diff --git a/awx/main/db/__init__.py b/awx/main/db/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/awx/main/db/profiled_pg/__init__.py b/awx/main/db/profiled_pg/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/awx/main/db/profiled_pg/base.py b/awx/main/db/profiled_pg/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2419435d72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/awx/main/db/profiled_pg/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+import os
+import pkg_resources
+import sqlite3
+import sys
+import traceback
+import uuid
+
+from django.core.cache import cache
+from django.core.cache.backends.locmem import LocMemCache
+from django.db.backends.postgresql.base import DatabaseWrapper as BaseDatabaseWrapper
+
+from awx.main.utils import memoize
+
+__loc__ = LocMemCache(str(uuid.uuid4()), {})
+__all__ = ['DatabaseWrapper']
+
+
+class RecordedQueryLog(object):
+
+    def __init__(self, log, db, dest='/var/lib/awx/profile'):
+        self.log = log
+        self.db = db
+        self.dest = dest
+        try:
+            self.threshold = cache.get('awx-profile-sql-threshold')
+        except Exception:
+            # if we can't reach memcached, just assume profiling's off
+            self.threshold = None
+
+    def append(self, query):
+        ret = self.log.append(query)
+        try:
+            self.write(query)
+        except Exception:
+            # not sure what else to do her e- we can't really safely
+            # *use* our loggers because it'll just generate more DB queries
+            # and potentially recurse into this state again
+            _, _, tb = sys.exc_info()
+            traceback.print_tb(tb)
+        return ret
+
+    def write(self, query):
+        if self.threshold is None:
+            return
+        seconds = float(query['time'])
+
+        # if the query is slow enough...
+        if seconds >= self.threshold:
+            sql = query['sql']
+            if sql.startswith('EXPLAIN'):
+                return
+
+            # build a printable Python stack
+            bt = ' '.join(traceback.format_stack())
+
+            # and re-run the same query w/ EXPLAIN
+            explain = ''
+            cursor = self.db.cursor()
+            cursor.execute('EXPLAIN VERBOSE {}'.format(sql))
+            for line in cursor.fetchall():
+                explain += line[0] + '\n'
+
+            # write a row of data into a per-PID sqlite database
+            if not os.path.isdir(self.dest):
+                os.makedirs(self.dest)
+            progname = ' '.join(sys.argv)
+            for match in ('uwsgi', 'dispatcher', 'callback_receiver', 'runworker'):
+                if match in progname:
+                    progname = match
+                    break
+            else:
+                progname = os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])
+            filepath = os.path.join(
+                self.dest,
+                '{}.sqlite'.format(progname)
+            )
+            version = pkg_resources.get_distribution('awx').version
+            log = sqlite3.connect(filepath, timeout=3)
+            log.execute(
+                'CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS queries ('
+                '   id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,'
+                '   version TEXT,'
+                '   pid INTEGER,'
+                '   stamp DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,'
+                '   argv REAL,'
+                '   time REAL,'
+                '   sql TEXT,'
+                '   explain TEXT,'
+                '   bt TEXT'
+                ');'
+            )
+            log.commit()
+            log.execute(
+                'INSERT INTO queries (pid, version, argv, time, sql, explain, bt) '
+                'VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?);',
+                (os.getpid(), version, ' ' .join(sys.argv), seconds, sql, explain, bt)
+            )
+            log.commit()
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return len(self.log)
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return iter(self.log)
+
+    def __getattr__(self, attr):
+        return getattr(self.log, attr)
+
+
+class DatabaseWrapper(BaseDatabaseWrapper):
+    """
+    This is a special subclass of Django's postgres DB backend which - based on
+    the value of a special flag in memcached - captures slow queries and
+    writes profile and Python stack metadata to the disk.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        super(DatabaseWrapper, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        # Django's default base wrapper implementation has `queries_log`
