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Accelerate the ad technology evolution.
The Role
Leads strategy, architecture, deployment, operations, automation, observability, and reliability initiatives for globally distributed database systems. Partners across engineering and business teams to improve performance, scalability, security, continuity, and operational rigor. Oversees incident troubleshooting, root-cause analyses, release processes, database change management, technology evaluation, roadmap planning, and mentoring while operating databases across Kubernetes, cloud, and bare-metal environments.
Summary Generated by Built In
At Index Exchange, we’re reinventing how digital advertising works—at scale. As a global advertising supply-side platform, we empower the world’s leading media owners and marketers to thrive in a programmatic, privacy-first ecosystem.
We’re a proud industry pioneer with over 20 years of experience accelerating the ad technology evolution. Our proprietary tech is trusted by some of the world’s largest brands and media owners and plays a crucial role in keeping the internet open, accessible, and largely free.
We process more than 550 billion real-time auctions every day (in comparison, Google processes 8.5 billion searches per day) with ultra-low latency. Our platform is vertically integrated from servers to networks and runs primarily on our own metal and cloud infrastructure. This end-to-end infrastructure is designed to provide both stability and agility, enabling us to adapt quickly as the market evolves.
At the core of it all is our engineering-first culture. Our engineers tackle internet-scale problems across tight-knit, global teams. From moving petabytes of data and optimizing with AI to making real-time infrastructure decisions, Indexers have the agency and influence to shape the future of advertising. We move fast, build thoughtfully, and stay grounded in our core values.
About The Role
Join our global organization at the forefront of innovation in the Ad-Tech industry. We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Staff Database Reliability Engineer to lead across data domains and teams, driving strategic outcomes for our organization. The ideal candidate will be equal parts responsible for driving initiatives at deep technical level and ensuring robust operational rigor to achieve stability and scale in our data environments.
Here’s What You’ll be Doing
Leadership Across Domains:
- Provide strategic leadership across multiple domains, collaborating with cross-functional teams such as product, operations, infrastructure, and platform engineering to achieve business objectives.
- Foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and collaboration within the data systems team.
- Advocate for strategic directions that reduce our complexity and tech stack footprint.
Technical Depth:
- Demonstrate deep expertise some of our core database technologies, including MySQL, MariaDB, Galera, PostgreSQL , Aerospike, Redis, Kafka, Zookeeper, Cassandra/ScyllaDB, etcd, StarRocks, Vertica.
- Deploy and operate databases at scale in decentralized cloud (k8s, external) and bare metal-based environments.
- Architect relational data structures for performance, scale, and continuity.
- Drive technical excellence by staying abreast of industry trends, evaluating emerging technologies, and making recommendations for adoption.
- Lead initiatives with other cross-functional engineering staff that are supporters and consumers of your data systems.
Operational Rigor:
- Ensure robust operational processes are in place to guarantee the stability and scalability of database environments.
- Develop and implement best practices for database administration, monitoring, and maintenance using open-source observability and instrumentation tools.
- Develop and enhance testing and production release procedures with an automation-first core principle to end-to-end delivery.
- Security/IAM minded practices and implementations, audits, traceability.
Collaboration and Communication:
- Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, including developers, system administrators, and data scientists, to optimize database performance and functionality.
- Communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, fostering understanding and alignment across the organization.
- Participate in quarterly planning events to present your roadmaps and ensure strong alignment with the objectives and the broader technology teams.
- Problem Solving and Troubleshooting:
- Lead efforts in problem identification, troubleshooting, and resolution to minimize downtime and enhance our Exchange reliability.
- Lead retrospective/rca engagements for data systems to ensure we are on a continuous improvement path.
Technology Stack:
- Key database technologies: MySQL, MariaDB, Galera, PostgreSQL, Kafka, Aerospike, Redis, StarRocks, Vertica, Trino, Iceberg.
- Automation and observability tools: Ansible, Terraform, Kubernetes, Grafana, Prometheus, Loki.
- On-premises data center operations.
- Programming languages for task automation: Python, Bash/Shell, or Golang.
Here's What You Need:
- 7+ years of proven experience as a Database Reliability Engineer, Database Administrator, general SRE with a slant to data systems, or a similar role.
- In-depth expertise of databases, with a focus on the specified key technologies (MySQL, MariaDB, Galera, PostgreSQL, Kafka, Aerospike, Redis, StarRocks, Vertica).
- Experience deploying and operating databases at scale in containerized (Kubernetes) and bare metal environments.
- Working knowledge of languages like Python, Bash/Shell, Kotlin, Java and/or golang
- Good understanding of automation tools like Ansible, Terraform, and any CI/CD tools (Helm, Gitlab workflows, ArgoCD, etc.).
- Good understanding of database change management systems like Liquibase, Flywheel, or Alembic.
- Good understanding of observability tools like Loki, Grafana, Prometheus, etc.
