Senior Supabase / PostgreSQL Reliability Engineer

We are a growing Australian technology and local-media company seeking a senior reliability engineer to protect and improve the data and automation layer behind a large network of local-news websites.

This is a long-term, remote, full-time independent-contractor role for an experienced PostgreSQL/Supabase engineer. The initial focus is reliability: diagnosing scheduled-job failures, making pg_cron and pg_net workflows observable and repeatable, improving database performance, and reducing operational risk. This is not a general virtual-assistant or junior developer position.

THE ROLE
You will own the reliability of scoped database and scheduled-automation systems. You will investigate i ---------- methodically, document root causes, propose safe changes, and implement approved fixes in sandboxed or least-privilege environments before any controlled release.

WHAT YOU WILL DO
• Diagnose failures involving Supabase, PostgreSQL, pg_cron, pg_net, SQL functions, triggers and scheduled workflows.
• Improve monitoring, logging, alerting and runbooks so failures are visible and reproducible.
• Review queries, indexes, locks, timeouts and connection behaviour for performance and reliability risks.
• Design idempotent jobs with safe retry, backoff and failure-handling behaviour.
• Reproduce issues in a sandbox and prepare small, reviewable migrations or patches with rollback steps.
• Support i ---------- response, root-cause analysis and follow-up prevention work.
• Document architecture, operational procedures, dependencies and known failure modes clearly.
• Work with delivery, QA and engineering colleagues across Australian and Philippine time zones.

WHAT YOU WILL BRING
• Strong production experience with PostgreSQL and SQL.
• Hands-on experience with Supabase or a closely related managed PostgreSQL platform.
• Practical knowledge of pg_cron, scheduled jobs, webhooks, HTTP/database integrations or equivalent tooling.
• Evidence of diagnosing concurrency, locking, transaction, timeout, retry or performance problems.
• Sound security judgement, including least privilege, secrets handling and separation of sandbox from production.
• Clear written English and the ability to explain technical i ---------- to non-specialists.
• Dependable availability and disciplined timekeeping.

HELPFUL EXPERIENCE
• pg_net, Edge Functions, PostgREST, observability tooling or database migration pipelines.
• Infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD, automated testing and safe deployment practices.
• Reliability engineering for content, publishing, data-processing or multi-site platforms.

ACCESS AND SECURITY
This role uses scoped, least-privilege access. Work should begin with documentation, logs, redacted evidence and sandbox environments. Never place passwords, API keys, production credentials, customer data or confidential code in your application. Any broader access must be separately approved and auditable. Shortlisted candidates may be asked to sign confidentiality and intellectual-property terms.

HOW SUCCESS WILL BE MEASURED
• Fewer failed or silently missed scheduled jobs.
• Faster diagnosis and recovery when i ---------- occur.
• Clear monitoring, runbooks and root-cause reports.
• Safe, tested changes with rollback plans and minimal production risk.
• Measurable improvements to database performance and operational stability.

HOW TO APPLY
Apply through this platform with a short introduction, your CV or work history, your hourly rate within the advertised range, your weekly availability, and answers to all four screening questions. Generic applications that do not answer the questions will not be considered. Include anonymised examples or links where relevant, but do not disclose a previous client's confidential information.

1. Describe a difficult PostgreSQL reliability i ---------- you diagnosed. What evidence did you collect, what was the root cause, and how did you prevent recurrence?
2. How would you design a pg_cron job that calls an external service so it is observable, idempotent and safe to retry?
3. What would you check when a scheduled job appears to run but intermittently produces no result?
4. Describe your recent hands-on experience with Supabase, pg_cron and pg_net. Be specific about what you personally implemented.

PAID TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT
Shortlisted applicants may be invited to a paid, time-boxed assessment using a supplied sandbox scenario. The task will test diagnosis, SQL reasoning, risk awareness and the clarity of your proposed fix—not access to any live production system.

We offer long-term work, competitive Philippine-market senior engineering rates, clear ownership, respectful collaboration and the opportunity to make a measurable impact on a growing platform.