PostgreSQL Database SME

Overview

Remote
Depends on Experience
Contract - Independent
Contract - W2
Contract - 12 Month(s)

Skills

Amazon RDS
Amazon Web Services
Analytics
Ansible
Application Development
Auditing
Backup
Capacity Management
Cloud Computing
Computer Networking
Continuous Delivery
Continuous Integration
Data Integration
Data Storage
Database
Database Architecture
DevOps
Disaster Recovery
ELT
Elasticsearch
Encryption
Extract
Transform
Load
Failover
Good Clinical Practice
Google Cloud Platform
Grafana
Hardening
Health Care
High Availability
IT Management
Kubernetes
Linux
Microsoft Azure
Migration
MongoDB
MySQL
Network
NoSQL
OLAP
OLTP
Optimization
Oracle
PL/SQL
Performance Engineering
Performance Tuning
PostgreSQL
Profit And Loss
Provisioning
Redis
Regulatory Compliance
Remote Desktop Services
Replication
Root Cause Analysis
SQL
Scalability
Storage
Streaming
Terraform

Job Details

The PostgreSQL Database Subject Matter Expert (SME) provides deep technical leadership across database architecture, performance engineering, optimization, security, and enterprisescale operations. This role supports complex application ecosystems, multicloud deployments, modernization initiatives, and missioncritical workloads requiring high availability, scalability, and compliance.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture & Design

  • Design, implement, and optimize PostgreSQL database architectures for OLTP, OLAP, and hybrid workloads.
  • Develop logical and physical data models, indexing strategies, partitioning schemes, and storage optimization plans.
  • Lead database modernization, migration, and consolidation initiatives (onprem to cloud, crossversion upgrades, Oracle/MySQL to PostgreSQL conversions).

Performance Engineering

  • Conduct deepdive performance tuning across queries, indexes, schemas, and system parameters.
  • Analyze execution plans, optimize slow-running SQL, and resolve bottlenecks at the database, OS, and network layers.
  • Implement monitoring, alerting, and capacity planning using tools such as pg_stat_statements, pgBadger, Prometheus, Grafana, or equivalent.

Operations & Administration

  • Manage installation, configuration, patching, and version upgrades of PostgreSQL clusters.
  • Implement and maintain high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) solutions using replication, failover, and backup strategies (e.g., streaming replication, Patroni, pgBackRest).
  • Ensure database reliability, security hardening, encryption, auditing, and compliance with organizational and regulatory standards.

Cloud & Automation

  • Architect and support PostgreSQL deployments on AWS RDS/Aurora, Azure PostgreSQL, or Google Cloud Platform Cloud SQL.
  • Automate provisioning, scaling, and maintenance using Terraform, Ansible, or CI/CD pipelines.
  • Support containerized and Kubernetes-based PostgreSQL environments (e.g., CrunchyData, CloudNativePG).

CrossFunctional Leadership

  • Serve as the primary PostgreSQL expert for engineering, DevOps, analytics, and application development teams.
  • Provide guidance on SQL best practices, schema design, and data access patterns.
  • Troubleshoot complex production issues and lead root cause analysis (RCA) efforts.

Required Skills & Experience

  • 8 15+ years of hands-on experience with PostgreSQL database engineering and administration.
  • Expert-level knowledge of SQL, PL/pgSQL, indexing, partitioning, replication, and performance tuning.
  • Strong understanding of Linux internals, storage systems, networking, and system performance.
  • Experience with cloud-native PostgreSQL services and automation frameworks.
  • Familiarity with ETL/ELT pipelines, data integration tools, and analytics workloads.
  • Proven ability to support large-scale, high-availability, mission-critical environments.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience migrating from Oracle, SQL Server, or MySQL to PostgreSQL.
  • Knowledge of NoSQL or complementary data platforms (Redis, MongoDB, Elasticsearch).
  • Certifications in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform).
  • Experience supporting federal, healthcare, or regulated environments.

Employers have access to artificial intelligence language tools (“AI”) that help generate and enhance job descriptions and AI may have been used to create this description. The position description has been reviewed for accuracy and Dice believes it to correctly reflect the job opportunity.