Senior Database Engineer

SENIOR DATABASE ENGINEER

SaaS Vehicle Telematics Platform 

Position Details

Location: Singapore (On-site / Hybrid)

Employment Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Eligibility:  Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident only

Department: Engineering / Platform Infrastructure

Reports To: Head of Engineering / CTO

Industry: SaaS / Fleet Telematics / IoT

About the Company

We are a fast-growing Singapore-based SaaS technology company delivering vehicle telematics, fleet management, and connected mobility solutions to enterprise customers across Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Our platform serves leading aviation and transport operators, helping clients improve safety, efficiency, and compliance through real-time data and intelligent analytics.

As we scale our multi-tenant cloud platform, we are looking for a highly capable Senior Database Engineer to join our Singapore engineering team and take ownership of our data infrastructure.

Role Overview

The Senior Database Engineer will be the go-to subject matter expert for all things data at the database layer. You will design, build, and maintain robust, high-performance database systems that underpin our SaaS platform—spanning AWS cloud-hosted environments and on-premises deployments.

Performance is at the core of this role. Our platform ingests continuous, high-frequency telematics data from thousands of vehicles in real time. A slow query is not just a technical inconvenience — it directly impacts the experience of fleet operators and airport ground crews who depend on our system around the clock. We expect our Senior Database Engineer to think deeply about why a query is slow, not just that it is slow, and to apply structured, evidence-based methods to diagnose and resolve root causes.

Key Responsibilities

Database Design & Administration

• Design and manage production-grade MySQL and MS SQL Server databases supporting a high-concurrency SaaS platform

• Architect and maintain both AWS RDS (managed) and on-premises database environments

• Perform database installations, upgrades, version migrations, and patching across multiple environments

• Configure and manage high-availability features, including replication, clustering, Always On Availability Groups, and failover

Performance Engineering & Optimization — Core Focus

• Own end-to-end database performance across all production environments—this is a primary accountability, not a secondary task

• Diagnose and resolve complex query performance issues using structured root-cause analysis tools:

- Execution plan analysis (EXPLAIN / EXPLAIN ANALYZE, SQL Server Execution Plans)

- Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) for wait statistics, blocking chains, and resource contention

- SQL Profiler, Extended Events, Query Store, and slow query logs

- Performance Monitor and OS-level resource analysis (CPU, I/O, memory pressure)

• Distinguish between categories of performance problems and apply the appropriate fix—poor index design, stale statistics, parameter sniffing, lock contention, schema design flaws, or application-layer anti-patterns

• Proactively review and tune high-impact queries submitted by the development team before they reach production

• Design and implement optimal indexing strategies, including covering indexes, filtered indexes, and composite key design

• Apply data partitioning, archiving, and table design techniques to manage growing telematics data volumes without degrading performance

• Tune database engine configuration parameters (buffer pool, parallelism, memory, I/O) for both MySQL and SQL Server

• Establish performance baselines and conduct regular trend analysis to catch degradation before it impacts users

• Participate in schema design reviews and flag structures that will not scale—with alternative recommendations

Cloud & Infrastructure

• Manage and optimize AWS RDS instances (MySQL/SQL Server), EC2-hosted databases, and S3-based backup configurations

• Support database migrations from on-premises to AWS cloud environments

• Configure automated backup strategies, restore procedures, and disaster recovery plans across AWS and on-prem

• Enforce security best practices including access control, encryption, and vulnerability remediation

Reliability & Operations

• Own backup and recovery processes; validate restore procedures regularly

• Maintain monitoring, alerting, and logging for all production database systems

• Participate in on-call rotation and incident response for critical database issues

• Produce and maintain documentation for database architecture, run-books, and operational procedures

Collaboration & Leadership

• Conduct code and schema reviews for development teams; act as database SME for technical decisions

• Provide guidance and mentorship to junior DBA or engineering team members

• Work with Product and Engineering teams to support new feature rollouts, schema changes, and data model evolution

Requirements Essential

• Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident — mandatory requirement

• Minimum 5 years of hands-on experience as a Database Administrator or Database Engineer

• Strong proficiency in MySQL and MS SQL Server (2016 and above)

• Demonstrated depth in database performance tuning — candidates should be able to describe specific performance problems they have diagnosed and resolved, including the tools used and the root cause identified

• Proven experience with AWS RDS (MySQL and/or SQL Server) and EC2-hosted database deployments

• Experience managing both cloud-hosted and on-premises database environments simultaneously

• Expert-level skill in execution plan analysis, index design, wait statistics, and query optimization across high-volume workloads

• Experience configuring high-availability and disaster recovery solutions (replication, Always On, clustering, log shipping)

• Proficiency in backup and recovery strategies for both RDS and self-managed instances

• Ability to perform database migrations (version upgrades, on-prem to cloud)

• Strong knowledge of database security: access control, user management, encryption, and vulnerability assessment

Preferred / Nice to Have

• Experience supporting real-time or IoT data ingestion workloads at scale

• Familiarity with PostgreSQL or MongoDB in addition to MySQL and SQL Server

• Working knowledge of infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform or Ansible

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines for database deployments (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions)

• Scripting ability in Python, PowerShell, or Bash for automation and scheduling

• Exposure to monitoring tools such as CloudWatch, SolarWinds, Zabbix, or similar

• AWS certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Database Specialty, Solutions Architect) are a plus

What We Offer

• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience (SGD range dependent on profile)

• AWS and professional certification sponsorship

• Exposure to a diverse, international technology environment spanning Singapore, the Middle East, and beyond

• Opportunity to shape data architecture for a growing SaaS platform in the vehicle telematics and smart mobility space

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified. | Singapore Citizens and* Permanent Residents *only.