Senior Database Administrator

Database Administrator Data Systems Practice | Engineering Reports to Data Systems Practice Lead Role Overview The Database Administrator (DBA) is a core member of the Data Systems Practice, responsible for the health, reliability, and standards of database platforms across the organization. DBAs serve as both operational stewards and engineering enablers — owning database infrastructure while partnering closely with delivery teams to stand up, migrate, and maintain database environments. This role sits at the intersection of platform operations, database engineering, and delivery support. While not embedded in individual sprint teams, DBAs are active partners in the software delivery lifecycle, providing the database foundation upon which product teams build. Core Responsibilities Database Operations & Platform Health Monitor performance, manage backups/DR, triage incidents, perform routine maintenance, and maintain patching cadences using Observe and Redgate Monitor. Database Engineering & Delivery Enablement Provision instances via Terraform and Octopus; define IaC standards; review schemas and query designs; support schema migrations and release coordination. Database Engineering & Migration Plan and execute version upgrades, cloud migrations, and cross-platform moves; design cutover plans; translate platform-specific SQL (T-SQL, PL/SQL) to target dialects. Standards, Governance & Security Establish naming, schema, indexing, and security standards; define RTO/RPO and encryption policies; participate in compliance reviews across managed environments. Subject Matter Expertise Advise delivery teams on query optimization and data modeling; produce internal documentation and architecture references; conduct knowledge-sharing sessions. Technical Skills Required Preferred Database Platforms: Deep hands-on experience with SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Oracle Query Languages: Proficiency in T-SQL and ANSI SQL (optimization, stored procedures, execution plans); working knowledge of PL/SQL Automation & IaC: PowerShell scripting and Terraform for database infrastructure provisioning Tooling: VS Code, GitLab (CI/CD pipelines), and Octopus Deploy Monitoring: Observe and Redgate Monitor for performance monitoring and alerting Data Security: Access control, encryption, auditing, and least-privilege design Migrations: Version upgrades, server moves, cloud migrations, and cross-platform migrations Networking (Pref.): DNS, firewalls, VPCs, private endpoints, and connection pooling Qualifications 7+ years of hands-on DBA experience across one or more of: SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, or Oracle Demonstrated experience with database infrastructure automation (Terraform, PowerShell) and CI/CD integration (GitLab, Octopus) Experience planning and executing database migrations, upgrades, or cloud lift-and-shift projects Solid grasp of database security fundamentals: access control, encryption at rest/in transit, auditing, and least-privilege principles Strong communication skills with ability to translate technical concepts for cross-functional delivery teams Preferred: Experience with AWS managed database services (RDS, Aurora) or Azure equivalents (Azure SQL, Flexible Server) What Success Looks Like Fast Delivery Database environments provisioned quickly and consistently; teams unblocked with self-service IaC templates. Platform Reliability Database availability and performance SLOs met; proactive issue identification before teams feel impact. Confident Migrations Engineering efforts complete on time with documented plans, validated data integrity, and captured lessons learned. Adopted Standards Standards documentation is clear, current, and referenced by engineers; governance guides rather than slows delivery. Security Posture Regular access reviews, consistent encryption/auditing standards, and security findings remediated within SLAs. Show more