PostgreSQL Aurora/AWS EMR Specialist

Company Overview

At 4A Consulting, we turn complexity into opportunity. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Baltimore, MD, we are a women-owned, boutique consulting firm specializing in delivering innovative, data-driven solutions to both the Federal Government and Fortune 500 clients. Our team blends deep industry knowledge with advanced technologies to design tailored strategies that drive measurable and sustainable outcomes. We pride ourselves on an agile, collaborative approach that helps organizations navigate challenges and seize emerging opportunities in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. At 4A, we don’t just deliver projects, we build trusted partnerships that empower our clients to lead with confidence in the digital age.

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced PostgreSQL Aurora/AWS EMR Specialist to support mission critical cloud-based data platforms using Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL and AWS EMR. This role requires deep knowledge of Aurora architecture, PostgreSQL internals, EMR cluster operations, Spark and Hive performance optimization, and AWS native automation and security practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Engineer, operate, and optimize Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL clusters including architecture, failover mechanics, storage layer behavior, and reader and writer topology.
• Configure and manage Aurora Serverless v2, autoscaling, and cost optimized cluster designs.
• Implement logical and physical replication, version upgrades, patching, backups, restores, snapshots, and point in time recovery.
• Perform advanced PostgreSQL tuning including indexing strategies, execution plan analysis, vacuum operations, and slow query diagnostics.
• Engineer and operate AWS EMR clusters including master, core, and task node design, HDFS and EMRFS behavior, and full cluster lifecycle management.
• Optimize big data workloads using Spark including partitioning and shuffle management.
• Tune Hive workloads including query performance and execution engine selection.
• Manage distributed compute tools such as HBase, Presto, or Flink depending on workload requirements.
• Use CloudWatch, CloudTrail, and EMR metrics for monitoring, logging, and performance tuning.
• Design resilient EMR clusters using multi master configurations, instance fleets, Spot usage strategies, and autoscaling policies.
• Automate EMR operations including bootstrapping, EMR steps, Spark job submission, and pipeline scheduling.
• Integrate EMR and database workloads into CI and CD workflows using Git, Jenkins, CodePipeline, and related automation tools.
• Implement secure architectures including encryption in transit and at rest, secure S3 access, EMR security configurations, IAM governance, and audit logging.
• Configure VPC networking including subnets, security groups, network ACLs, and private cluster deployments.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 7+ years of relevant experience.
• Hands on experience engineering, operating, and optimizing Aurora PostgreSQL clusters.
• Strong proficiency in PostgreSQL internals, query tuning, indexing, vacuum strategies, and replication.
• Experience with Aurora failover behavior, storage mechanics, endpoints, and performance tuning.
• Strong skills with EMR architecture including node roles, EMRFS, HDFS behavior, and lifecycle operations.
• Experience tuning Spark and Hive workloads in production environments.
• Proficient in core AWS services (IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Secrets Manager).
• Experience with snapshot management, point in time recovery, and high availability database architectures.
• Strong scripting skills using Python, Bash, or PowerShell.
• Experience integrating database or EMR workloads into CI and CD workflows.
• Familiarity with automation tools including Ansible, CloudFormation, Terraform, or CDK.
• Ability to troubleshoot performance issues, errors, and architectural bottlenecks.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting mission critical or high availability federal systems.
• Exposure to CloudFormation, Terraform, or broader IaC frameworks.
• Experience creating governance standards and compliance best practices for EMR and database workloads.
• Familiarity with multi-Region architectures and advanced DR strategies.
• AWS certifications such as Solutions Architect, Database Specialty, or DevOps Engineer.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Employer sponsorship is not available for this position.

Why Join 4A 

• Be part of a mission-driven, women-owned consulting firm with a reputation for excellence.
• Work on high-impact projects across federal and commercial clients.
• Collaborate in an inclusive, growth-oriented culture where innovation is valued.
• Access career development programs, mentorship, and learning opportunities.
• Enjoy a comprehensive benefits package, flexible work options, and a focus on work-life balance.

Equal Opportunity Statement

4A Consulting is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to an inclusive hiring process. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation due to a disability may contact . This email is intended solely for accommodation requests.

Please note that 4A Consulting participates in the federal E-Verify program. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the US. 4A Consulting will only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.