Data Engineer (PostgreSQL)

Platform: PHP-Based Enterprise Application

Role Overview

We are seeking a Data Engineer to design, optimize, and scale data systems powering our PHP-based application platform.

You will be responsible for architecting and maintaining high-performance PostgreSQL databases, building data pipelines, ensuring data integrity, and enabling analytics and operational reporting across the system.

This role sits at the intersection of backend engineering, database architecture, and data infrastructure. You will work closely with PHP developers to ensure data models, queries, and pipelines are efficient, reliable, and scalable.

Key Responsibilities

PostgreSQL Architecture & Optimization

Design and maintain robust PostgreSQL database schemas aligned with business requirements.

Optimize complex queries, indexes, and execution plans.

Analyze and resolve performance bottlenecks.

Implement partitioning, replication, and scaling strategies where appropriate.

Ensure data consistency, integrity, and transactional reliability.

Data Modeling & System Design

Design normalized and denormalized schemas based on workload requirements.

Define data governance standards (naming conventions, indexing standards, migration strategies).

Collaborate with backend engineers to align database design with PHP application logic.

Improve schema evolution processes and migration safety.

Performance & Scalability

Monitor database performance metrics.

Implement caching strategies where appropriate (e.g., Redis integration).

Support horizontal scaling, read replicas, and failover strategies.

Plan capacity and forecast growth.

Data Pipelines & ETL

Build and maintain data pipelines for:

Reporting

Analytics

Operational dashboards

Design ETL/ELT processes using SQL and scripting languages.

Ensure data quality, validation, and monitoring.

Integrate with external APIs or third-party data sources when required.

Reliability & Operations

Implement backup, recovery, and disaster recovery strategies.

Automate routine maintenance tasks.

Improve database observability (monitoring, logging, alerting).

Support incident response related to data or performance issues.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work closely with PHP backend engineers to:

Optimize ORM usage and query performance

Improve transaction design

Reduce N+1 query issues

Support product and analytics teams with data extraction and modeling needs.

Document data architecture and best practices.

Required Qualifications

4+ years of experience in Data Engineering or Database Engineering roles.

Strong expertise in PostgreSQL in production environments.

Deep knowledge of:

Indexing strategies

Query planning and optimization

Transaction isolation levels

Locking and concurrency control

Experience designing scalable relational data models.

Proficiency in SQL (advanced level).

Experience working with backend engineering teams in production systems.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience supporting applications built in PHP (Laravel or Symfony).

Familiarity with ORMs and query builders.

Experience with:

Data warehousing concepts

ETL orchestration tools

Message queues

Cloud database experience (AWS RDS, Cloud SQL, etc.).

Experience implementing replication or high-availability setups.

Nice to Have

Experience building reporting pipelines.

Familiarity with BI tools.

Exposure to distributed systems concepts.

Experience improving legacy schema designs.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate:

Thinks deeply about data structure and performance.

Is proactive in identifying inefficiencies.

Balances normalization with pragmatic performance decisions.

Collaborates effectively with application engineers.

Takes ownership of reliability and long-term scalability.