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 database platforms that underpin Turnitin’s innovative educational technology services.
This position merges strategic project execution with hands-on operational support within a fast-paced, high-availability production environment. The ideal candidate will display a high level of independence, drive projects to completion with minimal supervision, and effectively collaborate with colleagues across different time zones.
Key Responsibilities:
- Oversee the reliability, performance, and operational functionality of production database platforms while balancing project delivery and operational support.
- Design and enhance highly available database architectures within AWS to achieve objectives related to uptime, latency, scalability, and data recovery.
- Lead activities throughout the database lifecycle, including provisioning, upgrades, migrations, and readiness for disaster recovery.
- Enhance performance by diagnosing production issues, identifying root causes, and implementing sustainable solutions in collaboration with application and infrastructure teams.
- Establish and uphold operational excellence through monitoring, alerting, documentation, and incident response protocols.
- Define and uphold database security standards, access control, and compliance with internal policies.
- Automate repetitive operational tasks and standardize infrastructure provisioning using Infrastructure as Code and scripting.
- Conduct capacity planning and cost optimization, providing insights based on workload trends and business growth.
- Participate in an on-call rotation and lead or contribute to post-incident reviews to prevent recurrence of issues.
- Work collaboratively with a globally distributed team, attending meetings multiple times a week during the 16:00–19:00 GMT time frame.

