Job Description The Opportunity ELMO's HR and payroll platform runs on AWS RDS across MySQL, SQL Server and PostgreSQL, supported by a Snowflake data warehouse.
We're looking for a hands-on database expert who has grown into the modern data stack who can tune a slow query, resolve a production issue within SLA and build the pipelines that power our analytics and AI products.
Database performance, support and monitoring are the number-one priority in this role.
You'll own the health, stability and security of our production databases first, then apply that expertise across our wider data platform.
You'll also use AI agents and MCP tooling to investigate issues, analyse root causes and work faster and smarter.
This is an opportunity to combine strong DBA fundamentals with data engineering, cloud infrastructure and responsible AI in a role with direct impact on ELMO's customers and products.
What you'll be doing: Database performance, support and monitoring Administer and support MySQL and SQL Server, with PostgreSQL, across AWS RDS environments from development through to production.
Own the database ticket queue, triaging and resolving issues within agreed service-level agreements.
Monitor database health, performance, capacity and availability, maintaining dashboards and alerts that support reliable production operations.
Diagnose and resolve slow queries, locking and contention, indexing and execution-plan issues, configuration problems and capacity constraints.
Plan and perform MySQL and SQL Server upgrades, including related tools and processes.
Maintain strong security controls, including access management, data masking and row-level security, to protect sensitive HR and employee data.
Use AI agents and MCP servers to accelerate investigation, root-cause analysis,



query analysis and proactive monitoring.
Data engineering and platform delivery Build and maintain production-scale Snowflake pipelines and dbt models.
Automate data loading and transformation using Python and SQL, orchestrated through Airflow or AWS Step Functions.
Design and maintain reliable, observable data pipelines that support analytics, AI and downstream data products.
Review AI-generated SQL, pipeline code and dbt models for correctness, performance, security and data integrity before merge.
Contribute to data quality, schema evolution, contract testing and pipeline reliability practices.
Support streaming and change-data-capture patterns, including Kafka, where required.
Identify and deliver opportunities to optimise Snowflake and AWS costs.
Own ISO ***** evidence for the databases and pipelines within your area of responsibility.
What we're looking for Essential experience Robust DBA experience across AWS RDS, particularly MySQL and SQL Server.
Experience with Aurora PostgreSQL is highly regarded.
Proven experience with database performance tuning, query optimisation, indexing, upgrades, backup and recovery.
A track record of supporting production databases through a ticket queue and resolving issues against agreed SLAs.
Hands-on experience with database monitoring and alerting for health, performance, availability, connections, storage and long-running queries.




Practical experience with Snowflake and dbt in a production environment.
Strong Python capability and advanced SQL skills.
Experience with AWS data services and infrastructure as code, using Terraform, CloudFormation or equivalent.
Daily, practical use of AI development tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot or MCP-connected agents.
Awareness of ISO ***** obligations when handling sensitive data.
Clear communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Desirable experience Kafka, streaming and change-data-capture experience.
Experience with data quality frameworks, schema evolution or contract testing.
Experience working with HR technology, payroll, SaaS or other sensitive employee data.
Practical experience applying AI to data engineering, database operations or developer productivity.
Why join this team?
You'll work across the database and data platform landscape, balancing operational ownership with meaningful engineering delivery.
Your work will help keep ELMO's core platform reliable while enabling the analytics and AI capabilities that shape the future of work.
Who we are...
Founded in ****, ELMO Software is the trusted provider of HR technology solutions to 2,000+ mid-sized organisations and more than one million end users across Australia and New Zealand.
With a comprehensive suite of ISO-certified solutions that span the full employee lifecycle, ELMO Software is designed to scale as organisations grow.
Flexible and configurable, ELMO's one-stop HRIS fits to your specific needs and workflows.
Through powerful technology, automation, data and analytics, ELMO Software empowers HR professionals to play an integral role in company decision making.
Life

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