Senior Database Administrator - PostgreSQL

ABOUT US:

As a world leading provider of integrated solutions for the alternative investment industry, Alter Domus (meaning “The Other House” in Latin) is proud to be home to 90% of the top 30 asset managers in the private markets, and more than 6,000 professionals across 24 jurisdictions.

With a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed in alternatives, we believe in being different in what we do, how we work, and most importantly in how we enable and develop our people. Invest yourself in the alternative, and join an organization where you progress on merit, where you can speak openly with whoever you are speaking to, and where you will be supported along whichever path you choose to take.

Find out more about life at Alter Domus at careers.alterdomus.com

JOB DESCRIPTION:

We are looking for a Senior PostgreSQL Database Administrator to join our Global IT Operations team in Carmel, Indiana. You will be one of the senior technical owners of the PostgreSQL platform that our fund administration and reporting applications run on — responsible for its availability, performance, recoverability and security, and for the standards the rest of the organization builds against. This is a hands-on role with real design authority, not a ticket-queue position.

THE ENVIRONMENT

• PostgreSQL across AWS (RDS and Aurora), Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and self-managed instances on Linux in our Chicago and Luxembourg data centers.

• A global platform supporting business-critical fund administration, accounting and reporting applications, used across our offices worldwide.

• A database team you will work within and help shape, alongside infrastructure, cloud, network, security, application and third-party vendor teams.

• A regulated environment with formal change management, production control and disaster recovery programs — and the audit and regulatory reporting that comes with them.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Run the platform

• Own day-to-day administration of the PostgreSQL estate: provisioning, configuration, monitoring and lifecycle management across cloud and on-premises instances.

• Act as senior escalation point for database incidents. Lead root-cause analysis, drive permanent corrective actions rather than repeat workarounds, and write the post-incident record.

• Plan and execute patching and major-version upgrades with minimal or zero downtime, choosing appropriately between pg_upgrade, logical replication and dump/restore.

• Take database changes through our change management and CAB process with reviewed scripts, tested rollback and clear release documentation.

Performance and scale

• Diagnose and resolve performance problems using EXPLAIN / EXPLAIN ANALYZE, pg_stat_statements, wait-event analysis and planner statistics.

• Tune indexing, partitioning, connection pooling (PgBouncer) and workload-specific configuration for our largest and busiest databases.

• Keep bloat and storage growth under control through autovacuum tuning and targeted VACUUM, ANALYZE and REINDEX operations.

• Plan capacity proactively across CPU, memory, IOPS, storage, WAL growth and connection limits, and flag what needs investment before it becomes an incident.

• Build monitoring and alerting that catches problems before users report them, using CloudWatch, Performance Insights, Prometheus/Grafana, pgBadger and PostgreSQL logs.

Resilience and recovery

• Design, operate and prove backup and recovery using pgBackRest, pg_basebackup, logical dumps and cloud snapshots — with automated restore testing, not assumed-good backups.

• Build and operate high availability using streaming and logical replication, and automated failover where the workload justifies it.

• Own the database side of our disaster recovery program: define and document RPO/RTO, configure cross-region replication, and take part in scheduled DR tests including failover and failback.

• Troubleshoot WAL, archiving, replication slots and replication lag, and know what to do when recovery does not go to plan.

Security and control

• Apply and maintain database security standards: least privilege, role hierarchy, SCRAM authentication, TLS, encryption at rest, auditing and separation of duties.

• Manage roles, privileges and authentication through postgresql.conf and pg_hba.conf, together with cloud-side controls such as security groups, network ACLs and private networking.

• Produce the evidence our internal audit, external auditors and financial-services regulators require — including obligations under DORA for our European entities.

• Keep documentation current and usable: build standards, configuration baselines, backup and recovery procedures, and support runbooks.

Automation and engineering practice

• Automate provisioning, patching, backup validation and routine maintenance using Bash, Python and infrastructure-as-code.

• Integrate database changes into CI/CD so schema changes are source-controlled, reviewed and repeatable across environments.

• Review architecture and technical designs from application and engineering teams, and give clear, practical feedback on scalability, resilience, security and supportability.

• Evaluate PostgreSQL extensions and third-party tooling for enterprise use, covering compatibility, security, supportability, licensing and operational impact.

• Mentor other DBAs, run technical reviews, and raise the standard of database practice across the team.

On-call

• Take part in a shared on-call rotation for critical systems with [N] other engineers, on a [one week in N] cycle. [On-call is compensated through an allowance / time off in lieu.]

• Coordinate with colleagues and vendors across multiple time zones, including occasional planned weekend maintenance windows.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• At least 7 years administering production PostgreSQL, including databases that the business depends on around the clock.

• Deep, hands-on understanding of PostgreSQL internals: MVCC and vacuum behavior, WAL and checkpoints, replication, and query planning.

• Proven experience running PostgreSQL on AWS — RDS and/or Aurora — including instance sizing, parameter groups, monitoring and engine version upgrades.

• A track record of designing and testing high availability and disaster recovery: not only configuring replication, but demonstrating that recovery works.

• Strong query and workload tuning skills you can talk through with concrete examples from your own work.

• Solid Linux administration and scripting in Bash and/or Python.

• Experience working within a formal change management process in a regulated, audited or otherwise controlled environment.

• The ability to explain database risk and trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders and to senior management.

• A bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

• Fluent English, written and spoken.

• Authorization to work in the United States. [We are / are not able to sponsor employment visas for this role.]

NICE TO HAVE

None of the following are required. Tell us about any you have.

• PostgreSQL HA tooling: Patroni, etcd or Consul, HAProxy or Keepalived.

• Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL.

• pgBackRest at scale, including incremental and differential strategies and retention policy design.

• Containerized PostgreSQL on Kubernetes — persistent storage, backups, failover and operational troubleshooting.

• Terraform, Ansible or similar infrastructure-as-code tooling.

• A background in Oracle or SQL Server, and experience migrating from them to PostgreSQL.

• Financial services, fund administration or another regulated industry.

HOW YOU WORK

• You stay calm and methodical under production pressure, and your attention to detail holds up when it matters most.

• You are comfortable pushing back on a risky change and explaining why — and equally comfortable finding a safe way to get it done.

• You write clearly. Your runbooks and post-incident notes are read by people who were not there.

• You work well with teams across time zones and cultures, and you can hold third-party providers to their commitments.

• You are genuinely hands-on, and you finish what you pick up.

LOCATION AND WORKING MODEL

• Based in our Carmel, Indiana office. Hybrid: 3 days per week onsite, with the remainder remote.

• Core hours overlap with European colleagues [e.g. from 8:00 am ET].

• Occasional travel, expected to be less than [5]% of your time.

WHAT WE OFFER:

We are committed to supporting your development, advancing your career, and providing benefits that matter to you.

Our industry-leading Alter Domus Academy offers six learning zones for every stage of your career, with resources tailored to your ambitions and resources from LinkedIn Learning.

Our global benefits also include:

• Support for professional accreditations

• Flexible arrangements, generous holidays, plus an additional day off for your birthday!

• Continuous mentoring along your career progression

• Active sports, events and social committees across our offices

• 24/7 support available from our Employee Assistance Program

• The opportunity to invest in our growth and success through our Employee Share Plan

• Plus additional local benefits depending on your location

Alter Domus is an Equal Opportunity Employer: Equity Statement All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.

(Alter Domus Privacy notice can be reviewed via Alter Domus webpage: https://alterdomus.com/privacy-notice/)

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