Database Admin Engineer - US

Mark43; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus opportunity

Stock options

Health insurance

Paid time off

401k

Job summary

Mark43 is seeking an experienced Database Administrator to own and scale our production databases in a cloud-centric environment. You will monitor, optimize, and secure our data infrastructure, collaborating with engineers to improve schemas, queries, and overall performance.

The role emphasizes mentoring junior teammates, contributing to infrastructure as code, and advancing a robust backup and DR strategy while supporting a fast-growing public safety software platform.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional experience administering MySQL or similar databases in production.
• Experience with cloud environments and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform).
• Experience building AWS RDS and Aurora or Azure Databases is preferred.
• Knowledge of or prior experience with microservices architecture.
• Commitment to providing support for more junior members of the team and developing cooperative working relationships.
• Leaning in to contribute to the company outside your role - engineers have written blog posts, attended events, and helped grow the team.

Responsibilities

• Ensured our databases were properly monitored and alerted, improving our ability to identify and respond to issues before they impacted customers
• Reviewed and optimized MySQL configurations to improve the performance, reliability, and scalability of our production environments
• Identified problematic queries and used execution plans, indexing strategies, and other techniques to improve their performance
• Partnered with engineers to improve database schemas, indexes, and query patterns as new features and services were developed
• Investigated a production database issue, identified the underlying cause, and implemented a longer-term fix to prevent it from recurring
• Automated routine database maintenance and operational work, reducing manual effort and making our systems easier to manage at scale
• Reviewed capacity and performance trends to anticipate future scaling needs and identify opportunities for infrastructure improvements
• Planned and executed database upgrades, migrations, and configuration changes while minimizing risk and customer impact
• Strengthened our backup, recovery, and disaster recovery processes and validated that critical data could be restored when needed
• Improved database documentation and operational runbooks, making it easier for engineers to troubleshoot issues and safely work with our data infrastructure

Skills

MySQL administration

Cloud infrastructure

Terraform

Agile methodologies

Tools

MySQL

AWS RDS

Aurora

Job description

About the Role

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the country in which the role is being hired. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time. Mark43’s mission is to empower communities and their governments with new technologies that improve the safety and quality of life for all. We build powerful, scalable, and elegant software that sets a new standard for the tools upon which our first responders rely. Our users are diverse, and we are therefore committed to embracing diversity of thought and experience within our team. We’re seeking a experienced and innovative Database Administrator who have managed databases at scale. Come and help build the next generation of cloud-based public safety software. As a senior member of the Mark43 team, you’ll take ownership of our database infrastructure, and become a knowledge resource that your teammates can trust and rely on. You’ll be responsible for ensuring the stability, performance and monitoring of our production databases. We’ll rely on your database knowledge to help our engineers write performant and scalable queries.

What You’ll Do

• Ensured our databases were properly monitored and alerted, improving our ability to identify and respond to issues before they impacted customers
• Reviewed and optimized MySQL configurations to improve the performance, reliability, and scalability of our production environments
• Identified problematic queries and used execution plans, indexing strategies, and other techniques to improve their performance
• Partnered with engineers to improve database schemas, indexes, and query patterns as new features and services were developed
• Investigated a production database issue, identified the underlying cause, and implemented a longer-term fix to prevent it from recurring
• Automated routine database maintenance and operational work, reducing manual effort and making our systems easier to manage at scale
• Reviewed capacity and performance trends to anticipate future scaling needs and identify opportunities for infrastructure improvements
• Planned and executed database upgrades, migrations, and configuration changes while minimizing risk and customer impact
• Strengthened our backup, recovery, and disaster recovery processes and validated that critical data could be restored when needed
• Improved database documentation and operational runbooks, making it easier for engineers to troubleshoot issues and safely work with our data infrastructure

What You’ll Need

We are seeking admins with at least 7 years of professional experience administering MySQL or similar databases in production. You should be comfortable working in the Cloud and embrace Infrastructure as Code (Terraform).

• Deep understanding of databases, automated testing, and agile methodologies
• Deep experience designing and building out infrastructure for complex cloud-based software applications, preferably hosted in AWS
• Experience building and sustaining AWS RDS and Aurora or Azure Databases is preferred
• Knowledge of or prior experience with microservices architecture
• Commitment to providing support for more junior members of the team and developing cooperative working relationships
• Leaning in to contribute to the company outside your role - our engineers have written blog posts, attended events, and helped grow our team

People who thrive on our team also tend to share the following characteristics:

• Humble, open, and curious. You recognize that no one is perfect and you will be wrong, and you’re excited about listening and learning being a big part of your job.
• Attentive, active listeners. You’re interested in what others have to say and illustrate your interest with your actions.
• Resilience. You do not shy away from challenging work and you proactively help your team solve problems.
• Enthusiastic collaborators. You understand that the best outcomes are achieved through shared ownership, and seek to spread knowledge and expand participation rather than restrict it.
• Comfortable with uncertainty. You know that sometimes problems and situations can’t be simplified or fully understood, and are at ease working within this type of haziness.
• Passionate about personal growth. You view mistakes as opportunities for learning, and want to grow as a designer, colleague, and person.
• Eager to help others. You look for ways to provide support for more junior members of the team and develop cooperative working relationships

We feel passionately about equal pay for equal work, and transparency in compensation is one vehicle to achieve that. Total compensation for this role is market competitive, including a target base annual salary range of $140,000-$180,000 plus bonus opportunity, company stock options, and a full benefits package, including health insurance, paid time off, and a 401k.

Mark43 is approved to hire in Canada, the UK, and 36 U.S. states, including Alabama, Arizona, California (excluding San Francisco), Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. Before applying to a remote role, please ensure that you are able to perform the position in one of the states listed above. State locations and specifics are subject to change as our hiring requirements shift.

Our Privacy Notice describes how Mark43 uses and protects the personal information of prospective employees during the recruitment process. It informs you about our handling of the personal information you provide to us when you apply for a position in our organization and in general when you express your interest in joining our team. As a part of Mark43's security measures all employees must: Engage in appropriate use of the company's electronic information resources; Become knowledgeable about and follow relevant security policies and guidelines; Protect the resources under their control, such as passwords, computers, and data that they create, receive, or download; and Promptly report security-related incidents and violations, and responding to official reports of security incidents involving their systems or accounts.

Mark43 is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information. As part of this commitment, we will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please email [e-mail] requesting the accommodation.