SQL Engineer

Are you interested in joining a purpose-driven company in the music industry? Do you thrive in a collaborative, hybrid work environment? If you do, we would like to get to know you.

WORKING AT THE MLC

The MLC is committed to excellence, service and transparency. Our culture is collaborative, and our team works in a hybrid environment. On our team, you are respected, valued for your unique strengths and experiences, and empowered to identify and resolve your own challenges.

WORKING AT THE MLC

The MLC is committed to excellence, service, transparency, and diversity. Our culture is collaborative, our people are adaptable. On our team, you are respected, valued for your unique strengths and experiences, and empowered to identify and resolve your own challenges.

WHO WE ARE

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) is a nonprofit organization designated by the U.S. Copyright Office to administer blanket mechanical licenses for digital music services in the United States. Our mission is to ensure songwriters, composers, and music publishers are accurately compensated for the use of their music.

Operating at the intersection of music, data, and technology, we process billions of usage records, match them to the correct musical works, and distribute royalties with accuracy and transparency. As we continue to grow, we are building scalable data platforms and workflows that power the future of digital music licensing.

THE ROLE

As a SQL Engineer / Data Analyst, you will play a critical role in designing, building, and maintaining scalable data solutions that power usage and royalty processing, reporting, and internal analytics. You’ll work closely with Data Platform, Engineering, Finance, and Member Experience teams to ensure data integrity, accessibility, and performance across systems.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys working with complex datasets, optimizing queries for performance, and building reliable data pipelines that directly support business-critical operations.

Preference to individuals in Eastern and Central Time Zone to accommodate for UK team member collaboration.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• 3+ years of experience writing complex SQL queries in a production environment
• Strong experience with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, Oracle)
• Proven ability to optimize queries and improve database performance
• Experience working with large, complex datasets
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
  
  

Preferred

• Experience with cloud data platforms (AWS Athena, Metabase, or similar)
• Familiarity with ETL/ELT processes and data pipeline concepts
• Experience supporting financial, royalty, or transactional data systems
• Understanding of data modeling concepts (star schema, normalization, etc.)
  
  

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

AS A MEMBER OF THE TECH TEAM, YOU WILL:

• Design, develop, and maintain complex SQL queries, stored procedures, and views to support business operations and reporting
• Optimize database performance through query tuning, indexing strategies, and execution plan analysis
• Partner with Data Engineers and Analytics teams to support data pipelines and transformations across platforms (e.g., AWS Athena, Metabase, or similar)
• Support royalty processing workflows by ensuring accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of data outputs
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders (Finance, Rights Management, Member Experience) to translate business requirements into scalable data solutions
• Troubleshoot data discrepancies and implement long-term fixes to improve data quality
• Contribute to data governance, documentation, and best practices across the data ecosystem
• Assist in building and maintaining reporting datasets for internal and external stakeholders
• Data quality and validation frameworks to ensure accuracy
  
  

YOU WILL CHAMPION THE MLC’S CULTURE BY:

• Embracing The MLC’s leadership values and applying The MLC’s Guiding Principles to your team’s work
• Being process-oriented, data-driven, and tech-savvy; being collaborative, curious, and open to new ideas
• Building a dynamic team; mentoring team members; developing future leaders
• Inspiring others with your enthusiasm and humility
  
  

THE MLC IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER THE MLC DOES NOT MAKE EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS BASED ON RACE, COLOR, RELIGION OR RELIGIOUS BELIEF, ETHNIC OR NATIONAL ORIGIN, SEX, GENDER, GENDER-IDENTITY, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, MARITAL STATUS, CITIZENSHIP STATUS, DISABILITY, AGE, MILITARY OR VETERAN STATUS, OR ANY OTHER CATEGORY PROTECTED BY LOCAL, STATE, OR FEDERAL LAW. THIS POLICY APPLIES TO ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT, INCLUDING RECRUITING, HIRING, PLACEMENT, PROMOTION, TERMINATION, LAYOFF, TRANSFER, LEAVES OF ABSENCE, AND COMPENSATION.