+        # which is a `collections.deque` that every query is appended to
+        #
+        # this line wraps the deque with a proxy that can capture each query
+        # and - if it's slow enough - record profiling metadata to the file
+        # system for debugging purposes
+        self.queries_log = RecordedQueryLog(self.queries_log, self)
+
+    @property
+    @memoize(ttl=1, cache=__loc__)
+    def force_debug_cursor(self):
+        # in Django's base DB implementation, `self.force_debug_cursor` is just
+        # a simple boolean, and this value is used to signal to Django that it
+        # should record queries into `self.queries_log` as they're executed (this
+        # is the same mechanism used by libraries like the django-debug-toolbar)
+        #
+        # in _this_ implementation, we represent it as a property which will
+        # check memcache for a special flag to be set (when the flag is set, it
+        # means we should start recording queries because somebody called
+        # `awx-manage profile_sql`)
+        #
+        # it's worth noting that this property is wrapped w/ @memoize because
+        # Django references this attribute _constantly_ (in particular, once
+        # per executed query); doing a memcached.get()  _at most_ once per
+        # second is a good enough window to detect when profiling is turned
+        # on/off by a system administrator
+        try:
+            threshold = cache.get('awx-profile-sql-threshold')
+        except Exception:
+            # if we can't reach memcached, just assume profiling's off
+            threshold = None
+        self.queries_log.threshold = threshold
+        return threshold is not None
+
+    @force_debug_cursor.setter
+    def force_debug_cursor(self, v):
+        return
diff --git a/awx/main/management/commands/profile_sql.py b/awx/main/management/commands/profile_sql.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cfd79ad815
--- /dev/null
+++ b/awx/main/management/commands/profile_sql.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+
+from awx.main.tasks import profile_sql
+
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    """
+    Enable or disable SQL Profiling across all Python processes.
+    SQL profile data will be recorded at /var/lib/awx/profile/
+    """
+
+    def add_arguments(self, parser):
+        parser.add_argument('--threshold', dest='threshold', type=float, default=2.0,
+                            help='The minimum query duration in seconds (default=2).  Use 0 to disable.')
+        parser.add_argument('--minutes', dest='minutes', type=float, default=5,
+                            help='How long to record for in minutes (default=5)')
+
+    def handle(self, **options):
+        profile_sql.delay(
+            threshold=options['threshold'], minutes=options['minutes']
+        )
diff --git a/awx/main/middleware.py b/awx/main/middleware.py
index 528d892eb4..329a619144 100644
--- a/awx/main/middleware.py
+++ b/awx/main/middleware.py
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class TimingMiddleware(threading.local):
     def save_profile_file(self, request):
         if not os.path.isdir(self.dest):
             os.makedirs(self.dest)
-        filename = '%.3fs-%s' % (pstats.Stats(self.prof).total_tt, uuid.uuid4())
+        filename = '%.3fs-%s.pstats' % (pstats.Stats(self.prof).total_tt, uuid.uuid4())
         filepath = os.path.join(self.dest, filename)
         with open(filepath, 'w') as f:
             f.write('%s %s\n' % (request.method, request.get_full_path()))
diff --git a/awx/main/tasks.py b/awx/main/tasks.py
index f6b414aca8..8aa80e308c 100644
--- a/awx/main/tasks.py
+++ b/awx/main/tasks.py
@@ -277,6 +277,20 @@ def delete_project_files(project_path):
             logger.exception('Could not remove lock file {}'.format(lock_file))
 
 
+@task(queue='tower_broadcast_all', exchange_type='fanout')
+def profile_sql(threshold=1, minutes=1):
+    if threshold == 0:
+        cache.delete('awx-profile-sql-threshold')
+        logger.error('SQL PROFILING DISABLED')
+    else:
+        cache.set(
+            'awx-profile-sql-threshold',
+            threshold,
+            timeout=minutes * 60
+        )
+        logger.error('SQL QUERIES >={}s ENABLED FOR {} MINUTE(S)'.format(threshold, minutes))
+
+
 @task()
 def send_notifications(notification_list, job_id=None):
     if not isinstance(notification_list, list):
diff --git a/awx/main/tests/unit/test_db.py b/awx/main/tests/unit/test_db.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d7ffe58456
--- /dev/null
+++ b/awx/main/tests/unit/test_db.py
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+import collections
+import os
+import sqlite3
+import sys
