Senior Database Platform Engineer

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on experience operating highly available MySQL databases at scale in production
• Deep MySQL expertise: replication, query optimization, indexing, schema design, and performance tuning at the OS and application layers
• Solid experience with ProxySQL and Linux in production environments
• Strong automation background — you've meaningfully reduced operational toil through scripting or custom tooling (Python, Go, Bash, or equivalent)
• Comfortable with observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, or comparable) and using data to diagnose and resolve complex infrastructure issues
• Experience running databases on bare-metal or on-premise infrastructure (not cloud-managed DB services)

Nice to Have

• Hands-on experience with distributed databases such as CockroachDB or YugabyteDB
• Experience with Puppet or comparable configuration management systems
• Prior exposure to high-traffic, multi-tenant ProxySQL deployments

What You'll Be Doing

• Own the administration and reliability of Proton's web-scale MySQL fleet, accessed via ProxySQL, including participating in a 24/7 on-call rotation
• Design and implement automation that eliminates manual operational toil and measurably improves platform reliability
• Write code and tooling to improve how we manage, monitor, and scale the database platform — treating infrastructure as software
• Own performance tuning across the full stack — hardware, OS, storage, network, and query level — and resolve bottlenecks before they become incidents
• Drive database best practices into product design reviews, providing clear guidance on architecture, data modeling, scalability, and system integration
• Lead the planning and execution of database version upgrades and full stack updates with minimal service disruption
• Shape Proton's long-term database strategy — evaluating emerging technologies like distributed databases and influencing cross-company engineering standards

Perks and Benefits

• Work that Matters: Millions of people trust Proton with their privacy. We answer only to our users — not advertisers, not investors with conflicting agendas, not governments.
• A Great Team: Diverse, collaborative, and tight-knit, with people from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, Cambridge, ETH, and more.
• Technology: The right hardware and software to do your best work.
• Learning & Development: We invest in your growth. Proton is one of the fastest ways to accelerate your career — real challenges, real ownership, from day one.
• Employee Benefits: Strong health coverage, solid retirement options, generous leave, and wellness support.
• Stock Options: From day one, you have a real stake in what we're building. When Proton wins, you win.
• Salary Range: Paris - 50,000€ to 76,000€ - Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate's qualifications, skills, and previous experience.
• In-Person Collaboration: Offices across Geneva, Zürich, Barcelona, London, Paris, and more. You'll spend most of your time collaborating face-to-face, with up to 30% remote flexibility.
• Food: Lunch and snacks on us every day in the office.
• Transport: We cover public transport, bike allowances, or parking — whichever works for you.
• Flexible Working: You own your schedule. Outcomes matter more than clock-in times