Maggie Phillips

Senior PostgreSQL DBA / AWS Database Architect (Contract) Location: Remote (U.S.) — candidates may sit anywhere; preference for Des Moines, IA Duration: Initial 6-month contract (ongoing) with potential extension/convert   What you’ll do

• Administer, monitor, and optimize PostgreSQL in AWS (RDS & Aurora PostgreSQL)
• Own production support/triage, troubleshooting incidents through resolution
• Perform performance tuning and query optimization (EXPLAIN/EXPLAIN ANALYZE, execution plans, pg_stat_activity)
• Manage/optimize connection pooling & concurrency (e.g., PgBouncer)
• Design and improve scalable, highly available database architectures
• Support deployments, migrations, upgrades, and patching
• Partner with engineering teams to improve application/database performance
• Ensure best practices around security, backups, recovery, and DR

Required

• 7+ years DBA experience with strong focus on PostgreSQL
• Hands-on experience running PostgreSQL in AWS
• Strong experience with Amazon RDS and Aurora PostgreSQL
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot independently in production environments
• Strong communication / client-facing skills

Nice to have

• Migration experience (e.g., SQL Server ? PostgreSQL)
• Automation and CI/CD exposure
• Familiarity with AWS monitoring/observability tools
• High-volume / enterprise production experience

Location note: This role is fully remote, but the team strongly prefers candidates in/near Des Moines, IA.