Sr Principal Performance Architect

Sr Principal Performance Architect | Deltek, Inc

The Performance Architect is responsible for driving performance, scalability, and reliability improvements across the Enterprise Platform. This role focuses on identifying, analyzing, and resolving complex issues spanning databases, reporting, APIs, and application architecture, with a strong emphasis on real-world impact in high-concurrency, enterprise environments.

Position Responsibilities

Performance Analysis & Optimization

• Analyze and resolve high-impact issues affecting critical client workflows
• Optimize SQL queries, execution plans, indexes, and transaction scopes
• Identify and mitigate deadlocks, blocking, and contention hotspots
• Improve performance of reports, dashboards, and batch processing workflows
• Tune API and application-layer performance
• Validate improvements through benchmarking and regression testing

Architecture & Scalability

• Design solutions balancing short-term remediation and long-term scalability
• Evaluate tradeoffs across multiple active release versions
• Address performance-related technical debt
• Support schema evolution and data access optimization

Collaboration & Execution

• Work closely with Development, QE, Automation, DBA, and Architecture teams
• Participate in design reviews and spike investigations
• Support testing cycles and defect resolution
• Document performance findings and best practices

AI-Specific Responsibilities

• Use AI-assisted tools to accelerate performance analysis and root cause investigation
• Analyze execution plans, deadlock graphs, and query behavior using AI
• Compare performance characteristics across releases and environments
• Identify recurring performance antipatterns
• Validate AI-generated insights through empirical testing

Technical Skills & Expertise

Database & SQL Server (Required)

• Advanced SQL Server performance tuning (query optimization, execution plans, index design)
• Deadlock diagnosis and resolution using Extended Events and deadlock graphs
• Locking and blocking analysis (wait stats, lock escalation, transaction optimization)
• Stored procedure optimization (parameter sniffing mitigation, plan cache management)
• Index strategies, including covering, filtered indexes, and fragmentation management
• Statistics and cardinality understanding

Performance Analysis Tools (Required)

• SQL Server Profiler and Extended Events
• Execution plan analysis (SSMS, Azure Data Studio)
• SET STATISTICS IO/TIME analysis
• Query Store and performance insights
• Wait statistics and blocking chain analysis

Enterprise Application Architecture (Required)

• Multitier application performance patterns (.NET, C#, VB.NET, JavaScript, TypeScript)
• API performance optimization and parameter management
• Caching strategies (plan cache, data cache, predictive paging)
• Large-scale reporting architectures (SSRS, custom frameworks)
• Database schema evolution and backward compatibility

Performance Methodologies (Required)

• Performance testing and benchmarking
• Load testing and scalability analysis
• Root cause analysis for performance regressions
• A/B testing for optimization validation
• Performance monitoring and alerting

Qualifications

• 6-10+ years of enterprise software development experience
• 5+ years of deep performance engineering and architectural optimization experience

AI-Specific Qualifications

• Experience using AI-assisted engineering or analysis tools
• Ability to validate AI outputs responsibly and critically
• Familiarity with AI-based analysis of logs, queries, execution plans, or regressions
• Curiosity and adaptability toward emerging AI capabilities in performance engineering

AI-First Mindset Requirement

This role requires embracing an AI-first approach to work, where GenAI and agentic AI tools are viewed as essential collaborators rather than optional supplements. We expect team members who naturally think in terms of AI-enhanced workflows, proactively seek opportunities to integrate intelligent automation, and demonstrate curiosity about leveraging AI to solve complex problems more efficiently. The ideal candidate approaches challenges by first considering: "How can AI help me accomplish this faster and better?" while maintaining high standards for quality, security, and reliability. This mindset includes being comfortable with rapid AI tool evolution, eager to experiment with new AI capabilities, and committed to sharing AI-enhanced approaches with team members. We value professionals who see AI as a productivity multiplier that enables us to focus on higher-value creative and strategic work, rather than a replacement for human expertise and judgment.