Senior Database Administrator

apexanalytix • Greensboro, NC

22d • Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a motivated and detail‑oriented mid to senior‑level Database Administrator (DBA) with proven hands‑on experience in PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL). You will lead engineering efforts across both platforms—owning design, implementation, operations, and continuous improvement for mission‑critical databases. The role requires strong expertise in performance engineering, high availability, backup & recovery (including PostgreSQL WAL/PITR), and security hardening, while mentoring junior team members and driving standards in a collaborative, production environment. This role requires onsite work at our Greensboro, N.C. office.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 8–12 years of progressive experience administering PostgreSQL (mandatory) and MSSQL in production.
• Demonstrated ownership of HA/DR, performance tuning, and backup/recovery for large, mission‑critical systems.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to document processes, lead technical discussions, and drive consensus.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Babelfish for PostgreSQL for SQL Server migration use‑cases.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes operators (e.g., Crunchy Data PGO) and cloud object storage for backups.
• Scripting/automation using Bash, PowerShell, or Python; CI/CD/GitOps practices.
• Microsoft (e.g., Azure/SQL) or equivalent (optional but preferred).
• PostgreSQL‑focused certifications (e.g., EDB, Cloud‑vendor specialty) are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor the installation, configuration, and lifecycle management of PostgreSQL clusters (primary/replica, connection pooling) and MSSQL instances.
• Own database architecture decisions (storage layout, parameter baselines, instance sizing) across environments (dev/QA/prod).
• Design and deploy schema objects (tables, views, functions/procedures), enforcing standards and code review gates.
• Define and enforce configuration baselines (e.g., PostgreSQL shared_buffers, work_mem, max_connections; MSSQL memory caps, TempDB layout).
• Design, implement, and operate PostgreSQL HA (streaming replication, synchronous/asynchronous, failover orchestration, read scaling).
• Implement PITR with WAL management and retention policies; validate restores and disaster scenarios regularly.
• Own MSSQL HA/DR (Failover Cluster Instances, Log Shipping, Always On Availability Groups) including DR runbooks and RTO/RPO targets.
• Continuously test backups and end‑to‑end recovery (table‑level, point‑in‑time, and full site failover).
• Establish SLIs/SLOs and proactive alerting for pg_stat_activity, replication lags, bloat, connection saturation, deadlocks, and long-running queries.
• Configure and tune monitoring for MSSQL wait stats, TempDB health, I/O latency, index fragmentation, and blocking chains.
• Derive actionable insights and lead incident response using metrics, logs, and query plans.
• Forecast storage, compute, and connection capacity based on growth patterns and workload characteristics.
• Perform index and data growth analysis, and recommend cost‑efficient scaling approaches (vertical/horizontal, connection pooling).
• Own backup strategy and automation for PostgreSQL (e.g., pgBackRest) including full/incremental, WAL archiving, and verified restores.
• Define and manage MSSQL backup/restore strategies (full/diff/log), and validate restores via automated drills.
• Document recovery playbooks and ensure compliance with RPO/RTO objectives.
• Lead advanced tuning for PostgreSQL using EXPLAIN/ANALYZE, plan caching, statistics maintenance, vacuum/autovacuum tuning, and bloat management.
• Optimize MSSQL workloads via index strategy, parameter sniffing mitigation, memory/parallelism settings, and plan forcing when appropriate.
• Define performance baselines; guide developers on query design and access patterns.
• Implement least‑privilege access, role‑based security, password policies/secrets management, and auditing for PostgreSQL and MSSQL.
• Support audit/compliance requirements and periodic access reviews.
• Plan and execute minor/major upgrades (PostgreSQL versioning and in‑place vs. logical migrations; MSSQL CU/SP strategy) with minimal downtime.
• Evaluate new features/extensions (e.g., Babelfish for SQL migration paths) and drive adoption where relevant.
• Lead troubleshooting and root‑cause analysis for performance, availability, and data integrity incidents.
• Create post‑incident reviews, implement preventative measures, and mentor the team on operational excellence.
• Automate operations with SQL, Bash/PowerShell, and, where applicable, Python/Ansible/Kubernetes jobs.
• Champion IaC/GitOps practices for database config and backup/restore orchestration.
• Partner with application, platform, and SRE teams to align database architectures with product goals.
• Provide technical leadership and code reviews for schema changes, migration scripts, and data movement.

Benefits

• At apexanalytix we know that our associates are the reason behind our successes. We truly value you as an associate and part of our professional family. Our goal is to offer the very best benefits possible to you and your loved ones. When it comes to benefits, whether for yourself or your family the most important aspect is choice. And we get that. apexanalytix offers competitive benefits for the countries that we serve, in addition to our BeWell@apex initiative that encourages employees’ growth in six key wellness areas: Emotional, Physical, Community, Financial, Social, and Intelligence.
• With resources such as a strong Mentor Program, Internal Training Portal, plus Education, Tuition, and Certification Assistance, we provide tools for our associates to grow and develop.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees