Surya Viswanathan

Results-driven PostgreSQL DBA with hands-on experience managing 55+ production databases (~150 TB) on AWS RDS and Aurora for mission-critical healthcare workloads. Proficient in Aurora PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, and AWS RDS with a strong focus on performance tuning, high availability, and disaster recovery solutions. Proven track record in SLO definition, cost optimisation, proactive incident prevention, on-call operations, CI/CD schema pipelines, and internal tooling — with expertise in PostgreSQL extensions, Foreign Data Wrappers (FDW), table partitioning, and advanced automation.

PostgreSQL, Data & Infrastructure Engineer - Deloitte Consulting - Bengaluru, India

(2023-11)

CalHEERS (California Health Eligibility, Enrollment & Retention System) — maintaining and optimising 55+ PostgreSQL and SQL Server databases (~150 TB) on AWS RDS/Aurora with Multi-AZ architecture for a state-level healthcare exchange serving millions of Californians.

• Database Operations & Availability: Maintained and optimised 55+ PostgreSQL and SQL Server databases (~150 TB) on AWS RDS/Aurora with Multi-AZ architecture and Aurora cluster management, sustaining 99.9%+ availability under strict production SLAs for a state-level healthcare exchange serving millions of Californians.
• Performance Tuning: Identified and resolved performance bottlenecks using EXPLAIN/EXPLAIN ANALYZE, pg_stat_* views, Aurora Performance Insights, and targeted indexing strategies (B-tree, partial, covering); eliminated long-running queries and stabilised batch-job execution times, directly improving end-user experience.
• PostgreSQL Extensions & Advanced Features: Leveraged extensions including pg_stat_statements, pg_partman, pg_hint_plan, and apg_plan_mgmt for workload management and query plan control; managed 10+ Foreign Data Wrapper (FDW) configurations across heterogeneous database systems.
• Table Partitioning & Storage Optimisation: Implemented partitioning strategies and compression techniques for large tables to optimise storage and improve query performance; reclaimed significant production storage through strategic space management (compression, partitioning, purging, right-sizing).
• Proactive Issue Identification: Built and operationalised CloudWatch dashboards and custom alerting scripts (replication lag, storage growth, connection saturation, slow-query detection) with structured runbooks — catching incidents before they impacted production.
• SLO Definition & Stakeholder Alignment: Collaborated with engineering and product stakeholders to define and document SLOs for key database service components (query latency, replication lag, backup RPO); tracked compliance and drove corrective action when thresholds were breached.
• On-Call & Incident Response: Participated in on-call rotation; led impact assessment, log/metric analysis, RCA write-ups, and corrective/preventive actions in collaboration with engineering and operations teams; reduced MTTR through disciplined runbook adherence.
• Backup, Restore & DR: Implemented PITR-based backup and DR strategy, WAL archiving, automated Aurora snapshots, pg_dump/pg_restore procedures, and cross-region replication; conducted regular DR drills validating RTO/RPO objectives.
• Automation & Internal Tools: Developed 40+ automation scripts covering proactive monitoring, alerting, release activities, user management, cross-database FDWs, backups, cleanup, SQL code review, and data comparison utilities using Bash, Python, Ansible, and AWS CLI — automating repetitive DBA tasks and minimising operational errors.
• Schema Change Management: Standardised database deployments via Git-based change management using Liquibase and Jenkins/GitLab CI/CD pipelines (gates, approvals, rollback playbooks), reducing release risk and enabling safe, auditable deployments across all environments.
• Database Upgrades & Patching: Conducted major and minor Aurora/RDS PostgreSQL upgrades and patching activities across 35+ environments with minimal downtime, including data migration, backup validation, and restore verification.
• Training & Documentation: Trained junior DBAs and cross-functional team members on SQL query best practices, database design, and schema structuring; authored operational runbooks, deployment guides, and on-call playbooks.
• Cost Optimisation: Analysed RDS instance utilisation, storage growth trends, and I/O patterns; provided data-driven recommendations for right-sizing and storage tier adjustments, reducing unnecessary cloud spend.
• Security & Access Controls: Enforced least-privilege RBAC database roles, conducted periodic credential and access reviews, and maintained audit-friendly operational documentation aligned to compliance requirements.

MCA - Master of Computer Applications - Bharathiyar University (2025)

B.Sc. - Information Technology - Sri Krishna Arts and Science College (2023)