Automation DBA

Overview

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

Skills

Automation DBA
Software Engineer
database automation
software engineering
MariaDB
PostgreSQL
TiDB
Kubernetes
Terraform
Linux.
Go
Percona
open-source databases

Job Details

Title: Automation DBA Location: Remote (PST or CST candidates)

Duration: 6+ Months Contract-to-Hire
Interview: Phone + Video

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly specialized Automation DBA / Software Engineer (DB Focused) to support and optimize large-scale open-source database environments. This role blends deep DBA expertise, database automation, and software engineering, working across MariaDB, PostgreSQL, TiDB, Kubernetes, Terraform, and Linux.

You will work closely with engineering, DevOps, and architecture teams to design HA architectures, automate DB operations, and ensure reliability across distributed systems.

Responsibilities

  • Build and maintain High Availability (HA) open-source database environments using MariaDB, PostgreSQL, TiDB.
  • Review and enhance existing database architectures; identify gaps and propose improvements.
  • Ensure robust backups, PITR, replication, and disaster recovery strategies.
  • Tune performance, optimize queries, and resolve slow queries or replication failures.
  • Expand into additional DB technologies: Redis, FoundationDB (nice to have).
  • Apply Infrastructure-as-Code principles to automate database deployments and operations.
  • Participate in on-call rotations ensuring uptime and reliability.
  • Work hands-on with Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD pipelines, and Linux-based environments.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams across different time zones.
  • Demonstrate ownership, customer focus, innovation, and strong communication skills.

Required Skills & Experience

Database Expertise

  • Strong hands-on experience running MariaDB and PostgreSQL in HA
  • Experience with replication, clustering, failover, and recovery.
  • Understanding of active-active vs active-passive
  • Solid grasp of table design, query optimization, performance tuning, and reliability engineering.
  • Experience restoring from data loss or replication issues.

Software Engineering Skills

  • Programming experience in Golang (preferred) and/or Python.
  • Experience writing automation for database deployments and operations.
  • Ability to build tools for cluster provisioning, orchestration, and monitoring.

DevOps & Infrastructure

  • Hands-on experience with:
    • Terraform
    • Kubernetes
    • Linux (Rocky/CentOS/RHEL/Ubuntu)
    • Ansible or other config management tools
  • Strong understanding of CI/CD concepts and Infrastructure-as-Code.
  • Comfortable managing databases on bare metal (not only managed cloud DBs).

Bonus Skills

  • Experience with TiDB
  • Experience with Percona
  • Strong architectural planning abilities
  • Ability to differentiate between proxy SQL vs proxy DB

Ideal Candidate Profile

  • A true hands-on DBA who also writes code.
  • Deep experience with open-source databases (not reliant on cloud-managed DB services).
  • Proven experience running DB workloads on bare metal and distributed systems.
  • Stable, long-term career history with demonstrated ownership and accountability.
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.

About Black Rock Group