Database Admin Expert

Allstate; Springfield (IL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 181,000; Full time

Job summary

Allstate is seeking an experienced Senior PostgreSQL Database Administrator to join the Database Engineering team. You will design, implement, automate, secure, and operate enterprise PostgreSQL platforms across on‑premises and cloud environments, partnering with multiple teams for reliability and performance.

The role emphasizes expert-level PostgreSQL knowledge, Linux administration, high availability, disaster recovery, and capability to lead technical initiatives across the organization.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of hands-on PostgreSQL administration in production environments.
• Strong Linux administration and operating system hardening skills.
• Experience with high availability, disaster recovery, backups, and recovery testing.
• Ability to collaborate with application, security, SRE and cloud teams.
• Experience with cloud database platforms is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, deploy, administer, and support on-prem and cloud PostgreSQL environments.
• Lead installation, configuration, patching, upgrades, migrations, and lifecycle management.
• Define and maintain PostgreSQL standards, reference architectures, and runbooks.
• Participate in architecture reviews and advise on design, scalability, and readiness.

Skills

PostgreSQL Admin

Linux Admin

HA/DR

SQL Tuning

Automation/DevOps

Cloud Platforms

Tools

Patroni

pgBackRest

HAProxy

Keepalived

etcd

Monitoring Tools

Job description

At Allstate, great things happen when our people work together to protect families and their belongings from life's uncertainties. And for more than 90 years, our innovative drive has kept us a step ahead of our customers' evolving needs. From advocating for seat belts, air bags and graduated driving laws, to being an industry leader in pricing sophistication, telematics, and, more recently, device and identity protection.

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Senior PostgreSQL Database Administrator to join the Database Engineering team and help build, operate, and modernize our enterprise PostgreSQL platform. This role will be responsible for the design, implementation, automation, security, performance, high availability, backup and recovery, and operational support of PostgreSQL environments across on-premises and cloud platforms. The ideal candidate will have deep PostgreSQL expertise, strong Linux administration skills, hands‑on experience with high availability and disaster recovery technologies, and the ability to partner effectively with application, infrastructure, security, SRE, and cloud engineering teams. Lead to Expert level is considered, Expert level is desired.

Key Responsibilities

PostgreSQL Platform Engineering

• Design, build, deploy, administer, and support enterprise PostgreSQL environments across production and non-production landscapes.
• Lead PostgreSQL installation, configuration, patching, upgrades, migrations, and lifecycle management activities.
• Define and maintain PostgreSQL engineering standards, reference architectures, build procedures, operational controls, and best practices.
• Participate in architecture reviews and advise application teams on database design, scalability, resilience, and operational readiness.

High Availability and Disaster Recovery

• Design and support PostgreSQL high-availability solutions using technologies such as Patroni, etcd, HAProxy, Keepalived, and streaming replication.
• Implement and maintain disaster‑recovery strategies across multiple sites or regions.
• Plan and execute failover, switchover, recovery, and resiliency tests.
• Work with stakeholders to define, validate, and maintain recovery time and recovery point objectives.

Backup and Recovery

• Design, implement, and operate enterprise PostgreSQL backup and recovery solutions.
• Administer pgBackRest, WAL archiving, point‑in‑time recovery, retention, and recovery validation processes.
• Conduct regular restore testing and support disaster‑recovery exercises to verify recoverability.

Performance and Reliability

• Monitor database availability, capacity, health, and performance.
• Analyze and optimize SQL queries, indexes, execution plans, database configurations, and workloads.
• Troubleshoot complex production incidents, lead root‑cause analysis, and implement preventive actions.
• Drive database reliability, observability, capacity planning, and operational excellence initiatives.

Security and Compliance

• Implement database security controls, access‑management standards, and least‑privilege practices.
• Manage roles, privileges, authentication, encryption, auditing, and credential‑management integrations.
• Support compliance reviews, vulnerability remediation, security assessments, and evidence requests.

Automation and DevOps

• Develop automation for database provisioning, configuration, deployment, patching, validation, and routine operations.
• Use Infrastructure as Code, configuration management, source control, and CI/CD practices to improve consistency and repeatability.
• Partner with engineering teams to expand safe self‑service capabilities and reduce manual operational effort.

