Senior Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE)

Okta; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental and vision insurance

401(k)

Paid leave including PTO and parental leave

Job summary

Okta is hiring a Senior Database Reliability Engineer based in San Francisco to enhance their data persistence layer and optimize large-scale systems. This role requires extensive experience with PostgreSQL and MySQL, along with skills in automation and monitoring tools. Ideal candidates will design reliable database architectures, respond to incidents, and collaborate closely with engineering teams. Competitive compensation with additional benefits strengthens the appeal of this pivotal role.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of hands-on PostgreSQL experience in high-volume production environments.
• Strong knowledge of PostgreSQL internals.
• Production experience with MySQL.
• Advanced SQL skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and operate highly available PostgreSQL clusters.
• Optimize query performance and indexing strategies.
• Lead response during database incidents.
• Collaborate with software engineers on database-related tasks.

Skills

PostgreSQL

MySQL

Automation with Go or Python

Query Optimization

Monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana)

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Kubernetes

PgBouncer

HAProxy

Job description

Overview

Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human

Identity is the key to unlocking the potential of AI. Okta secures AI by building the trusted, neutral infrastructure that enables organizations to safely embrace this new era. This work requires a relentless drive to solve complex challenges with real-world stakes. We are looking for builders and owners who operate with speed and urgency and execute with excellence.

This is an opportunity to do career-defining work. We\'re all in on this mission. If you are too, let\'s talk.

Role

Senior Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE)

Experience Level: Mid-Senior (4+ years PostgreSQL experience)

About the Role

We are looking for a highly skilled Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE) with deep expertise in PostgreSQL at scale and solid experience with MySQL. In this role, you will design, operationalize, and optimize the data persistence layer that powers our large-scale, mission-critical systems. You will work closely with SRE, Platform, and Engineering teams to ensure performance, reliability, automation, and operational excellence across our database environment.

This is a hands-on engineering role focused on building resilient data infrastructure, not just administering it.

Responsibilities

• Architecture, Reliability & Performance: Design, implement, and operate highly available PostgreSQL clusters (physical replication, logical replication, sharding/partitioning, failover automation).
• Optimize query performance, indexing strategies, schema design, and storage engines.
• Perform capacity planning, growth forecasting, and workload modeling.
• Own high-availability strategies including automatic failover, multi-AZ/multi-region setups, and disaster recovery.
• Automation & Tooling: Develop automation for provisioning, configuration, backups, failovers, vacuum tuning, and schema management using tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes Operators, or custom tooling.
• Build monitoring, alerting, and self-healing systems for PostgreSQL and MySQL.
• Operations & Incident Response: Lead response during database incidents (performance regressions, replication lag, deadlocks, bloat issues, storage failures).
• Conduct root-cause analysis and implement permanent fixes.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with software engineers to review SQL, optimize schemas, and ensure efficient use of PostgreSQL features.
• Provide guidance on database-related design patterns, migrations, version upgrades, and best practices.

Required Qualifications

• 4+ years of hands-on PostgreSQL experience in high-volume, distributed, or large-scale production environments.
• Strong knowledge of PostgreSQL internals (WAL, MVCC, bloat/vacuum tuning, query planner, indexing, logical replication).
• Production experience with MySQL (InnoDB internals, replication, performance tuning).
• Advanced SQL and strong understanding of schema design and query optimization.
• Experience with Linux systems, networking fundamentals, and systems troubleshooting.
• Experience building automation with Go or Python.
• Production experience with monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, PMM, pg_stat_statements, etc.).
• Hands-on experience with cloud environments (AWS or GCP).

Preferred/Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with PgBouncer, HAProxy, or other connection-pooling/load-balancing layers.
• Exposure to event streaming (Kafka, Debezium) and change data capture.
• Experience supporting 24/7 production environments with on-call rotation.
• Contributions to open-source PostgreSQL ecosystem.

Security & Compliance

This position requires the ability to access federal environments and/or have access to protected federal data. As a condition of employment, the successful candidate must be able to submit documentation establishing U.S. Person status (e.g. a U.S. Citizen, National, Lawful Permanent Resident, Refugee, or Asylee. 22 CFR 120.15) upon hire.

Onboarding & Location

Requires in-person onboarding and travel to our San Francisco, CA HQ office or our Chicago office during the first week of employment.

Compensation

The annual base salary range for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay Area is $160,000 — $220,000 USD. For candidates located in California (excluding the Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington the range is $143,000 — $196,000 USD. Salary is complemented by equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits including health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), flexible spending account, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave). To learn more about Total Rewards, visit: https://rewards.okta.com/us.

Okta Experience & Diversity

• Supporting Your Well-Being
• Driving Social Impact
• Developing Talent and Fostering Connection + Community

Okta is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, or status as a protected veteran. If reasonable accommodation is needed to complete any part of the job application, interview process, or onboarding please use this Form to request an accommodation. Notice for New York City Applicants & Employees: Okta may use Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT) per NYC Local Law 144. For details, view our NYC AEDT Notice. Okta is committed to complying with applicable data privacy and security laws. For more information, see our Personnel and Job Candidate Privacy Notice at https://www.okta.com/legal/personnel-policy/.