diff --git a/steward/models/alerts.py b/steward/models/alerts.py
index c69b3cf..3e86b8e 100644
--- a/steward/models/alerts.py
+++ b/steward/models/alerts.py
@@ -32,7 +32,13 @@ class AlertRule(Base):
     source_module: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(64), nullable=False)
     resource_name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(255), nullable=False)
     metric_name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(128), nullable=False)
-    operator: Mapped[AlertOperator] = mapped_column(Enum(AlertOperator), nullable=False)
+    # The DB enum (migration 0002) stores the operator VALUES (">", "<", …), so
+    # persist values rather than SQLAlchemy's default enum-member NAMES ("gt"…).
+    operator: Mapped[AlertOperator] = mapped_column(
+        Enum(AlertOperator, name="alertoperator",
+             values_callable=lambda e: [m.value for m in e]),
+        nullable=False,
+    )
     threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(Float, nullable=False)
     consecutive_failures_required: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=1)
     enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=True)