+import unittest
+
+import pytest
+
+import awx
+from awx.main.db.profiled_pg.base import RecordedQueryLog
+
+
+QUERY = {
+    'sql': 'SELECT * FROM main_job',
+    'time': '.01'
+}
+EXPLAIN = 'Seq Scan on public.main_job  (cost=0.00..1.18 rows=18 width=86)'
+
+
+class FakeDatabase():
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self._cursor = unittest.mock.Mock(spec_sec=['execute', 'fetchall'])
+        self._cursor.fetchall.return_value = [(EXPLAIN,)]
+
+    def cursor(self):
+        return self._cursor
+
+    @property
+    def execute_calls(self):
+        return self._cursor.execute.call_args_list
+
+
+# all of these should still be valid operations we should proxy through
+# to the underlying deque object
+def test_deque_appendleft():
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(), FakeDatabase)
+    log.appendleft(QUERY)
+    assert len(log) == 1
+
+
+def test_deque_count():
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(), FakeDatabase)
+    log.append(QUERY)
+    assert log.count('x') == 0
+    assert log.count(QUERY) == 1
+
+
+def test_deque_clear():
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(), FakeDatabase)
+    log.append(QUERY)
+    log.clear()
+    assert len(log) == 0
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('method', ['extend', 'extendleft'])
+def test_deque_extend(method):
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(), FakeDatabase)
+    getattr(log, method)([QUERY])
+    assert len(log) == 1
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('method', ['pop', 'popleft'])
+def test_deque_pop(method):
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(), FakeDatabase)
+    log.append(QUERY)
+    getattr(log, method)()
+    assert len(log) == 0
+
+
+def test_deque_remove():
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(), FakeDatabase)
+    log.append(QUERY)
+    log.remove(QUERY)
+    assert len(log) == 0
+
+
+def test_deque_reverse():
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(), FakeDatabase)
+    log.append(QUERY)
+    log.reverse()
+    assert len(log) == 1
+
+
+def test_sql_not_recorded_by_default():
+    db = FakeDatabase()
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(maxlen=100), db)
+    assert log.maxlen == 100
+    assert log.threshold is None
+    log.append(QUERY)
+    assert len(log) == 1
+    assert [x for x in log] == [QUERY]
+    assert db.execute_calls == []
+
+
+def test_sql_below_threshold():
+    db = FakeDatabase()
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(maxlen=100), db)
+    log.threshold = 1
+    log.append(QUERY)
+    assert len(log) == 1
+    assert [x for x in log] == [QUERY]
+    assert db.execute_calls == []
+
+
+def test_sqlite_failure(tmpdir):
+    tmpdir = str(tmpdir)
+    db = FakeDatabase()
+    db._cursor.execute.side_effect = OSError
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(maxlen=100), db, dest=tmpdir)
+    log.threshold = 0.00000001
+    log.append(QUERY)
+    assert len(log) == 1
+    assert os.listdir(tmpdir) == []
+
+
+def test_sql_above_threshold(tmpdir):
+    tmpdir = str(tmpdir)
+    db = FakeDatabase()
+    log = RecordedQueryLog(collections.deque(maxlen=100), db, dest=tmpdir)
+    log.threshold = 0.00000001
+
+    for _ in range(5):
+        log.append(QUERY)
+
+    assert len(log) == 5
+    assert len(db.execute_calls) == 5
+    for _call in db.execute_calls:
+        args, kw = _call
+        assert args == ('EXPLAIN VERBOSE {}'.format(QUERY['sql']),)
+
+    path = os.path.join(
+        tmpdir,
+        '{}.sqlite'.format(os.path.basename(sys.argv[0]))
+    )
+    assert os.path.exists(path)
+
+    # verify the results
+    def dict_factory(cursor, row):
+        d = {}
+        for idx,col in enumerate(cursor.description):
+            d[col[0]] = row[idx]
+        return d
+    cursor = sqlite3.connect(path)
+    cursor.row_factory = dict_factory
+    queries_logged = cursor.execute('SELECT * FROM queries').fetchall()
+    assert len(queries_logged) == 5
+    for q in queries_logged:
+        assert q['pid'] == os.getpid()
+        assert q['version'] == awx.__version__
+        assert q['time'] == 0.01
+        assert q['sql'] == QUERY['sql']
+        assert EXPLAIN in q['explain']
+        assert 'test_sql_above_threshold' in q['bt']
diff --git a/awx/main/utils/common.py b/awx/main/utils/common.py
index 4e2fb23638..1ad9366f24 100644
--- a/awx/main/utils/common.py
+++ b/awx/main/utils/common.py
@@ -128,13 +128,13 @@ def get_memoize_cache():
     return cache
 
 
-def memoize(ttl=60, cache_key=None, track_function=False):
+def memoize(ttl=60, cache_key=None, track_function=False, cache=None):
     '''
     Decorator to wrap a function and cache its result.
