At myKaarma, we're not just leading the way in fixed ops solutions for the automotive industrywe're redefining what's possible for dealership service centers. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, and powered by a global team, our industry-leading SaaS platform combines communication, scheduling, and payment tools in one seamless solution that keeps dealerships and vehicle owners connected. With myKaarma, every service interaction flows effortlessly, bringing good karma to customers and service teams.
Rooted in the principles of the Toyota Production System, we operate with precision, efficiency, and a relentless focus on continuous improvement to deliver a better experience for all. We're looking for innovators, problem-solvers, and tech enthusiasts passionate about building solutions that people
love to use. If you're ready to make an impact in an industry ripe for change, join us at myKaarma and help shape the future of automotive service.
Role Description
As a Senior Database Infrastructure Engineer, you will be a cornerstone of the myKaarma Data Team, specifically tasked with evolving our data architecture to meet the demands of high-scale search and emerging AI initiatives. Your primary mission will be to bridge our current gaps in ElasticSearch administration, optimization, and vector database infrastructure - we already have a robust foundation in MySQL, MariaDB, and MongoDB.
You will collaborate with Architects and Engineering teams to design the data backbone for AI-driven features, ensuring that our search clusters and vector stores are performant, scalable, and resilient. This role is ideal for a polyglot data expert who thrives on automating infrastructure-as-code and solving complex distributed systems challenges like node-to-data density balancing and vector search optimization.
Senior DBA, you will play a key role in the Data Team at myKaarma, working to ensure the security, stability, and optimal performance of all core production data assets. You will be responsible for driving infrastructure automation, enforcing operational readiness, and providing expert-level polyglot database tuning and will collaborate closely with Application Architects and Engineering Teams to achieve systemic reliability and highly efficient query resolution. This role offers the chance to work with a talented team and develop expertise in high-scale cloud data solutions and infrastructure-as-code practices.
Key Responsibilities
- ElasticSearch Architecture & Optimization: Take full ownership of ElasticSearch cluster health, including node sizing, shard allocation strategies, and performance tuning for both keyword and dense vector search.
- AI Data Infrastructure: Design, implement, and maintain the infrastructure for Vector Databases to support developer-led AI and RAG projects.
- Operational Readiness for AI: Establish rigorous standards for monitoring and backing up vector embeddings and ensuring high availability for data stores that feed our LLM integrations.
- Infrastructure Automation (IaC): Use Ansible and Terraform to automate the deployment, configuration, and scaling of the database fleet, eliminating manual drift between MariaDB, MySQL, Search and any Vector DB clusters.
- Proactive Monitoring: Build predictive alerting in Prometheus/Grafana to catch issues like InnoDB contention in Aurora or circuit-breaker trips in ElasticSearch before they impact customers.
Required Skills And Qualifications
- 5+ years of dedicated experience as a DBA in a mission-critical, high-traffic environment.
- Proven track record of managing large-scale ElasticSearch clusters in production, specifically handling cluster rebalancing and capacity planning.
- Advanced ElasticSearch: Deep knowledge of Lucene internals, mappings, analyzers, and cluster state management.
- AI/Vector Data: Familiarity with vector similarity search, embeddings, and at least one specialized vector database or vector-enabled search engine.
- Automation/IaC: Hands-on experience with configuration management (Ansible is highly preferred) or other Infrastructure-as-Code technologies.
- Cloud & Orchestration: Hands-on experience with AWS (RDS/Aurora) and managing data workloads within Kubernetes/EKS.
- Comprehensive understanding of distributed systems consistency models and CAP theorem trade-offs.
- In-depth knowledge of database security, encryption at rest, and data integrity audits (e.g., automated checksumming).
Nice To Have Skills & Qualifications
- Familiarity with Python for data engineering or automation scripting.
- Experience with data lineage
- Knowledge of MaxScale, Vitess or other database proxy technologies for MariaDB.
- Core Data Stores: Strong fundamental knowledge of MySQL/Aurora, MariaDB, and MongoDB (while we have expertise here, you should be able to support and tune these effectively).
We value diverse experiences and backgrounds, so we encourage you to apply if you meet some but not all of the listed qualifications.
How To Stand Out
Here's a scenario to illustrate the innovative approach we value:
Q: We are scaling our AI features and search capabilities. How would you approach optimizing our ElasticSearch clusters and preparing us for production-grade vector search
A: I would start by performing an ElasticSearch shard and node distribution audit to identify the sweet spot for our data-to-RAM ratio, ensuring we don't over-saturate nodes as our indexes grow. For our AI roadmap, I would implement a scalable vector database strategywhether leveraging ElasticSearch's native vector capabilities or a specialized storefocusing on index build times and query latency for embeddings. I'd automate the entire lifecycle using Ansible to ensure environment parity, and implement deep observability in Grafana to monitor specific metrics like segment merges, JVM pressure, and vector search recall accuracy. My goal is to move beyond it works to it scales predictably with zero manual intervention for scaling events.
Total Rewards at myKaarma
Benefits
At myKaarma, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package that extends beyond the base salary. Our commitment to competitive compensation includes bonuses and benefits that support both personal and professional well-being:
- Flexible Work Environment: We embrace a high-performance, flexible structure that values freedom and responsibility. Our Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled model empowers teams to innovate and continuously improve using data-driven insights.
- Health and Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits, along with wellness and telework stipends.
- Time Off: Generous vacation time to recharge and balance life outside work.
- In-Office Perks: Enjoy office unlimited snacks or refreshments onsite.
The starting salary range for this role is
50 lakhs + Bonus , depending on experience and qualifications, reflecting our dedication to competitive industry compensation. Additional details about our Total Rewards package will be shared during recruitment.
Our Commitment to Inclusion
At myKaarma, diverse perspectives drive innovation and success. We are committed to creating a safe, welcoming, and inclusive workplace where every employee feels valued and empowered and can do meaningful work. Our mission to deliver exceptional solutions to our clients is strengthened by the unique contributions and perspectives of our team members from all backgrounds.
