Senior Database Administrator

Job Details

Job Location:

Headquarters - Birmingham, AL 35209

Position Type:
Full Time

A dedicated senior Database Administrator who serves as the organization’s database expert, owning the health, performance, security, and recoverability of our on-premises Microsoft SQL Server and AWS RDS Aurora Serverless v2 (PostgreSQL) platforms, along with our AWS data lake and analytics stack (S3, Glue, Athena, and Quick Sight). Working alongside others on the data team who handle routine maintenance and first-line troubleshooting, own the deep work - upgrades, high-availability, recovery, security, and performance - build the runbooks, monitoring, and automation that keep the database estate safe, and mentor the team to take on more over time.

• Own installation, configuration, patching, and upgrade planning for all on-premises SQL Server instances
• Administer SQL Server high availability and disaster recovery (Always On Availability Groups / Failover Cluster Instances), including failover testing and DR runbooks
• Own AWS RDS Aurora Serverless v2 (PostgreSQL) cluster configuration - ACU min/max capacity, parameter groups, reader instances, and failover priorities
• Design, implement, and routinely test backup and recovery on both platforms against documented RTO/RPO targets, including point-in-time recovery drills
• Tune performance on both platforms - wait statistics, execution plans, Query Store, index and statistics strategy, and _statements analysis
• Manage PostgreSQL internals - autovacuum tuning, bloat remediation, and transaction  prevention
• Monitor databases and manage alerting via Extended Events, DMVs, Performance Insights, Enhanced Monitoring, and Cloud Watch
• Own the connection management strategy (RDS Proxy or equivalent pooling) appropriate to serverless scaling behavior
• Plan and execute engine version upgrades on both platforms, including Blue/Green deployments for Aurora major versions
• Administer database security - least-privilege access, encryption, auditing, IAM authentication, and Secrets Manager rotation
• Administer the S3 data lake - transactional and semi-structured data stored in JSON and Parquet, including storage layout, partitioning strategy, and lifecycle policies
• Manage AWS Glue crawlers and the Glue Data Catalog to keep data lake schemas current and queryable, and tune Athena query performance and cost (partitioning, file formats, work groups)
• Support data analysis and visualization in Amazon Quick Sight - administer datasets sourced from Athena and Postgres, including connectivity, permissions, and refresh performance
• Govern Aurora costs - monitor ACU consumption, right-size capacity settings, and explain cost anomalies to leadership
• Author and maintain runbooks that allow non-experts to safely perform routine database operations
• Automate recurring database work using Power Shell, Bash, or Python
• Support development teams with schema review, query optimization guidance, and data migrations across both platforms
• Own incident response for database outages, including escalations to AWS support as needed, and conduct post-incident reviews
• Perform capacity planning for database storage, memory, and compute
• Gather an expert understanding of the Auto Tec products

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field. Experience may be considered in lieu of the degree
• 5+ years of hands-on production DBA experience, including significant time as a primary or sole DBA
• Deep production experience with SQL Server (2016 or later): HA/DR, backup/recovery, and performance tuning at the wait-statistics and execution-plan level
• Production experience administering PostgreSQL, including vacuum/bloat management and query tuning
• Professional experience in AWS, specifically: RDS/Aurora, S3, Glue, Athena, Cloud Watch, IAM, Secrets Manager
• Demonstrated history of performing (not just configuring) restores and failovers
• Scripting proficiency in at least one of Power Shell, Bash, or Python
• Strong written communication - this role produces documentation others depend on
• Able to be self-motivated and directed
• Detail oriented, analytic mindset with strong technical & problem-solving skills
• Able to work independently and in a team-orientated, collaborative environment
• Able to prioritize, multitask, and handle shifting priorities
• Able to build and maintain relationships
• Adaptable and resilient through a changing environment

• Aurora experience, particularly Aurora Serverless v2
• Experience supporting data lake and analytics workloads - columnar formats (Parquet), partitioning strategies, and query engines such as Athena or Presto/Trino
• Microsoft SQL or AWS certifications
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform preferred)
• Experience migrating workloads between SQL Server and PostgreSQL (AWS DMS, Babelfish)
• Experience operating in a regulated or audited environment
• Knowledge of Agile Methodologies
• Experience estimating AWS pricing and system costs