Senior Site Reliability Engineer (Database) at Kobo

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

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Not SpecifiedCompensation

Senior (5 to 8 years)Experience Level

Full TimeJob Type

UnknownVisa

Technology, HR Tech, SaaSIndustries

Requirements

6–8+ years in database reliability, infrastructure, or backend engineering roles
Deep expertise with Postgres internals, performance tuning, and optimization at scale (terabyte+ datasets)
Strong understanding of replication, failover, and disaster recovery strategies
Familiarity with Kubernetes and GCP environments (or equivalent cloud infra)
Proficiency with Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform) and automation
Solid troubleshooting experience across performance, scaling, and reliability incidents
Hands-on coding skills in SQL and one modern programming language (Python, Go, or TypeScript)
Collaborative, pragmatic, and calm under pressure — low ego, high ownership

Responsibilities

Own & evolve Postgres infrastructure: design, optimize, and maintain databases handling terabytes of data
Performance & tuning: manage indexing, vacuuming, partitioning, and connection pooling (e.g. PgBouncer)
Scalability: plan and execute replication, sharding, and read replica strategies
Observability: instrument monitoring, alerting, and metrics for database performance and reliability (e.g. query latency, I/O, locks)
Incident response: lead database-related incidents, drive root cause analysis, and define preventive measures
Reliability automation: use Terraform and scripting (Python, Go, or SQL) to automate database provisioning, backups, and maintenance
Collaboration: partner with the platform and backend teams to build systems that are fast, observable, and fault-tolerant
Operational excellence: define SLIs/SLOs/error budgets for data reliability

Skills

Postgres

Database Reliability

Performance Tuning

Indexing

Vacuuming

Query Optimization

Distributed Systems

Site Reliability Engineering

Kobo

Provides eReaders and digital reading apps

About Kobo

Rakuten Kobo Inc., a leading player in digital reading technology, provides a sophisticated ecosystem for seamless access to ebooks across various devices through its range of eReaders and Kobo App. This company is ideal for individuals passionate about transforming and enhancing the global reading experience, offering a highly collaborative environment that supports over 30 million users worldwide. Employees can thrive on opportunities to interact with cutting-edge technology while contributing to an expansive digital library that enriches both the accessibility and enjoyment of reading.

Toronto, CanadaHeadquarters

2009Year Founded

$395.9MTotal Funding

ACQUISITIONCompany Stage

Consumer Software, EducationIndustries

201-500Employees

Benefits

Flexible Work Hours

Remote Work Options

Health Insurance

Paid Sick Leave

401(k) Company Match

Commuter Benefits

Health Savings Account/Flexible Spending Account

Employee Discounts

Parental Leave

Professional Development Budget

Training Programs

Meal Benefits

Company Social Events

Risks

Increased competition from Amazon's Kindle Unlimited may attract Kobo's customers.

The rise of audiobook platforms like Audible may impact Kobo's e-book sales.

Free online reading platforms could reduce demand for Kobo's paid e-books.

Differentiation

Kobo supports multiple formats, including EPUB and PDF, unlike some competitors.

Kobo offers nearly 4 million titles in 68 languages, a diverse selection.

Kobo's platform synchronizes bookmarks across devices, enhancing user convenience.

Upsides

Audiobook integration could increase user engagement and revenue for Kobo.

Sustainability initiatives may attract environmentally conscious consumers to Kobo.

AI-powered personalization can enhance user experience and retention on Kobo's platform.

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