     '''
     if cache_key and track_function:
         raise IllegalArgumentError("Can not specify cache_key when track_function is True")
-    cache = get_memoize_cache()
+    cache = cache or get_memoize_cache()
 
     def memoize_decorator(f):
         @wraps(f)
diff --git a/awx/settings/local_settings.py.docker_compose b/awx/settings/local_settings.py.docker_compose
index bea9e4611f..52121b1e78 100644
--- a/awx/settings/local_settings.py.docker_compose
+++ b/awx/settings/local_settings.py.docker_compose
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ MANAGERS = ADMINS
 # Database settings to use PostgreSQL for development.
 DATABASES = {
     'default': {
-        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
+        'ENGINE': 'awx.main.db.profiled_pg',
         'NAME': 'awx-dev',
         'USER': 'awx-dev',
         'PASSWORD': 'AWXsome1',
diff --git a/installer/roles/image_build/files/settings.py b/installer/roles/image_build/files/settings.py
index 298792db63..527c884496 100644
--- a/installer/roles/image_build/files/settings.py
+++ b/installer/roles/image_build/files/settings.py
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ LOGGING['handlers']['management_playbooks'] = {'class': 'logging.NullHandler'}
 DATABASES = {
     'default': {
         'ATOMIC_REQUESTS': True,
-        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
+        'ENGINE': 'awx.main.db.profiled_pg',
         'NAME': os.getenv("DATABASE_NAME", None),
         'USER': os.getenv("DATABASE_USER", None),
         'PASSWORD': os.getenv("DATABASE_PASSWORD", None),
diff --git a/installer/roles/kubernetes/templates/credentials.py.j2 b/installer/roles/kubernetes/templates/credentials.py.j2
index abb73c06ec..22678db7a3 100644
--- a/installer/roles/kubernetes/templates/credentials.py.j2
+++ b/installer/roles/kubernetes/templates/credentials.py.j2
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 DATABASES = {
     'default': {
         'ATOMIC_REQUESTS': True,
-        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
+        'ENGINE': 'awx.main.db.profiled_pg',
         'NAME': "{{ pg_database }}",
         'USER': "{{ pg_username }}",
         'PASSWORD': "{{ pg_password }}",
diff --git a/tools/clusterdevel/roles/minishift/templates/configmap.yml.j2 b/tools/clusterdevel/roles/minishift/templates/configmap.yml.j2
index 9d0627ae9f..7c08fc99cc 100644
--- a/tools/clusterdevel/roles/minishift/templates/configmap.yml.j2
+++ b/tools/clusterdevel/roles/minishift/templates/configmap.yml.j2
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ data:
     DATABASES = {
         'default': {
             'ATOMIC_REQUESTS': True,
-            'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
+            'ENGINE': 'awx.main.db.profiled_pg',
             'NAME': "awx",
             'USER': "awx",
             'PASSWORD': "awx",