Platform Operations and Technical Leadership

• Provide support for mission‑critical production and non‑production PostgreSQL environments.
• Participate in on‑call rotations, major incident response, change management, and problem management.
• Create and maintain runbooks, troubleshooting guides, standards, and operational documentation.
• Mentor engineers, review technical solutions, and provide technical leadership for PostgreSQL initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• Lead Level 7+ years of database administration experience. (preferred)
• 7+ years of hands‑on PostgreSQL administration experience supporting mission‑critical production environments. (highly desired)
• Plus the Technical Skills listed below.

Expert Level

• 10+ years of database administration experience.
• 8+ years of hands‑on PostgreSQL administration experience supporting mission‑critical production environments.
• Plus the below Technical skills listed below.

Technical Skills

• Strong Linux administration experience; RHEL or a comparable enterprise Linux distribution is preferred.
• Deep understanding of PostgreSQL architecture, internals, configuration, security, maintenance, and performance tuning.
• Hands‑on experience with PostgreSQL streaming replication, high availability, disaster recovery, backup and recovery, point‑in‑time recovery, WAL management, and capacity planning.
• Strong SQL, execution‑plan analysis, indexing, and query‑optimization skills.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot complex database, operating system, storage, and connectivity issues in production environments.
• Experience planning and executing database upgrades, migrations, patching, and production changes.
• Ability to communicate clearly with technical and non‑technical stakeholders and work effectively across organizational boundaries.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Percona Distribution for PostgreSQL or Percona‑supported PostgreSQL environments.
• Hands‑on experience with Patroni, etcd, HAProxy, Keepalived, pgBackRest, and PostgreSQL‑native monitoring and diagnostic tools.
• Experience with cloud database and infrastructure platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, or Google Cloud Platform.
• Experience with observability platforms such as Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana, or Percona Monitoring and Management.
• Experience with automation and delivery tools such as Ansible, Terraform, GitHub, GitLab, or CI/CD pipelines.
• Exposure to other database technologies such as Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, MongoDB, or Neo4j.
• Experience leading technical initiatives, mentoring team members, and influencing platform standards.

Desired Attributes

• Strong ownership, accountability, and customer focus.
• Excellent analytical, troubleshooting, and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to work independently, manage priorities, and drive technical initiatives to completion.
• Strong collaboration, documentation, and communication skills.
• Experience working in large‑scale, highly available, and regulated enterprise environments.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This job does not have supervisory duties.

Compensation

Compensation offered for this role is 110,000.00 - 181,025.00 annually and is based on experience and qualifications.

The candidate(s) offered this position will be required to submit to a background investigation.

Joining our team isn’t just a job — it’s an opportunity. One that takes your skills and pushes them to the next level. One where you can shape the future of protection while supporting causes that mean the most to you. Joining our team means being part of something bigger – a winning team making a meaningful impact.

Allstate generally does not sponsor individuals for employment‑based visas for this position.

Effective July 1, 2014, under Indiana House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1242, it is against public policy of the State of Indiana and a discriminatory practice for an employer to discriminate against a prospective employee on the basis of status as a veteran by refusing to employ an applicant on the basis that they are a veteran of the armed forces of the United States, a member of the Indiana National Guard or a member of a reserve component. The Company’s policy to employ the best qualified individuals available for all jobs. Therefore, any discriminatory action taken on account of an employee’s ancestry, age, color, disability, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual and reproductive health decision, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, race (including traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles), religion (including religious dress), sex, or sexual orientation that adversely affects an employee's terms or conditions of employment is prohibited. This policy applies to all aspects of the employment relationship, including, but not limited to, hiring, training, salary administration, promotion, job assignment, benefits, discipline, and separation of employment.

Allstate provides a comprehensive technology setup, including a laptop, monitors, headset, keyboard, and mouse. Employees eligible to work from home also receive a monthly connectivity reimbursement to help offset internet costs.

When working from home, you must have a dedicated, private workspace free from distractions, along with appropriate desk and seating. Reliable internet is required, with minimum speeds of 50 MB download and 5 MB upload.

To help create a more personal and engaging experience, we ask that you join with your camera on if your interview is virtual. Please also have a Valid Photo Identification available at the start of your interview. If you require any accommodations or have questions ahead of your interview please reach out to your recruiter.

Note: Internal candidates are only asked to join on video; a Valid Photo Identification is not needed for the interview.