- Basic understanding of streaming and big data technologies like Kafka, Spark, Flink, Hadoop, Presto/Trino, or Redis (desirable).
- Demonstrated leadership, mentoring, and collaboration skills balancing strategic and tactical needs.
- Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting abilities, diagnosing at depth for a globally distributed infrastructure with low-latency requirements.
- Effective communication skills, both technical and non-technical audiences
- If you are a seasoned database engineer with a passion for driving strategic outcomes and ensuring technical excellence, we invite you to apply and be a key player in shaping the future of our global data environments.
Why you’ll love working here:
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans for you and your dependents
- Paid time off, health days, and personal obligation days plus flexible work schedules
- Competitive retirement matching plans
- Equity packages
- Generous parental leave available to birthing, non-birthing, and adoptive parents
- Annual well-being allowance plus fitness discounts and group wellness activities
- Commuter benefits and discounts, where available
- Employee assistance program
- Mental health first aid program that provides an in-the-moment point of contact and reassurance
- One day of volunteer time off per year and a donation-matching program
- Monthly town halls and regular community-led team events
- Multiple resources and programming to support continuous learning
- A workplace that supports a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment – learn more here
Equal employment opportunity
At Index Exchange, we believe that successful products are built by teams just as diverse as the audience who uses them. As such, we are committed to equal employment opportunities. We celebrate diversity of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. Additionally, we realize that diversity is deeper than any status or classification—diversity is the human experience. For those who show grit, passion, and humility—Index will welcome you.
Accessibility for applicants with disabilities
Index Exchange welcomes and encourages individuals with disabilities to apply to work with us.
If you require an accommodation, please share the details of your request and any information how we can assist you with the hiring recruiter when they contact you. Index Exchange will make reasonable efforts to ensure accommodation requests are met throughout the recruitment process.
Index everywhere, Index anywhere
Our corporate headquarters are in Toronto, with major offices in New York, Montreal, Kitchener, London, San Francisco, and many other global cities. As a major global advertising exchange, we are committed to operating as a tightly knit global team and embracing and empowering talent wherever our colleagues may be.
AI Disclaimer: Automated tools including artificial intelligence may be used to assist in screening and assessing applicants for this role. All hiring decisions involve human review.
Vacancy Status: This posting is for an existing vacancy.
Skills Required
- 7+ years of experience as a Database Reliability Engineer, Database Administrator, SRE focused on data systems, or similar
- In-depth expertise with databases including MySQL, MariaDB, Galera, PostgreSQL, Kafka, Aerospike, Redis, StarRocks, and Vertica
- Experience deploying and operating databases at scale in Kubernetes and bare-metal environments
- Working knowledge of Python, Bash/Shell, Kotlin, Java, and/or Golang
- Experience with Ansible, Terraform, and CI/CD tools such as Helm, GitLab workflows, or ArgoCD
- Knowledge of database change management systems such as Liquibase, Flyway, or Alembic
- Knowledge of observability tools such as Loki, Grafana, and Prometheus
- Basic understanding of streaming and big data technologies such as Kafka, Spark, Flink, Hadoop, Presto/Trino, or Redis
- Demonstrated leadership, mentoring, and collaboration skills
- Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting abilities for globally distributed, low-latency infrastructure
- Effective communication skills with technical and non-technical audiences
Index Exchange Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Index Exchange and has not been reviewed or approved by Index Exchange.
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Affordable Benefits — Medical, dental, and vision coverage is described as fully paid for employees and often for dependents in the U.S., reducing out-of-pocket costs. While specifics vary by region, public materials consistently emphasize low-premium coverage.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental leave is positioned as generous and inclusive, with birthing parents able to take extended fully paid leave and structured return‑to‑work support. Coverage also extends to non‑birthing and adoptive parents, with fertility benefits highlighted.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off combines substantial PTO with additional health days and personal obligation days, expanding rest and recovery options. Volunteer time off and the ability to work from another location for part of the year further broaden flexibility around time away.
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The Company
What We Do
Index Exchange is a global advertising supply-side platform enabling media owners to maximize the value of their content on any screen. As a trusted partner and ally, we connect leading experience makers with the world’s largest brands to ensure a quality experience for consumers. We’re a proud industry pioneer with over 20 years of experience accelerating the ad technology evolution. With our radically transparent business practices and dedication to total market efficiency, we’re committed to upholding the integrity of the programmatic ecosystem at large. Our global teams are dedicated to driving industry standards and building technology that delivers scale, efficiency, and long-term value for our customers and partners. In our workplace, we pride ourselves on fostering an environment of openness where everyone feels connected and supported - a place where you can be your best inside or outside of work.
Why Work With Us
When you join Index Exchange, you’ll be working at an engineering-first company. Our foundation is our technology platform and all of the Indexers who come together to improve, extend, and reinvent it. We invest heavily in building an organization that’s committed to DEI&B, our core values, and our vision of total market efficiency.
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