[Hiring] Database Engineer @Tucows Inc.

Role Description

We are looking for a highly skilled Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE) with deep expertise in PostgreSQL at scale. In this role, you will design, operationalize, and optimize the data persistence layer that powers large-scale, mission-critical systems. You’ll work closely with SRE, Platform, and Engineering teams to ensure performance, reliability, automation, and operational excellence across the database environment. This is a hands-on engineering role focused on building resilient data infrastructure—well beyond traditional database administration. This role is a remote position open to applicants based in Canada.

What You’ll Do

• Architecture, Reliability & Performance
  • Design, implement, and operate highly available PostgreSQL clusters (physical/logical replication, sharding, partitioning, failover automation)
  • Optimize query performance and indexing strategies
  • Perform capacity planning, growth forecasting, and workload modeling
  • Own high-availability strategies, including:
    • Automatic failover
    • Multi-region deployments
    • Disaster recovery
• Automation & Tooling
  • Build and maintain automation for:
    • Provisioning and configuration
    • Backups and recovery
    • Failovers
    • Vacuum tuning
    • Schema management
  • Use tools such as Terraform, Ansible/SaltStack, Bash, Python, etc.
  • Develop monitoring and alerting systems for PostgreSQL clusters
• Operations & Incident Response
  • Lead response during database incidents (e.g., performance regressions, replication lag, deadlocks, bloat, storage failures)
  • Conduct root-cause analysis and implement long-term fixes
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Partner with software engineers to:
    • Review SQL queries
    • Optimize schemas
    • Ensure effective use of PostgreSQL features
  • Provide guidance on:
    • Database design patterns
    • Migrations and version upgrades
    • Best practices

Qualifications

• 7+ years of hands-on PostgreSQL experience in large-scale, high-volume production environments
• Strong expertise in PostgreSQL internals: WAL, MVCC, vacuum tuning, query planner, indexing, logical replication
• Advanced SQL and strong schema design and query optimization skills
• Solid experience with Linux systems and networking fundamentals
• Experience building automation using Go or Python
• Experience with monitoring tools such as: Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, PMM, pg_stat_statements

Preferred (Nice to Have)

• Experience with connection pooling and load balancing: PgBouncer, HAProxy
• Experience with high-availability solutions: Patroni or similar tools
• Exposure to event streaming and CDC: Kafka, Debezium
• Experience supporting 24/7 production environments
• Experience with PostgreSQL backup tools: Barman, pgBackRest, WAL-G
• Familiarity with Traefik or similar infrastructure components

Benefits

• The base salary range for this position is $126,100 to $140,100. Range shown in $CAD for Canadian residents. Other countries will differ.
• Range may vary on a number of factors including, but not limited to: location, experience and qualifications.
• Tucows believes in a total rewards offering that includes fair compensation and generous benefits.