About the job
Join our dynamic global infrastructure team as a Senior Database Engineer, specializing in PostgreSQL and AWS Aurora. In this pivotal role, you will ensure the reliability, performance, and scalability of the database platforms that underpin Turnitin's innovative educational technology services.
This position uniquely blends strategic project management with hands-on operational support in a fast-paced, high-availability production environment. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a high level of autonomy, drive projects to completion with minimal oversight, and work collaboratively with colleagues across various time zones.
Key Responsibilities:
- Oversee the reliability, performance, and daily operations of production database platforms, seamlessly integrating project delivery with operational support.
- Design and enhance highly available database architectures on AWS, ensuring adherence to uptime, latency, scalability, and recoverability objectives.
- Lead database lifecycle tasks, including provisioning, upgrades, migrations, backup/restore processes, and disaster recovery preparedness.
- Enhance performance by diagnosing production issues, uncovering root causes, and implementing lasting solutions in collaboration with application and infrastructure teams.
- Establish and uphold operational excellence through monitoring, alerting, documentation, and incident response protocols.
- Define and implement database security standards, access controls, and auditing procedures in alignment with internal policies and compliance requirements.
- Automate routine operational tasks and standardize infrastructure deployment through Infrastructure as Code and scripting.
- Conduct capacity planning and cost optimization, providing insights based on workload trends and anticipated business growth.
- Participate in an on-call rotation and lead or contribute to post-incident reviews to mitigate future occurrences.
- Collaborate with a globally distributed team, attending regular meetings multiple times a week within the 16:00–19:00 GMT window.
