisco, CA - [Transformation Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/transformation-associate-harvey-san-francisco-qm17099y4cjc) — San Francisco, CA - [Transformation Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/transformation-associate-harvey-chicago-h0b3a2pdz2zp) — Chicago, IL - [Transformation Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/transformation-associate-harvey-dallas-a2hzwnh0vb51) — Dallas, TX - [Transformation Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/transformation-associate-harvey-remote-cezdb49eyhv5) - [Transformation Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/transformation-associate-harvey-new-york-78kzq8sv2gvp) — New York, NY - [Content Marketing Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/content-marketing-manager-harvey-san-francisco-zsjew4mcankn) — San Francisco, CA