Technical Lead - Database Platform

About the opportunity

We are seeking a Tech Lead to join the Database Platform Team within the Platform Engineering Domain. You will define the future of our operational data storage, focusing on next-generation scaling, security, and developer experience.

Platform Engineering's mission is to provide trusted, performant, and self-service platforms, enabling product teams to build 'the bank the world loves to use'. As part of this, the Database Platform team is responsible for architecting and operating highly scalable, secure, and compliant infrastructure solutions that manage our core database offering and data storage capabilities.

Who we are

N26 has reimagined banking for today’s digital world. Technology and design empower everything we do and it’s how we are building the global banking platform the world loves to use.

We've eliminated physical branches, paperwork, and hidden fees for an elegant digital experience and supreme savings. Giving people the power to live and bank their way is what gets us out of bed in the morning and inspires the work that we do.

We are headquartered in Berlin with offices in multiple cities across Europe, including Vienna and Barcelona, and a 1,500-strong team of more than 80 nationalities.

• Define, design, and guide the implementation of platform solutions that enhance the reliability, security, and scalability of the Database Platform infrastructure.
• Provide technical leadership in cloud infrastructure, networking, CI/CD, and security for operational data storage solutions.
• Collaborate closely with Product Teams to ensure seamless database provisioning and operational efficiency.
• Mentor and coach team members, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing, technical excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Own the end-to-end architecture of the Database Platform, driving alignment with wider Platform Engineering strategy and domain goals.
• Lead complex incident management, driving blameless post-mortems and preventative architectural improvements.
• Define, implement, and own the end-to-end observability strategy (metrics, logging, tracing) to guarantee the platform meets and exceeds availability targets.

• The ideal candidate is a seasoned SRE and architecture expert ready to define the technical vision and standards for scaled database infrastructure. You should also be an enthusiastic learner eager to pioneer novel platform solutions and grow with a team that values innovation and mentorship. If your expertise meets curiosity, we encourage you to apply.
• What you need to be successful
• Background and skills:
• Extensive, hands-on architectural experience in designing, implementing, and maintaining cloud-based infrastructure, particularly in AWS.
• Proven expertise in operational data storage solutions (e.g., PostgreSQL, AmazonRDS, S3 or similar).
• In-depth knowledge of database internals including performance tuning, high-availability architecture (replication/failover), backup and recovery strategies, and sharding/clustering.
• Hands-on experience with container technologies (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes/EKS)
• Strong experience in infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar).
• Proficiency in at least one programming language (Python preferred).
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, Jenkins, or similar).
• Familiarity with networking and security best practices in cloud environments.
• Familiarity with observability tools (DataDog, Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry).
• Nice to have:
• Experience in scaled operational storage solution production systems.
• Traits:
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work across teams and mentor engineers.
• Strong technical ownership, with a proactive approach to systematic problem-solving and driving architectural improvements across the platform.
• Passion for building high-quality, scalable, and secure infrastructure.
• Eagerness to learn and contribute to building platforms as products.