Senior Lead Database Reliability Engineer

DraftKings Inc.; Massachusetts; On-site; USD 168,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

DraftKings Inc. is seeking a senior Database Reliability Engineer to drive the reliability roadmap across PostgreSQL and other databases, while building automation with Kubernetes operators and IaC tooling.

You will lead incidents, define SLOs, and optimize capacity and performance in cloud and on‑prem environments. The role requires 6+ years in SRE/DB reliability with strong Kubernetes and Go/Python skills.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6 years in Database Reliability, Platform Engineering, or SRE with leadership experience.
• Deep PostgreSQL expertise and operational support for MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, and related services.
• Strong Kubernetes experience, including StatefulSets and operators.
• Proficient in Go or Python for automation and tooling.
• Demonstrated focus on observability, SLAs, capacity planning, and reliability.

Responsibilities

• Drive roadmap for database reliability across multiple databases and cloud services.
• Design automation platforms with Kubernetes operators and IaC tooling.
• Lead incidents, define SLOs, and improve production reliability and performance.
• Collaborate with teams on safe database practices and zero-downtime deployments.
• Improve efficiency via AI-assisted observability and tooling.
• Mentor engineers and influence architectural decisions.

Skills

Database reliability engineering

PostgreSQL

Kubernetes

Go

Python

Observability

AI tooling

Leadership & mentoring

Tools

Terraform

Pulumi

FluxCD

ArgoCD

GKE

EKS

Job description

At DraftKings, AI is becoming an integral part of both our present and future, powering how work gets done today, guiding smarter decisions, and sparking bold ideas. It’s transforming how we enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and unlock new possibilities. Our teams are energized by innovation and readily embrace emerging technology. We’re not waiting for the future to arrive. We’re shaping it, one bold step at a time. To those who see AI as a driver of progress, come build the future together.

The Crown Is Yours

What You’ll Do

• Drive the technical roadmap for database reliability across PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, ScyllaDB, Aerospike, and managed cloud services, while shaping architecture for high availability, replication, partitioning, storage, and connection management.
• Design and build automation‑first database platforms by developing Kubernetes operators, infrastructure as code, GitOps workflows, and production quality tooling in Go or Python to automate provisioning, failover, backups, schema migrations, and lifecycle management.
• Lead operational excellence by defining service level objectives, monitoring database health, capacity, and performance, eliminating recurring reliability issues, validating backup and recovery processes, and leading critical production incidents through resolution and continuous improvement.
• Optimize database performance and cost across cloud and on‑premises environments by driving capacity planning, resource efficiency, storage optimization, workload consolidation, and performance tuning for large‑scale systems.
• Partner closely with application engineering teams to establish safe database practices, including schema reviews, migration strategies, query optimization, connection management, and zero‑downtime deployment processes.
• Leverage AI to improve engineering productivity and database operations through intelligent observability, anomaly detection, root cause analysis, documentation, predictive insights, and evaluation of AI generated code to ensure reliability and security.
• Mentor engineers across the organization by sharing best practices, leading design and code reviews, influencing technical direction, supporting hiring efforts, and raising the overall maturity of database reliability engineering.

What You’ll Bring

• At least 6 years of experience in Database Reliability Engineering, Database Platform Engineering, or Site Reliability Engineering with a strong database focus, including technical leadership experience delivering complex database infrastructure projects at scale.
• Deep expertise in at least one major relational database, preferably PostgreSQL, along with operational experience supporting technologies such as MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, ScyllaDB, Aerospike, Aurora, Cloud SQL, and other managed cloud database services.
• Strong experience building and operating stateful workloads on Kubernetes using technologies such as StatefulSets, Persistent Volumes, database operators, Terraform, Pulumi, FluxCD, ArgoCD, GKE, and EKS.
• Hands‑on software development experience using Go or Python to create automation, platform tooling, Kubernetes controllers, APIs, and infrastructure that reduces manual effort and improves engineering efficiency.
• A data‑driven, automation‑first mindset with proven experience improving reliability through observability, monitoring, service level objectives, capacity planning, performance optimization, and self‑service engineering solutions.
• Practical experience using AI tools such as Claude, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, MCP, or similar technologies to improve design, coding, documentation, troubleshooting, and operational workflows while applying sound engineering judgment to validate AI generated outputs.
• Excellent leadership and communication skills with a track record of mentoring engineers, influencing architectural decisions, collaborating across engineering teams, producing clear technical documentation, and driving continuous improvement in highly available production environments.

Join Our Team

We’re a publicly traded (NASDAQ: DKNG) technology company headquartered in Boston. As a regulated gaming company, you may be required to obtain a gaming license issued by the appropriate state agency as a condition of employment. Don’t worry, we’ll guide you through the process if this is relevant to your role.

The US base salary range for this full‑time position is 168,000.00 USD – 210,000.00 USD, plus bonus, equity, and benefits as applicable. Our ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The compensation information displayed on each job posting reflects the range for new hire pay rates for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job‑related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range and how that was determined during the hiring process.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.