Database Administrator - Postgres Database Operations

About This Role

This contractor opportunity focuses on maintaining and operating PostgreSQL databases within a Kubernetes environment powered by AWS EKS. The role requires a high level of expertise in database operations and maintenance tasks, supporting the Operational Database Platform team in handling massive data volumes while ensuring high performance, redundancy, and security.

Responsibilities

• Support data governance tasks as needed (estimated 20 tasks/month)
• Perform PostgreSQL database patching as required, including potential minor version patching of 224 databases with a defined zero-downtime playbook
• Assist with code reviews for DDL and DML changes to the databases, collaborating with developers on deployments
• Handle storage management tasks for instances and clusters, including volume size increases and storage type changes through Merge Requests (MRs) in the Data Ops repository, and deployment via ArgoCD
• Investigate and troubleshoot poorly performing queries, collaborate with Engineering Product Development (EPD) teams to update query logic or suggest database index changes via migrations
• Provide support via Slack for database-related inquiries
• Create new databases for services following a defined playbook
• Assist in table partitioning for designated databases and potentially proactively identify other tables suitable for partitioning
• Address ad-hoc database-related requests from engineers, such as updating primary keys or migrating data
• Utilize and interact with CI/CD pipelines, particularly ArgoCD, for deployments and infrastructure changes

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent work experience
• Minimum 5 years of PostgreSQL database operator experience
• Strong SQL knowledge
• Hands-on experience with PostgreSQL patching, query tuning, and database administration tasks
• Familiarity with Kubernetes and AWS EKS environments for deploying and managing databases
• Experience with monitoring tools such as Cloud Watch, Datadog, Splunk, and Ops Genie
• Experience with configuration management tools such as Terraform, Ansible, and Puppet for managing infrastructure and deployments
• Experience with version control & CI/CD tools such as Git, ArgoCD, and GitLab
• Experience with database patching and upgrade processes
• Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting skills
• Strong communication skills and ability to work in a team environment
• Understanding of data governance principles

Nice to have:

• PostgreSQL certifications preferred

Benefits