# Senior PostgreSQL Database Administrator / Database Engineer

**Company:** [tastytrade](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/tastytrade)
**Location:** Chicago, IL
**Role:** Data Engineering
**Salary:** $150k – $180k/yr
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Postgres, Patroni, Amazon Rds, Linux, Query Planning, Indexing, Replication, Pgbackrest, Barman, Ruby, Java, Python, Pgbouncer, Terraform, Ansible
**Posted:** 2026-08-28

> Own the performance, availability, backup and recovery, upgrades, and observability of high-throughput PostgreSQL environments across on-premises infrastructure and Amazon RDS. The senior role requires production Patroni failover experience, deep PostgreSQL expertise, Linux fundamentals, software development proficiency, and strong documentation skills.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Own performance for high-volume OLTP PostgreSQL workloads, including query-plan analysis, index strategy, statistics and autovacuum tuning, connection pooling, partitioning, and schema design review.
- Design, deploy, and operate highly available PostgreSQL clusters with Patroni, including replication topology, failover, switchover procedures, and regular testing.
- Own backup and recovery tooling, retention, point-in-time recovery (PITR), restore verification, and documented RTO/RPO objectives.
- Operate PostgreSQL across self-managed on-premises/VM/bare-metal environments and Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL.
- Plan and execute major-version upgrades and large migrations with minimal downtime.
- Review Ruby on Rails/ActiveRecord and Java/JDBC application code and database migrations for query, indexing, DDL, and locking issues.
- Build and maintain database observability, including metrics, slow-query capture, lock and wait-event analysis, and capacity forecasting.
- Automate routine database operations and improve operational runbooks.
- Participate in an on-call rotation, lead incident response, write postmortems, and drive corrective actions.
- Maintain runbooks, architecture decision records, upgrade playbooks, and developer guidance.
- Assist with on-premises server hardware sizing and disaster-recovery planning and exercises.

## Requirements
- Deep production PostgreSQL expertise, including query-planner analysis and `EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS)`.
- Experience with B-tree, GIN, GiST, BRIN, partial, expression, and covering indexes, including write-amplification tradeoffs.
- Understanding of physical and logical replication, replication slots, lag diagnosis, and replication failure modes.
- Production experience with Patroni-managed clusters, including handling a real failover.
- Ownership of backup and restore programs using tools such as pgBackRest or Barman, including production restoration.
- Experience operating PostgreSQL at scale in self-managed and Amazon RDS environments.
- Strong Linux fundamentals covering filesystems, I/O, memory, hugepages, systemd, networking, and performance tooling.
- Software development experience with pull requests, peer review, runbooks, and design documentation.
- Working proficiency in Ruby and Java, with sufficient Python proficiency to read, review, and modify code.
- Excellent written communication and documentation skills.

## Nice-to-Haves
- Operating PgBouncer at scale.
- Infrastructure as code and configuration management with Terraform, Ansible, SaltStack, or Puppet.
- Kubernetes-hosted PostgreSQL operators.
- Active-active multi-site architectures.
- Logical-replication-based zero-downtime migrations.
- Contributions to PostgreSQL or ecosystem tooling.
- Familiarity with internal tooling such as gascan.

## Compensation and Benefits
- Base salary: $150,000-$180,000 annually.
- Discretionary performance bonus: 8-12% of base salary.
- Stock purchase options.
- Medical, vision, and dental benefits.
- 401(k) plan.
- Paid vacation and sick leave.
- Gym membership reimbursement and wellness programs.
- Commuter benefits and pet insurance.
- Charitable donation matching and paid volunteer days.
- Office meals, snacks, beverages, gym access, and Metra shuttle.

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