Database Administrator - Postgres Database Operations

Motion Recruitment; Salt Lake City (UT); Remote; USD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a PostgreSQL Database Administrator for a fully remote contractor role. This exciting opportunity involves maintaining and operating PostgreSQL databases in a Kubernetes environment powered by AWS EKS. The successful candidate will leverage their extensive experience in database operations, ensuring high performance and security while managing significant data volumes. The role includes responsibilities such as database patching, query optimization, and collaborating with engineering teams on deployments. If you are passionate about database management and thrive in a dynamic environment, this role is perfect for you.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience as a PostgreSQL database operator.
• Strong SQL knowledge and hands-on database administration skills.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes and AWS EKS environments.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and operate PostgreSQL databases in a Kubernetes environment.
• Perform database patching and upgrades following a zero-downtime playbook.
• Troubleshoot and optimize query performance in collaboration with engineering teams.

Skills

PostgreSQL Database Operations

SQL

Kubernetes

AWS EKS

Monitoring Tools (CloudWatch, Datadog, Splunk, OpsGenie)

Configuration Management (Terraform, Ansible, Puppet)

Version Control (Git, ArgoCD, GitLab)

Problem-solving Skills

Communication Skills

Data Governance Principles

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Puppet

Git

ArgoCD

GitLab

Job description

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 CloudWatch, Datadog, Splunk, and OpsGenie
• 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 GitLab.
• 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.