ABOUT BLACK KITE
Black Kite is the global leader in third-party cyber risk intelligence, trusted by more than 3,000 organizations worldwide. We give security and business leaders a continuous, outside-in view of their entire vendor ecosystem — translating complex cyber, financial, and compliance signals into clear, actionable risk intelligence.
We go beyond open standards-based cyber ratings. Black Kite helps organizations make smarter risk decisions, strengthen business resilience, and scale their third-party cyber risk management programs in an increasingly complex digital environment. Our work has earned consistent recognition from customers and industry analysts alike.
WHY BLACK KITE
We're a fast-moving, high-impact team solving one of the most critical challenges in cybersecurity today. If you're looking to do meaningful work alongside sharp, collaborative people — and grow your career in a space that matters — you're in the right place.
THE OPPORTUNITY
We're hiring a Database Reliability Engineer to own the performance, availability, and automation of our databases on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). You'll bring deep PostgreSQL and SQL Server expertise and the engineering habits of a platform team: infrastructure as code, automated pipelines, and observability built in from the start.
This is a hands-on role. You'll tune the queries and design the indexes, and you'll also build the automation so that backups, failover, and schema changes run reliably without manual effort. You'll work closely with engineering teams to keep our data layer fast, resilient, and ready to scale.
WHAT YOU'LL OWN- Manage and optimize PostgreSQL and SQL Server databases on GCP (Cloud SQL)
- Analyze and tune queries using execution plans, and design and maintain indexing strategies
- Provision and manage database infrastructure as code with Terraform
- Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines for database changes, including automated schema migrations and rollbacks
- Automate routine maintenance (index maintenance, statistics updates, backups) and regularly test restores
- Design, implement, and validate high availability (HA), replication, and disaster recovery setups
- Build monitoring, alerting, and dashboards for database health and performance, and lead troubleshooting when issues arise
- Partner with software engineers on data modeling, query design, and database best practices
- Apply access controls, IAM, and security best practices across the database environment
- Document runbooks and share knowledge so the team can operate independently
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, or a related field, and 3+ years of experience in database engineering, database reliability, DevOps, or platform engineering
- Strong, hands-on experience with PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server
- Advanced SQL skills, including joins, subqueries, CTEs, and window functions
- Proven ability to read execution plans and tune queries and indexes for performance at scale
- Hands-on experience with GCP, especially Cloud SQL, plus working knowledge of compute, networking, and IAM
- Experience with infrastructure as code (Terraform preferred)
- Experience building or maintaining CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or similar)
- Scripting proficiency in Python, Bash, or PowerShell
- Working knowledge of HA, replication, backup, and disaster recovery in cloud environments
- Experience with database monitoring and observability tools
- Comfort working in Linux and/or Windows environments
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, and a habit of automating repeatable work
- This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship
- Experience with Kubernetes (GKE) and containerized workloads
- Experience with database schema migration tools (such as Liquibase or Flyway)
- Experience with other GCP services (BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Cloud Storage, Cloud Monitoring)
- Experience with non-relational databases such as MongoDB, Elasticsearch, or Redis
- Experience with on-call rotations and incident response
- Knowledge of database security, auditing, and compliance practices
The expected base compensation range for this role is $120,000–$135,000, commensurate with demonstrated skills and experience. Compensation at Black Kite extends well beyond base pay — our total rewards program includes performance-based bonuses, equity, flexible healthcare options, paid time off, and retirement savings. This range reflects a nationwide market spectrum and will vary based on qualifications, role scope, complexity, and location.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field
- 1-2 years of database engineering experience
- Hands-on experience with PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server
- Ability to write clean, efficient, and optimized SQL queries
- Understanding of query execution plans, query optimization, and indexing strategies
- Familiarity with joins, subqueries, CTEs, window functions, and basic data modeling
- Hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform or strong foundational knowledge, especially Cloud SQL
- Understanding of cloud compute, networking, IAM, high availability, and replication concepts
- Experience with database maintenance and monitoring
- Ability to work in Linux and/or Windows environments
- Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving skills
- Experience with BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Cloud Storage, or Cloud Monitoring
- Experience with MongoDB, Elasticsearch, or Redis
- Familiarity with query profiling and performance tools
- Basic scripting skills in Python, Bash, or PowerShell
- Exposure to CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices
- Knowledge of database security and access control
Black Kite Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Black Kite and has not been reviewed or approved by Black Kite.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Leave & Time Off Breadth: Feedback suggests a generous PTO policy and paid sick leave support work-life balance.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity Value & Accessibility: Feedback suggests equity is offered as part of total rewards, providing accessible ownership opportunities.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits: Feedback suggests commuter benefits, some meals, and office perks (snacks, drinks, cold brew) enhance day-to-day experience, alongside flexible/hybrid work options.
Black Kite Insights
What We Do
One in four organizations suffered from a cyber attack in the last year, resulting in production, reputation and financial losses. The real problem is adversaries attack companies via third parties, island-hopping their way into target organizations. At Black Kite, we're redefining vendor risk management with the world’s first global third-party cyber risk monitoring platform, built from a hacker's perspective. With 500+ customers across the globe and counting, we're committed to improving the health and safety of the entire planet's cyber ecosystem with the industry’s most accurate and comprehensive cyber intelligence. While other security ratings service (SRS) providers try to narrow the scope, Black Kite provides the only standards-based cyber risk assessments that analyze your supply chain's cybersecurity posture from three critical dimensions: technical, financial, and compliance.
