Senior PostgreSQL Database Administrator

Team: IT

Location: US

Commitment: Full-time

Workplace Type: remote

Accountabilities:

• Manage daily operations of PostgreSQL running on AWS Aurora across multiple accounts, environments, and production workloads.
• Own database configuration, provisioning, parameter tuning, deployments, upgrades, patches, and version migrations using cloud-native strategies such as blue-green and rolling deployments.
• Monitor database health, capacity, availability, and performance using tools such as AWS CloudWatch, Performance Insights, AppDynamics, and Grafana.
• Operate PostgreSQL as a system of record within an event-driven architecture and collaborate with engineering teams on data flows involving Kafka, Kinesis, RabbitMQ, and other event brokers.
• Support persistence patterns involving Redis or ElastiCache, read replicas, logical replication, streaming replication, and change data capture for downstream analytics, search, and reporting.
• Tune PostgreSQL and Aurora for OLTP, read-heavy reporting, and mixed workloads by optimizing queries, indexes, execution plans, connection pooling, and parameter groups.
• Use tools such as EXPLAIN ANALYZE, pg_stat_statements, Performance Insights, and CloudWatch metrics to investigate performance issues and conduct root-cause analysis.
• Review SQL, data models, and database access patterns with development teams to identify performance, scalability, and reliability concerns before production deployment.
• Apply AWS services including RDS, CloudWatch, Systems Manager, Lambda, S3, IAM, and Secrets Manager to support secure and efficient database operations.
• Build Python and shell automation for provisioning, backup verification, environment refreshes, alerting, compliance reporting, and other recurring operational activities.
• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines for database schema changes and infrastructure deployments, using infrastructure as code such as Terraform or CloudFormation.
• Design, test, and document backup, recovery, high-availability, and disaster-recovery strategies that meet demanding RTO and RPO objectives.
• Configure and maintain Multi-AZ deployments, read replicas, automated backups, point-in-time recovery, and other resilience capabilities.
• Conduct regular disaster recovery exercises and maintain clear runbooks for failure scenarios and production incidents.
• Provide technical troubleshooting and production support for database and data-flow issues, including participation in an on-call rotation.
• Collaborate with DevOps, NetOps, application engineering, and architecture teams to design and operate integrated cloud-native solutions.
• Maintain technical documentation covering configurations, procedures, troubleshooting processes, architectural decisions, and operational standards.
• Identify repetitive manual activities and proactively replace them with reliable, scalable automation.

Requirements:

• 4–7 years of hands-on experience as a PostgreSQL Database Administrator, preferably in cloud-based production environments.
• Strong production experience with AWS Aurora PostgreSQL and Amazon RDS.
• Proven expertise in PostgreSQL performance tuning, query optimization, database troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis.
• Strong understanding of backup and recovery strategies, including point-in-time recovery, high availability, replication, and disaster recovery.
• Experience with database security, user administration, access controls, IAM integration, and secure credential management.
• Strong SQL skills and a solid understanding of relational database design and data modeling.
• Programming and automation experience using Python and shell scripting.
• Working knowledge of AWS services such as CloudWatch, Lambda, S3, Systems Manager, IAM, and Secrets Manager.
• Understanding of modern persistence architectures and event-driven data flows, including message brokers such as Kafka, Kinesis, or RabbitMQ and caching technologies such as Redis or ElastiCache.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with the ability to diagnose complex issues across distributed systems.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across technical teams.
• Experience with PostgreSQL logical replication, streaming replication, or change data capture technologies such as Debezium is preferred.
• Production experience with Kafka, Kinesis, or other event-streaming platforms is a plus.
• Experience using Redis or ElastiCache as a caching layer in front of PostgreSQL is advantageous.
• Infrastructure-as-code experience with Terraform or CloudFormation and CI/CD experience with tools such as Jenkins, GitLab CI, or AWS CodePipeline are preferred.
• Exposure to additional data technologies such as DynamoDB, Redshift, OpenSearch, or MongoDB is beneficial.
• Experience in healthcare technology or another regulated industry is a plus.
• AWS or PostgreSQL certifications, including AWS Solutions Architect or Database Specialty certifications, are desirable.
• Familiarity with AI development tools such as Claude, Copilot, ChatGPT, or Cursor for scripting, troubleshooting, and documentation is preferred.
• Ability to work effectively in a remote environment and participate in production on-call support.
• Ability to meet the physical requirements of the position, which is primarily desk-based, with occasional travel for client sites, conferences, or internal meetings.

Benefits:

• Competitive base salary of $130,000–$150,000, with exact compensation based on skills and experience.
• Eligibility for a company performance-based bonus program tied to individual and company performance.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) eligibility after three months, with a 50% company match on the first 5% contributed and a three-year vesting schedule.
• Health Savings Account for eligible employees enrolled in the HDHP, with company contributions of up to $500 for individual coverage or $1,000 for family coverage annually.
• 100% company-paid short- and long-term disability, AD&D, and group life insurance.
• 18 days of accrued PTO during the first three years, increasing with tenure, plus seven paid holidays.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Continuing education funding of up to $1,500 annually for eligible programs after one year of service.
• Voluntary benefits including FSA, hospital indemnity, accident, and critical illness insurance.
• Remote-first working environment designed to provide flexibility and support distributed teams.
• Opportunities to work with modern cloud, database, event-streaming, automation, and AI-assisted technologies.