Senior PostgreSQL DBA

About the role

As a Senior PostgreSQL DBA, you will make an impact by being responsible for the administration, performance, availability, security, and operational support of enterprise PostgreSQL environments. You will play a key role in designing and maintaining high availability and disaster recovery solutions, optimizing database performance, automating operational processes, and ensuring the reliability of mission-critical applications across Production, UAT, and Development environments. You will be a valued member of the Cloud Infrastructure and Security team working collaboratively with the Senior Manager.

Responsibilities

• Administer and support PostgreSQL databases across Production, UAT, and Development environments
• Ensure database availability, reliability, capacity planning, and operational stability
• Design, implement, and maintain backup, recovery, and disaster recovery solutions to meet business continuity objectives
• Perform backup validations, recovery testing, and disaster recovery drills while maintaining RPO and RTO targets
• Design and support high-availability PostgreSQL architectures, including streaming and logical replication
• Monitor replication health and execute failover and switchover activities when required
• Analyze and resolve database performance issues through query optimization, indexing, partitioning, and execution plan analysis
• Tune PostgreSQL configuration parameters, memory utilization, I/O performance, and autovacuum settings
• Monitor and troubleshoot lock contention, blocking sessions, and database wait events
• Implement database security standards, user access controls, role management, and compliance requirements
• Resolve incidents, perform root cause analysis, and support problem and change management processes
• Develop automation solutions using Bash, Python, Shell scripting, and PostgreSQL utilities
• Implement monitoring, alerting, observability, and proactive health-check solutions
• Support database upgrades, migrations, releases, and deployment activities
• Create and maintain operational documentation, runbooks, recovery procedures, and technical standards
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on automation, modernization, operational excellence, and database governance

Schedule

This is an onsite position requiring 5 days a week in a client or Cognizant office in Charlotte, NC. Working arrangements are accurate as of the date of posting and may change based on project, business, and client requirements.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience supporting enterprise PostgreSQL environments
• Strong expertise with PostgreSQL 14, 15, 16, and 17
• Hands-on experience with PostgreSQL backup, recovery, and disaster recovery planning
• Extensive experience with streaming replication and logical replication
• Strong knowledge of high availability and disaster recovery architecture
• Proven experience with PostgreSQL performance tuning, query optimization, indexing, and partitioning
• Linux (RHEL) administration experience
• Proficiency in Bash, Shell, and Python scripting
• Experience with database security, access management, and compliance controls
• Hands-on experience with monitoring and observability tools
• Experience supporting ITIL-based operational processes, including Incident, Change, and Problem Management
• Experience working with ServiceNow or similar ITSM platforms

Qualifications

• Experience planning and executing PostgreSQL version upgrades
• Experience supporting cloud migration initiatives and hybrid database environments
• Knowledge of AWS, Azure, or other cloud database platforms
• Experience conducting application compatibility and upgrade assessments
• Experience defining database standards, governance controls, and operational best practices
• Strong troubleshooting skills supporting complex production environments
• Experience driving automation and database modernization initiatives
• PostgreSQL, Linux, Cloud, or ITIL certifications