About this role.
ClickUp seeks a Senior Database Reliability Engineer to operate and improve the reliability of large PostgreSQL production environments on AWS. The role covers database administration, performance tuning, backup and recovery, security, capacity planning, migrations, and incident response. The engineer will support PostgreSQL deployments across RDS, Aurora, and EC2 while partnering with application teams on releases, schemas, and query performance. Candidates need at least seven years of senior database engineering or DBA experience, strong Linux and SQL skills, and scripting capability. This is a remote role available in Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, and Czechia, with participation in an on-call rotation.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
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4/5Autonomy Level
4/5Communication Load
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Core skills
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Cover letter sample
Dear Hiring Team,
I am excited to apply for the Senior Database Reliability Engineer role at ClickUp. My background in operating production PostgreSQL systems, improving performance and availability, and managing secure backup, recovery, and disaster-recovery processes aligns closely with your Database Operations team's needs. I bring hands-on experience with Linux, AWS database services, SQL tuning, automation, and safe execution of upgrades and migrations in high-availability environments. I would welcome the opportunity to help ClickUp maintain reliable, scalable data platforms while partnering effectively with application teams and contributing to strong operational standards.
Sincerely,
Candidate
Sample interview questions
I would first confirm user impact and inspect database and infrastructure metrics such as CPU, memory, disk IOPS, storage latency, connections, lock waits, replication lag, and slow queries. I would use PostgreSQL views such as pg_stat_activity, pg_locks, and pg_stat_statements to identify blocking sessions, expensive query patterns, or connection pressure. After isolating the likely cause, I would apply the lowest-risk mitigation, communicate status, and document the incident and preventive actions.
I would define recovery point and recovery time objectives, then implement automated backups, point-in-time recovery where supported, and retained snapshots in accordance with business and compliance requirements. I would ensure backups are encrypted, access-controlled, monitored, and stored with appropriate geographic and account resilience. Most importantly, I would schedule restore tests into isolated environments, measure recovery results against objectives, and maintain a tested runbook.
I begin with compatibility assessment, extension and application validation, capacity planning, rollback design, and rehearsal in a production-like environment. Depending on the platform and downtime objective, I would select an in-place upgrade, logical replication, or a blue-green migration strategy and validate data consistency before cutover. I would coordinate a change window, monitor closely during the transition, and retain a clear rollback path until the upgraded system is stable.
I would obtain the actual query, parameter patterns, execution plan, table statistics, data distribution, and workload context. I would use EXPLAIN ANALYZE to identify inefficient scans, poor join strategies, cardinality-estimation problems, lock contention, or missing and ineffective indexes. I would recommend and test targeted query, indexing, schema, or statistics changes, then verify that improvements do not create unacceptable write overhead or regress other workloads.
I would apply least-privilege role design, separate human and service identities, remove shared credentials, and use controlled, auditable access paths. Privileges would be granted at the narrowest practical scope and reviewed regularly, with sensitive operations protected through approval and break-glass procedures. I would also ensure encryption, logging, audit retention, patching, secrets rotation, and documented incident-response processes align with applicable compliance requirements.
At ClickUp, we’re building the future of work: the first truly converged AI workspace unifying tasks, docs, chat, calendar, and enterprise search, all supercharged by context-driven AI. We are an AI-native company. Every team member is expected to leverage AI daily, and we evaluate AI fluency as part of our hiring process. Join us and help redefine what’s possible. 🚀
About This Role
ClickUp is looking for a Senior Database Reliability Engineer to join our Database Operations team. You’ll be responsible for the performance, integrity, security, and availability of our PostgreSQL databases running on Linux in AWS. This role focuses on day-to-day database administration, operational excellence, and ensuring data is consistently reliable and well-managed across environments.
Key Responsibilities
Administer, monitor, and maintain PostgreSQL databases (250GB+) in production environments (AWS RDS, Aurora, EC2)
Ensure database availability, performance, and data integrity through proactive monitoring and maintenance
Perform routine database administration tasks including patching, upgrades, vacuuming, reindexing, and statistics management
Execute and manage backup, restore, and disaster recovery procedures, including regular testing of recovery plans
Handle user access management, roles, and database security to ensure compliance with best practices
Perform capacity planning, storage management, and growth forecasting
Troubleshoot database issues, including performance bottlenecks, locking/contention, and failed jobs
Support application teams with query tuning, schema changes, and release deployments
Manage database migrations, upgrades, and change requests with minimal downtime
Maintain documentation for database configurations, standards, and operational procedures
Participate in on-call rotations and provide support for production incidents
Qualifications
7+ years of experience in a senior database administrator or Database Engineering role
Strong hands-on PostgreSQL administration experience, including backups, recovery, and performance tuning
Solid understanding of database security, access control, and compliance practices
Experience managing large-scale production databases (250GB+), including maintenance and lifecycle management
Strong Linux administration skills (processes, disk, memory, networking)
Experience with monitoring tools and performance diagnostics
Proficiency in SQL and at least one scripting language (Bash, Python, or similar)
Familiarity with cloud-based database deployments, preferably AWS (RDS, Aurora, EC2, S3)
Strong organizational and documentation skills
Nice to Have
Experience with database auditing, compliance, or governance frameworks
Familiarity with ETL processes, data pipelines, or reporting systems
Experience with high availability setups, replication, and failover management
Exposure to other database systems (MySQL, SQL Server, or NoSQL platforms)
Experience supporting enterprise or highly regulated environments
#LI-REMOTE
#LI-CC1
Equal Opportunity Employer
ClickUp is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.
Privacy Notice
ClickUp collects and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws. You can find further details by viewing our Global Candidate Privacy Notice.
If you are a Philippine Job Applicant, please also see our Philippine Data Privacy Notice for further details.
Visa Sponsorship
Please note we are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa for roles outside of engineering and product at this time. Sponsorship for engineering and product roles is not guaranteed, but is instead based on the business needs for that specific role at that time. Please reach out to the recruiter with any questions.
Fraud Alert
ClickUp Talent Acquisition will only initiate contact via an @clickup.com email or through our official careers portal on clickup.com. We will never request fees, payments, or sensitive personal information. Please disregard any offers received outside these channels and report them to support@clickup.com.
AI Processing Notice
ClickUp may use artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to help review and screen candidates’ employment applications against role-related criteria. These tools support, but do not replace, human decision‑making. If you have questions or need an accommodation in the recruitment process, please contact us at AskPeople@ClickUp.com.
Annual salary information is not provided for this position. Explore salary ranges for similar roles in our Salary Directory ›
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