Kubernetes Database Reliability Engineer

h3About The ICRC /h3 pSince 1863, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has worked to preserve human dignity and relieve suffering caused by war and armed violence. /p h3About The ICRC /h3 pSince 1863, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has worked to preserve human dignity and relieve suffering caused by war and armed violence. In collaboration with our Red Cross and Red Crescent partners around the world, we do everything we can to deliver life-saving aid, reconnect families and locate missing people
- helping those who need it most, regardless of who they are and what side of the front line they are on. We engage with authorities and armed forces on all sides, often confidentially, pressing for access to detainees to improve their living conditions and urging compliance with international humanitarian law to protect non-combatants, including from digital threats. /p h3Purpose of the Role /h3 pThe ICRC is seeking an experienced Kubernetes Database Reliability Engineer (Kubernetes Open-Source Databases) to modernize its database ecosystem by moving databases from traditional virtual machines to containers on Kubernetes. This transformation will improve the availability and security of the ICRC's database services and make them easier to automate and faster to deliver, in support of the ICRC's mandate to protect and assist people affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence. /p pThe role involves designing the target architecture, building GitOps-based delivery with Helm and Kustomize and managing the lifecycle of containerized databases across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, both on-premises and in the cloud. These databases support global digital services as well as field-facing humanitarian applications deployed in some of the most operationally demanding settings. The role also sets standards, leads a platform and works closely with application teams to ensure workloads run reliably. /p h3Main Duties Responsibilities /h3 ul liOwn the lifecycle of containerized databases in the ICRC's Kubernetes clusters for engines such as PostgreSQL and MongoDB, from design and provisioning to upgrades, migrations and decommissioning, both on-premises and in the cloud. /li liDesign and test backup, restore, point-in-time recovery and disaster recovery strategies, including object storage targets, and run regular recovery exercises. /li liDeploy and operate Kubernetes database operators (e.g. CloudNativePG, MongoDB operators) and define standards for their use. /li liBuild reusable, versioned Helm charts and Kustomize overlays to provision databases consistently across environments and clusters. /li liAutomate the provisioning and delivery of database workloads using GitOps, Ansible and CI/CD pipelines. /li liApply security standards, including RBAC, network policies, secrets management, encryption in transit and at rest, image scanning and pod security standards, and ensure compliance with ICRC policies and data protection regulations. /li liSupport open-source database operations across hybrid environments to ensure high availability, integrity, performance and security. /li liSupport the observability stack, covering monitoring of database clusters and workloads (Prometheus, Grafana), logging and distributed tracing (OpenTelemetry). /li /ul h3Education Professional Background /h3 ul liBachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related field. /li liMinimum 10 years of relevant work experience, including 5 years in a similar position. /li liKubernetes certification (CKA, CKAD or CKS) or equivalent experience is desirable. /li liDatabase certification or equivalent experience. /li liITIL, DevOps or Agile (e.g. SAFe) certification is an asset. /li liExperience in a complex and diverse international environment is an asset. /li /ul h3Desired Profile Skills /h3 h3Technical skills /h3 ul liExperience operating databases such as PostgreSQL and MongoDB on Linux and Kubernetes, including high availability, replication, backup/restore and disaster recovery. /li liAdvanced knowledge of Linux systems and understanding of Kubernetes cluster architecture, including the control plane and API server, networking (CNI) and storage (CSI). /li liStrong scripting and automation skills (Bash/Shell, Ansible, Azure DevOps pipelines), with proficiency in Python or Go for platform tooling and custom controller development. /li liGitOps mindset and hands‑on experience with Argo CD, Helm and Kustomize. /li liProven ability to troubleshoot complex production incidents. /li /ul h3Non-technical skills /h3 ul liKnowledge of data privacy regulations. /li liStrong English, written and spoken, is required. French is an asset. /li /ul h3Additional Information /h3 ul liLocation: Geneva, Switzerland /li liType of Contract: Open-ended /li liLength of Assignment: Long term assignment /li liActivity Rate: 100% /li liStart date: January 2027 /li liApplication deadline: Thursday, 19 November