User cannot create schema in PostgresSQL database I'm trying to setup a "deployment" user which can create and alter tables on an existing database in addition to selecting, updating, inserting and deleting records.

Here is what I've tried so far:

-- Create deployment user
CREATE ROLE deploy_user WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'deploy_user';

-- Grant connect and create
GRANT CONNECT, CREATE ON DATABASE my_database TO deploy_user;

-- Grant create schema privilege
ALTER ROLE deploy_user CREATEDB;

-- Change db owner to deployment user
ALTER DATABASE my_database OWNER TO deploy_user;

-- Grant CRUD operations
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON TABLES TO deploy_user;


None of the above grants work. What I end up with is a user which can login but that's it. I cannot select, insert, update, delete on any tables. I cannot make changes to the schema either. 

Can anybody help out?
You need to provide at least CREATE permission in schema:

GRANT CREATE ON SCHEMA public TO deploy_user;


or ALL:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON SCHEMA public TO deploy_user;


See manual at http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/sql-grant.html