Job Application for Senior Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE) at Okta

Back to jobs

Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human

Identity is the key to unlocking the potential of AI. Okta secures AI by building the trusted, neutral infrastructure that enables organizations to safely embrace this new era. This work requires a relentless drive to solve complex challenges with real-world stakes. We are looking for builders and owners who operate with speed and urgency and execute with excellence.

This is an opportunity to do career-defining work. We're all in on this mission. If you are too, let's talk.

Senior Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE)

Experience Level: Mid–Senior (4+ years PostgreSQL experience)

About the Role

We are looking for a highly skilled Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE) with deep expertise in PostgreSQL at scale and solid experience with MySQL. In this role, you will design, operationalize, and optimize the data persistence layer that powers our large-scale, mission-critical systems. You will work closely with SRE, Platform, and Engineering teams to ensure performance, reliability, automation, and operational excellence across our database environment.

This is a hands-on engineering role focused on building resilient data infrastructure, not just administering it.

Responsibilities:

Architecture, Reliability & Performance

Design, implement, and operate highly available PostgreSQL clusters (physical replication, logical replication, sharding/partitioning, failover automation).
Optimize query performance, indexing strategies, schema design, and storage engines.
Perform capacity planning, growth forecasting, and workload modeling.
Own high-availability strategies including automatic failover, multi-AZ/multi-region setups, and disaster recovery.

Automation & Tooling

Develop automation for any and all tasks including but not limited to: provisioning, configuration, backups, failovers, vacuum tuning, and schema management using tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes Operators, or custom tooling.
Build monitoring, alerting, and self-healing systems for PostgreSQL and MySQL.

Operations & Incident Response

Lead response during database incidents—performance regressions, replication lag, deadlocks, bloat issues, storage failures, etc.
Conduct root-cause analysis and implement permanent fixes.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Partner with software engineers to review SQL, optimize schemas, and ensure efficient use of PostgreSQL features.
Provide guidance on database-related design patterns, migrations, version upgrades, and best practices.

Required Qualifications

4 plus years of hands-on PostgreSQL experience in high-volume, distributed, or large-scale production environments.
Strong knowledge of PostgreSQL internals (WAL, MVCC, bloat/ vacuum tuning, query planner, indexing, logical replication).
Production experience with MySQL (InnoDB internals, replication, performance tuning).
Advanced SQL and strong understanding of schema design and query optimization.
Experience with Linux systems, networking fundamentals, and systems troubleshooting.
Experience building automation with Go or Python.
Production experience with monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, PMM, pg_stat_statements, etc.).
Hands-on experience with cloud environments (AWS or GCP).

Preferred/Bonus Qualifications

Experience with PgBouncer, HAProxy, or other connection-pooling/load-balancing layers.
Exposure to event streaming (Kafka, Debezium) and change data capture.
Experience supporting 24/7 production environments with on-call rotation.
Contributions to open-source PostgreSQL ecosystem.

This position requires the ability to access federal environments and/or have access to protected federal data. As a condition of employment for this position, the successful candidate must be able to submit documentation establishing U.S. Person status (e.g. a U.S. Citizen, National, Lawful Permanent Resident, Refugee, or Asylee. 22 CFR 120.15) upon hire.

Requires in-person onboarding and travel to our San Francisco, CA HQ office or our Chicago office during the first week of employment.

#LI-Hybrid

#LI-LSS1

P6805_3362886

Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in San Francisco Bay Area. Your actual base salary will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, experience, and work location. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits, including health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), flexible spending account, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) in accordance with our applicable plans and policies. To learn more about our Total Rewards program please visit: https://rewards.okta.com/us.

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay area is between:

$160,000 - $220,000 USD

Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York and Washington. Your actual base salary will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, experience, and work location. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits, including health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), flexible spending account, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) in accordance with our applicable plans and policies. To learn more about our Total Rewards program please visit: https://rewards.okta.com/us.

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington is between:

$143,000 - $196,000 USD

The Okta Experience

We are intentional about connection. Our global community, spanning over 20 offices worldwide, is united by a drive to innovate. Your journey begins with an immersive, in-person onboarding experience designed to accelerate your impact and connect you to our mission and team from day one.

Okta is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, or status as a protected veteran. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and convictions records, consistent with applicable laws.

If reasonable accommodation is needed to complete any part of the job application, interview process, or onboarding please use this Form to request an accommodation.

Notice for New York City Applicants & Employees: Okta may use Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT), as defined by New York City Local Law 144, that use artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other automated processes to assist in our recruitment and hiring process. In accordance with NYC Local Law 144, if you are an applicant or employee residing in New York City, please click here to view our full NYC AEDT Notice.

First Name

Last Name

Country

Phone

Location (City)

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

LinkedIn Profile

Website

Are you a U.S. Person (U.S. Citizen, National, Lawful Permanent Resident, Refugee, or Asylee), and can you provide documentation establishing U.S. Person status upon hire? Please note: Candidates who require visa sponsorship (e.g. H-1B, F-1, O-1, L-1, etc.) are not U.S. Persons.

Select...

If yes, please describe:

To the best of your knowledge, do you have any family members / relatives or personal relationships at Okta or at any suppliers, partners, or vendors that have a business relationship with Okta? (For purposes of this question, a “family member / relative or personal relationship” is defined as close personal friends (including sexual and/or romantic relationships), close relatives (spouse, partner, children, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandparents or grandchildren), someone who lives in your household, or anyone else with whom you have a close enough personal relationship or connection that it could improperly bias your conduct or decision making or be perceived to be capable of impacting your conduct or decision making.

Select...

If yes, please identify name of person / vendor and describe relationship / association:

Do you have any outside business activity(ies) (advisory, consulting, or board roles, or side businesses) that you would continue engaging in or plan to engage in if you joined Okta in this role?

Select...

Have you been employed by Okta, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries in the past?

Select...

I acknowledge and agree to the processing of my personal data in accordance with Okta's privacy policy and personnel privacy policy (see below). *

I acknowledge

Okta may use AI with this application. If you prefer to opt-out of ADMT/AEDT, please do not apply here; instead submit an ADMT/AEDT Opt Out form here.

Personnel Notice

(California residents, click here)

By checking this box, you consent to Okta using your data to evaluate your candidacy for this role and any other current or future roles that may be a fit for your profile. You may request the removal of your data at any time by contacting greenhouse@okta.com.

Yes

Are you able to reliably commute to an office 2x/week in at least one of our hub locations (San Francisco, CA; Bellevue, WA; Chicago, IL; Washington, D.C.; or New York City, NY)?

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Okta’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Gender

Select...

Are you Hispanic/Latino?

Select...

Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Veteran Status

Select...

Senior Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE)

Apply for this job

Voluntary Self-Identification