Cloud Database Engineer

Founded in 1986, KPA is a leading provider of Workforce Compliance software and consulting services. We succeed if our clients can send their employees home at night, having not experienced a workplace accident or injury. The combination of software, consulting, and training helps clients identify, remedy, and prevent workplace safety and compliance problems so they can focus on what’s important – their core business. 

Help us help keep people safe and businesses working efficiently. Named as one of Built In Colorado’s Best Places to Work for six years in a row, KPA is made up of talented individuals working together for the greater good. We’re here to help our clients build safe, thriving organizations, and we’re looking for people with a common goal to help us do it. 

Position Description:

We are seeking a highly skilled and proactive Cloud Database Engineer to lead the design, implementation, and management of cloud-based database solutions across Microsoft SQL Server in Azure and PostgreSQL in AWS Aurora. This role blends hands-on engineering with performance tuning, observability, automation, and secure-by-default practices in a multi-cloud environment.

You’ll partner with application teams, DevOps/SRE, Security, and Analytics to deliver resilient, cost-efficient, and well-governed data services across the enterprise.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the reliability, availability, and performance of PostgreSQL (self-managed & AWS Aurora) and SQL Server across dev, test, and production environments.
•  Design and implement automation for provisioning, upgrades/patching, backup/restore, failover, and routine maintenance (e.g., vacuum/reindex, integrity checks).
• Automate database provisioning and deployment using CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Terraform).
• Integrate and manage Amazon RDS Proxy to improve scalability, connection pooling, and failover for Aurora PostgreSQL.
• Harden security: role-based access, least privilege, auditing, encryption in transit/at rest, secret management, and compliant data handling.
• Ensure database security, encryption, and compliance with internal and external standards.
• Optimize cloud spend (instance types, storage classes, IOPS, connection pooling, right-sizing) while meeting SLAs.

• Tune queries and schemas using execution plans, indexing strategies (B-tree, GIN/GiST, BRIN, columnstore where applicable), and workload-aware partitioning.
• Implement observability and capacity planning: monitor key health metrics, create actionable alerts, and lead root-cause analysis and post-mortems using tools like Azure Monitor, AWS CloudWatch, and Datadog.
• Troubleshoot and resolve production issues, including on-call support during critical deployments.

• Lead and review database change management with version-controlled migrations (e.g., Flyway and SQL Server Data Tools).
• Partner with developers on schema design, stored procedures, and performance optimized code; guide efficient ORM usage and connection management.
• Participate in agile sprint planning and provide database-related estimates and deliverables.
• Lead efforts to build and maintain data warehouses and master data management solutions.

• Implement and optimize vector search capabilities in PostgreSQL to support AI/ML and semantic search use cases.
• Design and manage JSONB data structures for flexible, semi-structured data storage and querying.
• Support integration with NoSQL platforms (e.g., DynamoDB, Cosmos DB) for high-throughput, schema-less workloads such as telemetry, session state, or caching.

• Champion continuous improvement and innovation through prototypes, proof of concepts, and iterative experiments.
• Contribute to cloud migration strategies and modernization of legacy database systems.
• Provide thought leadership on database architecture and best practices.

• 5+ years of experience as a DBA or Database Engineer.
• 2+ years managing Azure SQL Server and AWS Aurora PostgreSQL in production environments.
• Strong proficiency in T-SQL and PL/pgSQL.
• Experience with ETL tools (e.g., SSIS, AWS Glue) and BI platforms (e.g., Power BI, Tableau).
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code and DevOps practices.

• Experience with Redgate, SQL Server Data Tools, pgAdmin or DBeaver.
• Knowledge of encryption, clustering, and Always On availability groups.
• PowerShell or Python scripting for automation.
• Solid understanding of secure data handling, least-privilege role design and database obfuscation.
• Experience with RDS Proxy, pgvector, and NoSQL technologies such as DynamoDB or Cosmos DB.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field.

• KPA is headquartered in Westminster, CO just outside of Denver. We operate in a hybrid, remote-first work model where local employees can go into the office for in person collaboration, team meetings, or events. While we are prioritizing a local candidate, this position can sit 100% remote, only being expected to attend in-office events on an infrequent basis (quarterly or annually).

• Demonstrated ability to reduce deployment time through automation.
• Proven track record of improving database performance and reliability.
• Strong communication and documentation skills.
• Commitment to core values: Integrity, Respectful, Agile, Helpful, Teamwork, and Excellence.

• Annual base salary between $95-125k commensurate with experience
• Bonus up to 10% annually
• This is a full-time, exempt position

Don’t meet every job requirement? At KPA, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply unless they meet every requirement. If you’re excited about the role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification, we still encourage you to apply! You might just be the right candidate for this or other roles.

As a growing company KPA values its employees by supporting them with a full benefits package including Medical, Dental, Vision, Flexible Spending Accounts, PTO, Paid and Floating Holidays, 401k with Company match and immediate vesting, Company-funded Life Insurance, Employee Assistance Programs, and No-cost Mental Health Benefits.

About KPA

Founded in 1986, KPA is a leading provider of Environment, Health & Safety (EHS), and Workforce Compliance software and consulting services. KPA solutions help clients identify, remedy, and prevent workplace safety and compliance problems across their entire enterprise. The combination of KPA's software, consulting services, and award-winning training content helps organizations minimize risk so they can focus on what's important—their core business.  

We are passionate about what we do, how we do and why we do it. Our culture is driven by the KPA core values – Integrity, Helpful, Excellence, Agile, Respectful, and Teamwork. Success will be determined by the capabilities, energy and character of the people we bring into our organization and the performance they achieve.

KPA, with headquarters in Colorado and teammates throughout the United Sates, is recognized as one of Colorado's Best Midsize Places to Work by Built In Colorado for 2024.  

“To be ranked in Built In’s Best Places to Work Awards is a recognition of KPA’s dedication to creating a team of outstanding professionals and our efforts to create a positive and safe workplace culture for everyone,” said Chris Fanning, KPA President and CEO. “I believe we’ve developed a high caliber organization comprised of passionate people who are experts in their respective fields and deliver great value to our customers.”

KPA is committed to providing equal opportunity in all of our employment practices, including selection, hiring, promotion, transfer, and compensation, to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, religion, religious dress/grooming, color, ethnicity, sex (including sex stereotyping), sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, creed, uniform service member status, military or veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, breast-feeding and/or pregnancy-related conditions, age, protected medical condition, leave status, physical or mental disability, genetic characteristics, or any other legally-protected status in accordance with the requirements of all federal, state and local laws. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.

If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [email protected].