Database Engineer

Introduction:

Who we are…

Founded in 2002, 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 & Culture...

At ELMO you will be joining an epic team with the opportunity to make a big impact. We foster an authentic, collaborative, fun working environment and being an ELMOnian means you're part of an amazing team that will push you to grow, support you with challenges and allow you to shine. Some of our benefits include:

Hybrid work set up

Paid Parental leave - 12 weeks primary, 6 weeks secondary

Birthday leave, YOU day each year, as well as connecting people leave (up to 2 weeks working from anywhere)

Inhouse Learning and Development initiatives

ELMO Social and Diversity clubs

Wellbeing initiatives

Mental Health/EAP programs

Flare Benefits (great discounts, novated leasing, salary sacrifice)

Our values:

Reimagine What's Possible - We believe innovation is human at its core. By staying open, fearless, and adaptive, we continuously push boundaries - while keeping people at the heart of everything we do.

Obsess over Customers – Everything we do is designed to positively impact our customers.

Help Others Thrive - Be they colleagues, communities or customers, we champion ways to help others thrive.

Be Fearlessly Optimistic - We bring unwavering positivity to any challenge, as we know it will drive meaningful change.

Please note: Our internal Talent Acquisition team has got this covered, we’re not open to using an agency for this role.

Description:

About the Role:

You're a hands-on database expert who lives and breathes AWS RDS — Postgres (Aurora), MySQL (Aurora), and

ideally MS SQL Server. You know how to tune a slow query, design schemas that scale, and recover gracefully when

something goes wrong at 2 a.m. You take genuine ownership and pride in the reliability and performance of the

databases you look after.

At ELMO, you'll be responsible for the reliability, performance, security, and evolution of our AWS RDS database

estate, supporting a high-scale, multi-tenant SaaS platform serving more than one million users across Australia, New

Zealand, and the UK.

This role is a genuine long-term investment for the right person. While the core of the job is deep, hands-on database

administration, we'll actively support you to build skills in the modern data stack — Snowflake, dbt, Python, and AI-

assisted engineering tooling — with a clear pathway to grow into a broader Data Engineer role over time. As part of

ELMO's AI-Native engineering model, you'll also get exposure to working alongside AI agents (including Claude Code

and GitHub Copilot) that are increasingly used to accelerate delivery — your database expertise will be what keeps that work safe, performant, and correct.

What you will be doing…

Administer and tune AWS RDS databases across Postgres (Aurora) and MySQL (Aurora), and ideally MS SQL

Server — schema design, performance tuning, query optimisation, index management, and backup/recovery

Proactively monitor database health, capacity, and performance; identify and resolve bottlenecks before they

become incidents

Own database security, access controls, and backup/DR strategy for production systems handling sensitive HR

and employee data

Support schema migrations and changes, working closely with engineering teams to plan safe, low-risk

deployments

Own ISO 27001 evidence collection relevant to database security and data access controls

Act as a reviewer for database-related changes, helping uphold quality and safety standards across the team

Progressively build capability in the modern data stack (Snowflake, dbt, Python) with structured support and

mentoring, working toward taking on data pipeline and transformation responsibilities

Get hands-on exposure to AI-assisted engineering workflows (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) as part of day-to-

day work, building comfort with directing and reviewing AI-generated database and pipeline changes

Desired Skills and Experience

Must haves:

Strong hands-on AWS experience, with AWS RDS as a core part of your day-to-day work

Solid experience administering MySQL (Aurora) and/or PostgreSQL (Aurora) in production environments

Demonstrated performance tuning experience — query optimisation, indexing strategy, and

diagnosing/resolving slow-running or resource-intensive database issues

Strong understanding of backup, recovery, and disaster recovery practices

Solid SQL skills across schema design, troubleshooting, and data integrity

Strong written and verbal communication; comfortable engaging with non-technical stakeholders

Nice to have:

Experience with Microsoft SQL Server

Exposure to Python scripting for automation or tooling

Interest or early exposure to Snowflake, dbt, or the modern data stack

Experience or curiosity around AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or similar)

Familiarity with ISO 27001 or similar data security/compliance frameworks

Experience with Terraform, CloudFormation, or other infrastructure-as-code tooling

Skills and Experiences: