Senior Data Platform Administrator

AutoNation

7d

About The Position

The Senior Data Platform Administrator is a senior individual contributor responsible for reliability and operational standards across AutoNation’s database platform, including on-premises SQL Server, Azure SQL, AWS Aurora MySQL/PostgreSQL, RDS, DynamoDB, Snowflake’s operational layer, and Delphix. The role leads complex migration and modernization projects, establishes team best practices, mentors administrators, and serves as a primary technical decision-maker for platform architecture. It partners with Senior Data Solutions Engineers, the Data Solutions Architect, application engineering leadership, and DevOps.

The position also drives database automation, replication architecture, observability, performance and cost governance, and security and compliance controls. It leads modernization of legacy Microsoft BI workloads in partnership with the Data Solutions Engineering track and contributes to cross-functional initiatives and long-term platform strategy.

Requirements

• At least 6 years of database administration experience across multiple platforms, including significant experience as a senior individual contributor.
• Expert-level SQL Server engineering experience, including FCI, Always-On Availability Groups, Extended Events, Query Store, advanced performance tuning, In-Memory OLTP, and Resource Governor.
• Strong multi-engine experience with SQL Server and at least two cloud-native databases in production from Aurora MySQL/PostgreSQL, Azure SQL, or DynamoDB.
• A demonstrated track record leading production-scale database migration or modernization initiatives; 10TB+ is preferred.
• Deep performance-tuning skills across OLTP and operational analytics workloads, including execution-plan internals, storage-engine behavior, and concurrency control.
• Operational expertise with Snowflake, including warehouse architecture, RBAC design, and cost governance.
• Hands-on Delphix experience at architectural depth.
• Operational expertise with the legacy Microsoft BI stack: SSIS, SSRS, SSAS (Tabular and Multidimensional), and SSMDS.
• Production experience with replication and CDC using HVR, AWS DMS, Meltano, or SQL Server native replication.
• Strong scripting and automation skills in PowerShell and Python.
• Working knowledge of Terraform, CloudFormation, or equivalent infrastructure-as-code tools for database resource provisioning.
• Demonstrated mentorship and team-level standards-setting.
• Working knowledge of relevant compliance frameworks such as SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, or equivalent.
• Demonstrated ability to influence architecture direction and cross-team engineering strategy.
• Authorization to work in the United States without current or future visa sponsorship from the company.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with multi-region or multi-cloud disaster-recovery architectures for tier-1 workloads.
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes-hosted database workloads or operators.
• Public technical community presence through blog posts, conference talks, or open-source contributions.
• Experience in regulated industries such as financial services or healthcare.
• Familiarity with data lakehouse formats such as Delta Lake and Iceberg and their database adjacency.
• Experience with database observability platforms beyond the listed stack, such as Prometheus, Grafana, or OpenTelemetry.
• Production-scale migration or modernization experience involving 10TB+ workloads.

Responsibilities

• Own reliability standards across the database portfolio, including SQL Server, Azure SQL, Aurora MySQL/PostgreSQL, RDS, DynamoDB, and Snowflake’s operational layer.
• Define and maintain SLI/SLO standards, capacity-planning practices, and cost-governance models for cloud database services.
• Lead database migration and modernization projects end-to-end, including on-premises-to-cloud transitions, version upgrades, engine consolidations, and platform retirements.
• Design multi-region high-availability architectures and cross-cloud disaster-recovery strategies for tier-1 workloads.
• Drive cloud database cost optimization through right-sizing analysis, reserved-capacity strategy, workload management, and query consolidation.
• Set standards for performance tuning, troubleshooting methodology, and incident response across the platform team.
• Automate routine database operations using PowerShell, Python, and schema migration tooling such as Flyway, Liquibase, and DBMaestro.
• Own operational architecture for replication topologies, including HVR, AWS DMS, Meltano, and SQL Server native replication.
• Own Delphix administration at the platform level, including engine sizing, dSource strategy, masking design, capacity planning, and API automation.
• Lead modernization of legacy Microsoft BI workloads (SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, and SSMDS) with the Data Solutions Engineering track.
• Operate Snowflake at architectural depth, including warehouse strategy, RBAC design, cost governance, resource monitors, and data sharing.
• Define database observability standards using AppDynamics, DataDog, DBADash, and custom monitoring.
• Own database security posture, including encryption strategy, access governance, audit logging, and vulnerability management.
• Lead implementation of compliance controls for relevant frameworks, including SOC 2, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS.
• Partner with security teams on database hardening, secrets management, and incident response.
• Mentor administrators, and own onboarding curriculum and skills-development plans for the Platform Admin track.
• Drive incident postmortems and implement structural improvements to prevent recurrence.
• Partner with the Data Solutions Engineering track, application engineering, and DevOps on cross-functional initiatives.
• Evaluate emerging database and platform technologies and produce formal recommendations and proof-of-concept implementations.
• Deliver reliability and modernization outcomes that improve SLAs, costs, and migration milestones.
• Coach and develop administrators, set high standards for security and reliability, and contribute data-driven recommendations to multi-year platform strategy.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation.
• 401k matching.
• Health insurance plans.
• Dental insurance plans.
• Vision insurance plans.
• Maternity benefits.
• Associate purchase and discount programs for new and pre-owned vehicles, services, parts, collision, accessories, and AutoGear.
• Deals and discounts through YouDecide, a website offering deals from providers and retailers.
• Opportunity to participate in the DRVPNK mission to raise and donate funds for cancer research and treatment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed