Key skills
AWS RDS/AuroraTerraformDatabase performance optimizationScripting PythonScripting BashMonitoring toolsSQLPostgreSQLIncident responseHigh availability configurationsContainerization DockerContainerization KubernetesAWS certificationsOther database systemsCollaboration skillsPythonBashKafkaAWSKubernetesDockerAnsibleCloudFormationRDSCloudWatchMySQLMongoDBRedisElasticsearchPrometheusDatadogRabbitMQCI/CDCommunicationCollaboration
About this role
Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. As a Senior Database Reliability Engineer, you'll ensure the availability, performance, and scalability of AWS Aurora PostgreSQL and MySQL databases, collaborating with software engineers and architects to optimize database systems.
Responsibilities:
- Collaborate with software engineers and architects to design and optimize database schemas, indexes, and queries
- Evaluate and implement best practices for database performance, security, and scalability
- Monitor and maintain the health of production and development databases
- Troubleshoot performance bottlenecks, query optimization, and replication issues
- Implement backup and disaster recovery strategies
- Leverage infrastructure as code (IaC) tools (Terraform, CloudFormation) to provision and manage database infrastructure; write and maintain reusable Terraform modules, manage state, and support CI/CD-based deployments
- Automate routine tasks using scripts (Python, Bash) and configuration management tools (Ansible, Puppet)
- Implement and enforce security policies for data access, encryption, and authentication
- Ensure compliance with industry standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA)
- Work closely with cross-functional teams (DevOps, Development, QA) to improve database reliability
- Document procedures, runbooks, and incident response processes
Requirements:
- 6+ years of proven experience managing AWS RDS/Aurora PostgreSQL and MySQL databases in a production environment
- 4+ years of Terraform experience (writing modules, managing state, and building reusable IaC for AWS)
- 4+ years of experience in Infrastructure SRE / Platform Engineering (on-call, incident response, SLIs/SLOs, and reliability improvements)
- 4+ years of experience with monitoring tools (e.g., CloudWatch, Datadog, Prometheus)
- 4+ years of Scripting and automation skills (Python, Bash)
- Advanced level of proficiency with communication and collaboration skills
- Intermediate level of proficiency with SQL skills and expertise in query optimization
- Intermediate level of proficiency with PostgreSQL extensions, replication, and high availability configurations
- AWS certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Database - Specialty)
- Knowledge of other database/datastore systems (MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, Kafka, RabbitMQ)
- Experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)