Database Reliability Engineer at Octopus Energy

Help us make a big green dent in the universe. We're on a mission to drive the global renewable energy revolution, and we need loads more people to help us make our vision a reality.

At Kraken Technologies we’re looking to revolutionise the energy system to make power cheaper, greener and better for people around the world. Our tech platform ‘Kraken’ is already licensed to support 40 million customer accounts in 14 countries, and we aim to serve 100 million globally by 2027.

Our Technology Team has grown extremely quickly as a result, tripling in size within the last 18 months. With this rapid growth, we are looking for a Database Reliability Engineer to join our Platform Engineering Department in Australia. We have an office in Melbourne if you'd like an office space but we also are open to someone working remote anywhere in Australia.

Our Global Platform Engineering department is responsible for architecting, developing, and maintaining the robust and scalable infrastructure, tooling, and services that power and support our platform. As a Database Reliability Engineer within the Platform department, you'll play a crucial role in ensuring the availability, performance, and integrity of our databases.

Your proficiency in database management and optimisation techniques will shape our approach, ensuring stability and high performance for our brands and clients. Staying abreast of the latest trends in database technologies and best practices will be vital. Your analytical skills and attention to detail will be indispensable as you pinpoint areas for enhancement, ensure optimal database operations, and continuously improve our database reliability and efficiency.

• Ensure the reliability, availability, and performance of our databases hosted in AWS
• Monitor database performance, implement optimisations, and assist in database capacity planning
• Implement monitoring and observability of database metrics 
• Work closely with application teams to ensure database changes adhere to best practices and performance benchmarks
• Keep up to date on the latest developments and best practices in AWS and PostgreSQL
• Liaise with our AWS account team and relevant AWS service teams where required

• Expertise in administering, tuning, and maintaining PostgreSQL databases
• Hands-on experience with AWS, particularly RDS, EC2, S3, and DMS.
• A solid understanding of database design, SQL, and transactional processing.
• Knowledge of security best practices for databases, especially hosted in AWS
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform or CloudFormation
• General ability to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve database-related issues in a timely manner
• Some experience with other relational databases or NoSQL databases

• Understanding the complexities and challenges of large scale distributed systems
• Experience managing very large databases
• Python experience, particularly with Django and the Django ORM
• Familiarity with data engineering tools, including Kafka, Spark, and Airflow.
• Understanding of ETL processes and tooling with PostgreSQL databases
• Experience with CDC tooling and integrating PostgreSQL data with Datalake solutions

• Our company culture - We are organisation where people learn, decide, and build quicker. Where people work with autonomy, alongside a wide range of amazing co-owners, on projects that break new ground. We want your hard work to be rewarded with perks you actually care about! We won best company to work for in 2022, on Glassdoor we were voted 50 best places to work in 2022 and our Group CEO, Greg has recorded a podcast about our culture and how we empower our people.
• Flexible working environment - genuine work life balance here, we are in the top 5 companies in the UK, we treat you as a human, and do our best to make work and life merge smoothly together 
• Equity Options Scheme - you own your own part of the business, share options in the whole Octopus Energy Group so we all work together towards success 
• Office - have a certain tech requirement? We’ll do our best to get it. We also have drinks, snacks and a coffee machine at the WeWork office space.
• Your development is important - we support and help with development including internal and external courses, learning, study support etc, all bespoke to you 

We’re looking for someone who thrives on solving tough problems. Someone who can challenge those around them, and be challenged, while delivering delightful experiences for our internal and external customers. 

If this sounds like a great opportunity and you live in Australia but you are based outside of Melbourne, we are also open to remote working 🏠

If this sounds like you then we'd love to hear from you.

Studies have shown that some groups of people, like women, are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet 100% of the job requirements. Whoever you are, if you like one of our jobs, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we hire. Across Octopus, we're looking for genuinely decent people who are honest and empathetic. Our people are our strongest asset and the unique skills and perspectives people bring to the team are the driving force of our success. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute. Our commitment is to provide equal opportunities, an inclusive work environment, and fairness for everyone.