Database Reliability Engineer

Overview

SpaceX is looking for a Database Reliability Engineer with strong technical knowledge in Microsoft SQL / PowerBI technologies as well as excellent interpersonal and communication skills. You will be part of the IT Engineering organization and join a team of database administrators and engineers responsible for all database technologies used throughout SpaceX.

Responsibilities

• Partner with internal customers to understand current challenges, plan/communicate improvements, and anticipate future needs.
• Perform root cause analysis of production-related database issues.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to optimize schemas, queries, and database/server configurations.
• Perform data migration / data transformation from OLTP to OLAP systems.
• Develop code to automate routine tasks and provide end-user self-service tools by leveraging PowerShell or a similar scripting language.
• Engineer, deploy, and maintain all aspects of Microsoft SQL database monitoring.
• Address critical support situations by providing effective solutions to database technical issues.
• Manage PowerBI licensing, utilization, permissions, and provide best-practices guidance and query optimization assistance.
• Provide comprehensive and fully vetted backup and restore solutions.
• Engineer, implement, and routinely test Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies.
• Develop and maintain strong documentation and support runbooks.
• Support and foster professional growth of staff via cross-training, coaching, and responsibility sharing.
• Participate in an on-call rotation.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, or engineering discipline and 5+ years of experience in IT; OR 7+ years of professional experience with database reliability or DevOps in lieu of a degree.
• 7+ years of experience in monitoring and tuning databases to provide highly available and performant services.
• 5+ years of experience in optimizing SQL queries and data replication & transformation.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Proficient in SQL Server and at least one other database technology (Postgres, MySQL, ClickHouse).
• Proficient in resiliency and high availability methods for SQL Server (log shipping, availability groups, database mirroring, and replication).
• Expertise in scaling large critical databases with high expectations for uptime and performance.
• Ability to work effectively and provide technical leadership in high-stress situations such as production database outages.
• Knowledge of configuration management automation and limiting manual toil.
• Knowledge of data structure design and modeling.
• Strong understanding of hardware in relation to SQL server: SAN, Virtualization, and basic networking for troubleshooting.
• Good knowledge of development cycle to interface well with developers.
• Strong attention to detail, high degree of accuracy, excellent oral/written communication skills, and strong interpersonal skills.
• Open to learn new database technologies, especially column-oriented databases.
• Expertise in reporting options (SQL reports, PowerBI, etc.).
• Strong understanding of big data and data warehouse concepts and technologies.

Additional Requirements

• Willingness to work extended hours and weekends as needed to respond to network and server errors after hours.
• This role is an onsite position; remote or hybrid work will not be considered.
• Must conform to U.S. Government export regulations (ITAR).