Database Administrator - Postgres Database Operations

Exciting PostgreSQL Database Operations Contractor opportunity with an established firm. The ideal candidate will be responsible for maintaining and operating our PostgreSQL databases in a Kubernetes environment powered by AWS EKS. This is a fully remote role. Candidates must be located in the Bay Area, CA, Seattle, WA, or Salt Lake City, UT.

The Operational Database Platform team builds and maintains scalable, reliable, and secure software solutions powering our Operational Database Platform. We handle massive data volumes, ensuring high performance, redundancy, and security.

Contract Duration: 3 Months (+ extensions)

Required Skills & Experience

• 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, Puppet for managing infrastructure and deployments.
• Experience with version control & CI/CD tools such as Git, ArgoCD, and Git Lab.
• 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

What You Will Be Doing

• This contractor role requires a high level of expertise in PostgreSQL database operations and the ability to handle a wide range of database operations and maintenance tasks.
• Support data governance tasks as needed (estimated 20 tasks/month).
• Perform PostgreSQL database patching, including minor version upgrades for 224 databases, following a zero-downtime playbook.
• Assist with code reviews for DDL and DML changes, collaborating with developers on deployments.
• Manage storage for instances and clusters, including volume size increases and storage type changes via MRs and deployment through ArgoCD.
• Troubleshoot and optimize query performance, collaborating with engineering teams to update query logic or suggest index changes.
• Create new databases following a defined playbook.
• Assist in table partitioning and proactively identify tables for partitioning.
• Handle ad-hoc database requests such as key updates or data migrations.
• Operate PostgreSQL within a Kubernetes environment on AWS EKS.
• Utilize CI/CD pipelines, especially ArgoCD, for deployments and infrastructure updates.