Senior Staff Database Engineer

Stack

Responsibilities

• ▹Participate in on-call rotation
• ▹Become an SME in production database troubleshooting, ServiceNow instance performance, and Linux performance analysis, both on-prem and on Hyperscaler
• ▹Own complex incident root cause analysis across multi-tenant PostgreSQL/MariaDB fleets at scale
• ▹Develop observability tooling and automation to prevent recurrence of critical issues
• ▹Influence infrastructure decisions that shape the multi-tenant cloud platform
• ▹Mentor and collaborate with engineers across operations, support, and development

Requirements

• ▹12 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 8 years with a Master's degree; or a PhD with 5 years experience; or equivalent database engineering experience in large-scale, enterprise environments — database-focused background required
• ▹Deep PostgreSQL expertise including MVCC, transaction management, vacuum mechanics, WAL architecture, advanced query performance tuning, buffer management, and backup/restore
• ▹Experience supporting large-scale, multi-tenant SaaS, PaaS, or cloud infrastructure platforms
• ▹Strong Unix/Linux skills — file system navigation, permissions, process management, performance diagnostics
• ▹Deep understanding of RedHat Linux internals with hands-on expertise diagnosing CPU, memory, and I/O issues at the OS level
• ▹Experience with public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• ▹Strong problem-solving ability, logical thinking, and genuine curiosity to understand complex systems end to end

Nice to have

• ▹Experience with the ServiceNow platform: scripting, tuning, and troubleshooting
• ▹Scripting proficiency: shell, Python, JavaScript, Ansible
• ▹Experience with schemas, replication, indexing, and query optimization techniques
• ▹Familiarity with Kubernetes and CI/CD pipelines

Soft skills

What we offer

• ▹Equity, when applicable
• ▹Variable/incentive compensation
• ▹Health plans, including flexible spending accounts
• ▹401(k) plan with company match
• ▹ESPP (employee stock purchase plan)
• ▹Matching donations program
• ▹Flexible time away and family leave programs

About the company

ServiceNow's SWAT (Software Action Team) ensures the production stability of customer applications and infrastructure services; its engineers act as the last line of defense and the ultimate escalation point for internal and external customers.