Sr. PostgreSQL Specialist Solutions Architect, Amazon Aurora

About the role

As a Specialist Solutions Architect for Aurora PostgreSQL, you will be the technical authority that AWS's largest and most complex customers rely on to architect, migrate, and operate PostgreSQL workloads on Amazon Aurora and Amazon RDS. This role focuses deeply on Aurora PostgreSQL, partnering directly with customer engineers and CTOs to design production architectures and operational patterns that meet real-world demands. You will collaborate with the Aurora service team to surface customer needs, advocate for feature enhancements, and drive the product roadmap. Additionally, you will serve as a thought leader, mentoring teammates, publishing technical content, presenting at AWS events, and establishing frameworks to elevate PostgreSQL engagements globally.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical advisor for AWS's key customers running or migrating to Aurora PostgreSQL and RDS for PostgreSQL, providing hands-on architectural guidance from design through production operation.
• Guide customers on Aurora PostgreSQL operational best practices, including performance & scaling, high availability & durability, monitoring & observability, maintenance & patching, backup & recovery, security, and operational hygiene.
• Design and validate Aurora PostgreSQL architectures leveraging Aurora-specific capabilities such as storage auto-scaling, read replica scaling, Global Database, HA/DR, and Serverless.
• Partner with the Aurora service team as the voice of the customer, surfacing recurring pain points, advocating for feature enhancements, and participating in roadmap reviews.
• Engage with customer engineers in whiteboard sessions, architecture reviews, and technical deep dives, providing candid guidance and pushing back diplomatically on designs that won’t scale.
• Develop and publish technical thought leadership content, including blogs, reference architectures, white papers, and reusable artifacts to elevate the PostgreSQL community on AWS.
• Advise customers on complex database migrations from Oracle, SQL Server, and other engines to Aurora PostgreSQL.
• Present at key industry events, including AWS re:Invent, AWS Summits, PostgreSQL community conferences (PGConf, PGDay), and customer-facing workshops.
• Stay current with PostgreSQL community developments (new major versions, extensions ecosystem, community tooling) and translate advancements into actionable guidance for AWS customers.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in specific technology domain areas (e.g., software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics).
• 3+ years of experience in design, implementation, or consulting for applications and infrastructures.
• 10+ years of IT development or implementation/consulting experience in the software or Internet industries.
• Hands-on experience with Aurora PostgreSQL, RDS for PostgreSQL, or significant experience with AWS database and migration services (DMS, SCT).
• Led migrations to Aurora as the technical owner.
• Experience with Aurora-specific features: storage architecture, fast cloning, Global Database, Performance/Database Insights, and Blue/Green Deployments.
• Experience architecting or operating PostgreSQL solutions at scale (multi-TB databases, tens of thousands of connections, cross-region replication).
• Software development experience (Python, Java, etc.) and fluency with AI tooling (Kiro, Claude Code, Codex, etc.).

Preferred Qualifications

• 7+ years of infrastructure architecture, database architecture, and networking experience.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience designing, operating, or engineering PostgreSQL-based systems in production environments at scale.
• Expertise in PostgreSQL internals and operational practices: MVCC and vacuum behavior, query planner and optimizer internals, pgvector, indexing strategies (B-tree, GIN, GiST, BRIN), replication (streaming, logical), extension ecosystem/architecture, and connection management.
• Demonstrated experience with database migrations, including schema conversion, data migration tooling, and performance validation.

About the team

AWS values diverse experiences and encourages candidates to apply even if their career path hasn’t followed a traditional route. The team fosters an inclusive culture that promotes curiosity, connection, and innovation. Employee-led affinity groups and inclusion events empower teams to collaborate and celebrate uniqueness.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D, with options for supplemental life plans).
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Mental Health Support.
• Medical Advice Line and Flexible Spending Accounts.
• Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage.
• 401(k) matching.
• Paid time off and parental leave.
• Sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs).

Pay

Base salary ranges by location:

• San Francisco, CA: $176,600 - $239,000 USD annually.
• Jersey City, NJ: $169,000 - $228,600 USD annually.
• New York, NY: $169,000 - $228,600 USD annually.
• Dallas, TX: $153,600 - $207,800 USD annually.
• Arlington, VA: $153,600 - $207,800 USD annually.
• Herndon, VA: $153,600 - $207,800 USD annually.
• Seattle, WA: $153,600 - $207,800 USD annually.