Database architect Jobs in Aurora, IL

• Role Overview

Mercor is partnering with leading AI labs on Project Atlas — an initiative to build realistic enterprise environments that frontier AI agents are trained and evaluated in. We're seeking experienced cloud-computing professionals from major hyperscalers and Fortune 500 enterprises running large cloud deployments (e.g., AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Snowflake, Databricks, and Fortune 500 platform / infrastructure teams) to recreate the digital workspaces they run every day and design the tasks that genuinely challenge state-of-the-art AI. You'll bring your expertise in cloud architecture, site reliability, platform engineering, DevOps / DevSecOps, or cloud FinOps to build a high-fidelity environment that mirrors the tools, files, and cross-functional workflows of a modern cloud organization — and then author tasks grounded in the programs you actually run today. Key Responsibilities - Build a realistic digital workspace centered on the Drive folders you use day-to-day — the architecture docs, runbooks, RFCs, incident post-mortems, capacity plans, cost reports, SRE review decks, and email threads that reflect how you actually organize your work — with some representation of the platforms that support it (e.g., HashiCorp Terraform, Datadog / Splunk, GitHub Actions, Okta) - Design multi-step tasks grounded in your real workflows that require navigating multiple apps, files, and stakeholders in a way that meaningfully challenges frontier AI agents - Collaborate with other cloud-computing experts in your field to design the environment, shape task scope, and review each other's scenarios for realism and rigor - Work asynchronously with research teams to refine task designs and evaluation criteria for cloud-computing agent benchmarks - Contribute to frontier AI research and benchmarking — the work you produce directly informs how leading labs train and evaluate the next generation of AI systems Ideal Qualifications - 3+ years of full-time experience at a major hyperscaler (AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle Cloud), a cloud-data platform (Snowflake, Databricks), or a Fortune 500 platform / infrastructure team - Background in one or more areas such as : - Cloud architecture / solutions engineering (multi-account, multi-region, hybrid) - Site reliability engineering or production engineering - Platform / developer-experience engineering (IaC, internal developer platforms) - DevOps / DevSecOps, CI / CD, or container / Kubernetes operations - Cloud security, compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP), or cloud FinOps - Certifications a plus : AWS Solutions Architect / SysOps / DevOps, Azure Solutions Architect, GCP Professional Cloud Architect, CKA / CKAD - Day-to-day use of HashiCorp Terraform / Pulumi, Splunk / Datadog, GitHub Actions / CircleCI, and Okta / Microsoft Entra ID - Strong analytical thinking and writing — able to translate cloud-ops workflows into structured task specs Compensation Note This project is expected to begin on an effective hourly rate, but will transition to a model where experts are compensated based on throughput of quality work rather than a flat accruing hourly rate. About Mercor Mercor is a talent marketplace that connects top experts with leading AI labs and research organizations. Backed by investors including Benchmark, General Catalyst, Adam D'Angelo, and Jack Dorsey. Thousands of professionals across domains contribute to projects shaping the next generation of AI systems.