Sr. Database Administrator (First Dollar-Remote)

Senior Database Administrator will lead the operational management of our PostgreSQL databases running on Google CloudSQL. This role is responsible for architecting and optimizing physical schema design, driving performance tuning, and ensuring high concurrency and reliability for mission-critical applications. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with a proactive approach to database operations, automation, and incident response.

Key responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and optimize physical database schemas for PostgreSQL, ensuring scalability, maintainability, and performance.
• Lead advanced performance tuning initiatives, including query optimization, indexing strategies, partitioning, and resource management.
• Planning and implementing database disaster recovery strategy.
• Analyze and resolve concurrency issues, implementing best practices for locking, isolation levels, and transaction management.
• Monitor database health, capacity, and performance using GCP-native and third-party tools; proactively address bottlenecks and incidents.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to support application development, schema changes, and data migrations.
• Automate routine operational tasks (backups, restores, failover, patching) using scripting and GCP automation tools.
• Develop and maintain documentation for database architecture, operational procedures, and troubleshooting guides.
• Ensure security, compliance, and data integrity through robust access controls, auditing, and encryption practices.
• Participate in incident response for database-related issues.
• Mentor junior DBAs and engineers in best practices for database operations and optimization.
• Leverage AI Coding assistants such as Claude Code or Copilot to accelerate and enhance productivity.
• CI/CD pipeline development related to schema and data migrations
• Developing Terraform code to support IaC automation.

Requirements:

• 7+ years of hands-on experience as a DBA, with at least 3 years focused on PostgreSQL in cloud environments (preferably GCP/CloudSQL).
• Expert-level knowledge of PostgreSQL internals, physical schema design, indexing, partitioning, and query optimization.
• Proven experience resolving concurrency and locking issues in high-transaction environments.
• Strong proficiency with Google CloudSQL, including configuration, monitoring, and automation.
• Advanced scripting skills (Python, Bash, Typescript, or similar) for automation and operational efficiency.
• Experience with backup/recovery strategies, high availability, and disaster recovery in cloud-native architectures.
• Familiarity with security best practices, including encryption, access controls, and auditing.
• Experience with multi-tenant databases.
• Excellent troubleshooting, analytical, and communication skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field (or equivalent experience).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Exposure to infrastructure-as-code (Terraform HCL and CDKTF).
• Google Database Engineer certification and Terraform Associate certification.

Other Requirements:

• Infrequent travel (10%).
• Ability to occasionally work overtime or after hours.
• Prolonged periods of computer work.