Database Operations Senior Engineer

 

Description:

We are seeking a highly skilled Database Operations Senior Engineer.

 

Requirements:

Lead the management, deployment, configuration, and optimisation of enterprise database instances (DB technologies used: MS SQL, MySQL, Progress, MongoDB, Oracle, DB2).

Perform advanced database backup, recovery, and disaster recovery procedures; ensure validated DR (BackUp Restore) plans.

Conduct performance tuning: execution plans, indexing strategy, query analysis, wait events, resource bottlenecks.

Stay Up to Date with database high availability solutions (clustering, replication, log shipping, AlwaysOn, Data Guard) although these are rarely used if at all in the moment.

Drive version upgrades, patching, vulnerability remediation, and database platform lifecycle management.

Ensure data integrity, security, and compliance across all database environments.

Oversee encryption (TLS, TDE), secure driver configurations, and secure connectivity.

Lead incident response and deep troubleshooting of database service outages and performance degradations.

Collaborate with application, infrastructure, storage, and cloud teams to ensure seamless data availability.

Maintain documentation of database architectures, operational procedures, and support models.

Conduct regular database capacity, utilisation, and health reviews; propose optimisation initiatives.

Support and remediate findings from audits, compliance checks, and license reviews.

Participate in governance, reporting, service reviews, and operational improvement initiatives.

Provide technical leadership, mentoring, and guidance to L2 Database Analysts. Organize an On-Call rota for this area.

Manage vendor escalations and coordinate with third‑party support.

Lead database migration and consolidation activities (on‑prem → cloud or cross-platform).

Support business continuity planning, DR test (BackUp Restoration) execution, and post-test reporting.

Oversee secure decommissioning of end-of-life database hardware and data sanitisation processes.

 

Skills Required:

Expert-level knowledge of MS SQL, MySQL, Progress, MongoDB, Oracle, DB2 (administration, backup, patching).

Strong performance tuning experience (execution plans, indexing, wait events, AWR/ASH, engine metrics).

Deep understanding of HA/DR architectures (AlwaysOn, Data Guard, log shipping, replication).

Expertise with TLS, certificates, and driver configuration for secure DB endpoints.

Skills in capacity planning, forecasting, and data growth modelling.

Knowledge of backup technologies, snapshot-based recovery, and cross-site failover.

Understanding of data security, encryption, auditing, masking, and privilege management.

Familiarity with cloud-managed database services (Azure/GCP/AWS equivalents if applicable).

Observability/monitoring expertise for DB performance, alerting, and telemetry.

Experience with license compliance and vendor-specific entitlement rules.

Expertise in migration planning, version upgrades, and platform consolidation.

Ability to mentor and develop L2 database analysts; strong technical leadership.

Scripting capabilities (PowerShell, Python, Bash) for automation of routine DB operations.

People management skills for leading the DB admin L2 analysts.