Database Administrator / Database Platform Engineer
Contour Software
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
Contour Software is seeking a highly skilled Database Performance Engineer to optimize a SQL Anywhere 17 to PostgreSQL 18 migration. You will improve query performance, schema design, and indexing strategies while collaborating with DevOps and application teams on PowerBuilder and .NET backends.
You will translate between SQL dialects, build validation harnesses, and drive data migration with rigorous validation. Strong English communication is essential.
Qualifications
- Deep, practical SQL with performance tuning on production relational databases.
- Relational schema design, including indexing strategy and the tradeoffs it involves.
- Ability to read and reason about execution plans and prove changes with evidence.
- Working knowledge of database backup, recovery, and availability, and the infrastructure a production database depends on.
- Scripting ability for automation this work needs.
- Clear English communication for distributed work demands.
- PostgreSQL specifically is desirable.
Responsibilities
- Profile and improve the performance of production SQL Anywhere 17 queries; fix via indexing or schema changes.
- Establish baselines and instrumentation to measure performance and catch regressions.
- Improve the schema with constraints, data types, and indexing to enforce correctness.
- Collaborate with application developers on SQL embedded in PowerBuilder and .NET codebases.
- Translate SQL Anywhere 17 to PostgreSQL 18 and evaluate dialect differences affecting results.
- Build comparison harnesses to prove migrated queries match the original.
- Plan and execute data migration and reconciliation with ETL-like steps.
- Contribute to migration direction and design decisions still open.
- Document learnings; document undocumented behaviour of the database.
Skills
Tools
Job description
Contour Software has grown from a dozen people to over 2,000 staff across 3 cities, in less than 14 years.
Contour Software has grown from a dozen people to over 2,000 staff across 3 cities, in less than 14 years.
As a subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc., we are proud to be part of a global enterprise software conglomerate that has grown to become one of the top 10 software companies in the world, with employees and customers in 100+ countries. With a broad-based and ever-growing portfolio of market-leading, vertical-market enterprise solutions covering more than 100 industry domains in predominantly mature markets, CSI's recipe creates the perfect environment for professionals to build fulfilling, long-term careers. What started as an R&D & Accounting back-office, has progressed into a full-service Global Centre serving all functions and departments, at the divisional as well as operating group/corporate level. Today Contour employees, located in Karachi, Lahore & Islamabad, are serving CSI divisions located in time zones spanning the globe, from Sydney to Vancouver. With the global growth of Constellation as the wind in our sails, we are only just getting started!
Auto-IT builds the dealer management systems that run automotive, agricultural, and equipment dealerships across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia - part of the Perseus Operating Group within Constellation Software, with engineering across Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and India.
We run a mature SQL Anywhere 17 production database, and we are migrating it to PostgreSQL 18. Years of dealership data sit in it, and query performance and schema quality translate directly into whether a service advisor waits three seconds or thirty. You will spend your time making the current database measurably better while helping build and prove the path to the next one.
You will need real technical depth in backup, recovery, availability, and the infrastructure the database runs on, and you will work closely with the DevOps and Infrastructure team across all of it. Your primary focus, though, is performance and improvement - how the data is modelled, how it is indexed, and how quickly we can query it.
- Profile and improve the performance of our production SQL Anywhere 17 database - identify the queries that hurt, read the execution plans, and fix them at the query, index, or schema level.
- Establish baselines and instrumentation so performance can be measured, and so regressions are caught before customers report them.
- Improve the schema over time: constraints, data types, and indexing that enforce correctness in the database instead of leaving it to the application layer.
- Work alongside application developers on the SQL embedded in our PowerBuilder and .NET codebases, and help them write queries that hold up under production data volumes.
- Translate schema and SQL from SQL Anywhere 17 to PostgreSQL 18, and reason carefully about where the two dialects differ in ways that change results, not just syntax.
- Build and extend the comparison harnesses that prove a migrated query returns what the original returned, against real data.
- Plan and execute data migration and reconciliation - extraction, load, validation, and the evidence that nothing was lost or quietly altered.
- Contribute to the technical direction of the migration, and to the design decisions that are still open.
- Document what you learn. Much of what makes this database behave the way it does is currently undocumented.
- index selection
- server and cache tuning
- SQL Remote replication
- dbunload, dbvalid, dbbackup
- embedded SQL within PowerBuilder
- EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS)
- B-tree, partial, expression, and GIN indexing
- partitioning
- autovacuum and bloat
- extensions including pgvector Migration - the move from SQL Anywhere 17 to PostgreSQL 18 is underway and its technical direction is still being set. You are expected to help shape that direction, not only implement against it: the design decisions that remain open, how we validate the result, and the standard of evidence we hold it to. Application context - PowerBuilder (Units, Equip)
- .NET and Blazor Server (Enable)
- platform tooling
- Git
- TeamCity
- containerised SQL Anywhere instances used as the reference for expected results
- scripting in Python or PowerShell
Essential - Deep, practical SQL. Demonstrable performance tuning experience on a production relational database, with real examples of queries you have diagnosed and fixed, and the ability to explain why the fix worked. Relational schema design, including indexing strategy and the tradeoffs it involves. Comfort reading and reasoning about execution plans. A habit of proving changes with evidence. Working knowledge of database backup, recovery, and availability, and of the infrastructure a production database depends on. Scripting ability for the automation this work needs. Clear English, and the communication discipline distributed work demands.
Desirable - PostgreSQL specifically
- SAP SQL Anywhere or Sybase ASA
- heterogeneous database migration between dialects
- replication, whether SQL Remote or PostgreSQL logical replication
- Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server
- exposure to PowerBuilder codebases
- the automotive, agricultural, or equipment dealership domain.
8 AM to 5 PM PKT
- Market-leading Salary
- Medical Coverage - Self & Dependents
- Parents Medical Coverage
- Provident Fund
- Employee Performance-based bonuses
- Home Internet Subsidy
- Conveyance Allowance
- Profit Sharing Plan [Tenured Employees Only]
- Life Benefit
- Child Care Facility
- Company Provided Lunch/Dinner
- Professional Development Budget
- Recreational area for in-house games
- Sporadic On-shore training opportunities
- Friendly work environment
- Leave Encashment
Disclaimer: At Contour, we attribute our success to the unique contributions of our diverse staff. We're committed to fostering a culture of respect that thrives on the varied perspectives and experiences of all individuals we recruit, employ, promote, and compensate. Since day one, we've adhered to a policy that champions a work environment honoring the worth and dignity of each person while being free from all forms of employment discrimination.
In our continuous effort to promote inclusivity, we extend our commitment to individuals with special needs by providing reasonable accommodations. We actively encourage qualified individuals with special needs to apply for the various openings within our company. Should you require assistance in completing the application process or have any inquiries regarding special facilities, please do not hesitate to contact our HR team. Your unique talents and abilities are welcomed and valued here.
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