Senior Site Reliability Engineer, Database

Airwallex3 days ago

Location

US - Seattle

Workplace

Remote

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 140,000 – 240,000

Level

Senior

Role

Site Reliability Engineer

Posted

Apr 16, 2026

Full TimeRemoteSenior

The role

Summary

Airwallex is seeking a Senior Site Reliability Engineer for their Database team to design and build advanced database infrastructure automation and AI-powered tooling. The ideal candidate will create scalable platforms that enable product engineers to manage databases efficiently while maintaining high reliability, performance, and security across PostgreSQL, Redis, and cloud environments.

What you'll do

Database Observability Platform: Design and implement a comprehensive monitoring system providing real-time visibility into database instances, including availability, security, reliability metrics, and latency.

AI Agent Access Protocol: Create secure interfaces for AI agents to interact with production databases while maintaining strict security and access control.

AI-Powered Database Automation: Develop AI automation for handling routine database administration tasks, including performance tuning, capacity planning, schema review, and incident management.

Self-Service Database Platform: Build tooling that enables product engineering teams to provision, configure, scale, and manage database instances through self-service workflows with built-in security and compliance guardrails.

Reliability and Operational Excellence: Establish and enforce database best practices across the organization, including connection pooling, query optimization, backup strategies, and change management.

Cross-Team Collaboration: Partner with product engineering teams to diagnose performance issues, review schema designs, and provide guidance on data modeling and access patterns.

What we look for

Technical

Backend Programming LanguagesProficiency in Python, Go, Java, or Kotlin with 5+ years of professional software engineering experience

Database ExpertiseAdvanced knowledge of PostgreSQL, including performance tuning, query optimization, replication, backup/recovery, and schema design

Cloud InfrastructureHands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), infrastructure-as-code (Terraform), Kubernetes, and Docker

Education

Computer Science DegreeBachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field preferred

Experience

Site Reliability EngineeringProven track record of building automation, tooling, and platforms that replace manual operational work

Database OperationsMinimum 5 years of professional experience in database management and infrastructure engineering

Skills

Required skills

PostgreSQLDeep expertise in database performance, configuration, and operational management

Cloud InfrastructureAdvanced skills in cloud platform management and infrastructure automation

Automation EngineeringStrong ability to develop scalable solutions that reduce manual operational overhead

Nice to have

AI/ML TechnologiesExperience with AI-powered automation, LLM integration, and infrastructure optimization

Observability ToolsFamiliarity with monitoring systems like Grafana, Prometheus, and Datadog

Fintech ExperienceBackground in regulated industries with high data integrity and security requirements

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 140,000 – 240,000 (annual)

Benefits

Global Career Opportunity

Join a high-growth fintech startup valued at $8 billion with a presence in 26 global offices

Innovation Culture

Work with cutting-edge technologies including AI-driven database automation and global financial platforms

Remote Work

Fully remote position with flexibility in work arrangement

Interview process

1
Initial Screening — Recruiter phone screen to assess basic qualifications and role fit
2
Technical Interview — Detailed technical discussion focusing on database infrastructure, SRE practices, and system design
3
System Design Challenge — In-depth evaluation of candidate's ability to architect scalable, reliable database infrastructure solutions
4
Team Interview — Discussions with potential teammates to assess collaboration and cultural alignment
5
Final Leadership Interview — Conversation with engineering leadership to discuss long-term potential and strategic contributions