Lead Database Reliability Engineer - MS SQL

When you join Met Life’s Global Technology team, you’ll be part of a forward-thinking group dedicated to shaping the future of digital solutions for customers worldwide. You’ll develop, maintain and support technology applications and delivery, leveraging AI, automation, and contemporary ways of working to enhance experiences and drive business outcomes. Your work will simplify complex processes, improve tech resiliency, and ensure high-performing, seamless solutions that power life’s most important moments.

In this dynamic environment, you’ll collaborate with talented peers across teams and functions, expanding your skills in impactful ways. Ready to push boundaries and set new industry standards? Join us and help drive the future of technology forward.

As a Lead Database Reliability Engineer, you will serve as a Lead Platform engineer and technical authority for the SQL Server estate. This role is accountable for platform‑level reliability, automation, and architectural outcomes, rather than individual operational tasks. You will play a critical role in stabilizing the platform while accelerating modernization efforts through automation, observability, and AIOps engineering practices. This position is designed for a hands‑on technical leader who can reduce operational risk, eliminate toil, and raise the overall technical maturity of the team.

• Lead enterprise SQL Server platform engineering, driving automation-first operations and modernization across the database lifecycle.
• Create standardized automation frameworks, CI/CD pipelines, and self-service capabilities to enable scalable and compliant database operations.
• Oversee platform reliability, including observability, HA/DR, backup, recovery, and AIOps-driven incident prevention and resolution.
• Manage database operations governance, ensuring security, compliance, and effective handling of high-severity incidents and root cause analysis.
• Develop team capability through technical leadership, mentorship, and collaboration with application, infrastructure, and security partners.

• 8 –10+ years of SQL Server DBA experience (performance tuning, HA/DR, backup & recovery); bachelor’s degree required.
• Strong automation/scripting experience (Power Shell, Ansible, T‑SQL).
• Experience with AI‑assisted engineering tools, AIOps, and intelligent automation.
• Exposure to CI/CD for database deployments (e.g., Azure Dev Ops or similar).
• Solid understanding of security, compliance, and audit controls.

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code.
• Familiarity with observability and monitoring platforms.
• Exposure to modern developer tools (e.g., VS Code).

Location Expectation:
This is a hybrid role requiring a minimum of 3 days per week in office.

The expected salary range for this position is $110,000 - $145,000. This role may also be eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation and stock-based long-term incentives. All incentives and benefits are subject to the applicable plan terms.

Our U.S. benefits address holistic well‑being with programs for physical and mental health, financial wellness, and support for families. We offer a comprehensive health plan that includes medical/prescription drug and vision, dental insurance, and no‑cost short- and long‑term disability. We also provide company-paid life insurance and legal services, a retirement pension funded entirely by Met Life and 401(k) with employer matching, group discounts on voluntary insurance products including auto and home, pet, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident insurance, as well as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and digital mental health programs, parental leave, paid time off, paid holidays, volunteer time off, tuition assistance and much more!

Recognized on Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies", Fortune World’s 25 Best Workplaces™, as well as the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®, Met Life, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world’s leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and…