Senior Database Engineer

We are looking for an experienced L3+ Senior Database Engineer to own the architecture, reliability, and performance of our multi-engine database estate. The ideal candidate will lead complex troubleshooting and root cause analysis, drive database architecture and platform design decisions, and act as the final escalation point for MSSQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL environments, working closely with L2 engineers, Application teams, and Infrastructure/Security Architects to ensure highly available, secure, and performant database systems at scale.

Key Responsibilities Database Architecture & Platform Ownership

• Own end-to-end database architecture and platform design across MSSQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL, including topology, HA/DR strategy, and multi-region/multi-site standardization.
• Define and govern database standards, best practices, and reference architectures for provisioning, security, backup, and performance across all supported engines.
• Lead capacity planning and long-term scalability strategy, sizing, storage growth projections, and consolidation/rationalization of the database estate.
• Evaluate and recommend new database technologies, versions, and managed cloud database services (Azure SQL/Managed Instance, RDS/Aurora, Cloud SQL) as part of platform modernization.
• Own the design and continuous improvement of backup, replication, and disaster recovery architecture, including RPO/RTO alignment with business requirements.
• Act as the final technical escalation (L3) for complex, cross-engine, or cross-team database incidents and problem management.

Advanced Troubleshooting & Performance Engineering

• Lead root cause analysis for high severity/critical incidents involving performance degradation, data corruption, replication failure, or extended outages across MSSQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.
• Perform advanced query and execution plan tuning, index strategy design, and workload optimization for high-transaction and analytical systems.
• Diagnose and resolve deep-level engine issues, internal locking/latching contention, corruption recovery, undocumented parameter tuning, and kernel/engine-level diagnostics.
• Lead complex HA/DR failover and failback exercises, including Always On, Data Guard/RAC, Streaming Replication/Patroni, and Group Replication architectures.
• Drive proactive problem management, identifying systemic risks, recurring incident patterns, and single points of failure across the estate database.
• Review and validate RCA documentation and permanent fixes proposed by L2 engineers before closure.

Security, Compliance & Risk

• Own database security architecture, encryption strategy (TDE, column/field-level), access governance, and privileged access management integration (Vault, CyberArk).
• Lead audit and regulatory compliance initiatives, data residency, retention, vulnerability remediation, and CIS/industry benchmark adherence across all engines.
• Define and enforce database hardening standards and periodic security review/certification processes.
• Partner with Security teams on threat modeling, penetration test remediation, and incident response for database-related security events.

Platform Engineering, Automation & Leadership

• Design and drive automation strategy for provisioning, patching, backup validation, and health monitoring using scripting (T-SQL, PL/SQL, PL/pgSQL, Python/Bash) and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible).
• Define observability strategy and own advanced monitoring/alerting frameworks (OEM, SQL Monitor, pganalyze, Percona Monitoring, Grafana) for predictive issue detection.
• Mentor and technically guide L1/L2 engineers, conduct knowledge-sharing sessions, and build team capability across all four database engines.
• Lead vendor and licensing management discussions, including upgrade roadmaps, EOL/EOS planning, and support escalations with database vendors.
• Own and continuously improve runbooks, SOPs, architecture documentation, and DR playbooks for the database platform.
• Participate in and lead on-call escalation rotation, major incident bridges, and post-incident reviews.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, IT, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 6 to 9 years of hands-on experience in database engineering/administration with strong depth across MSSQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.
• Proven experience owning database architecture, HA/DR design, and capacity planning for large-scale, mission-critical environments.
• Expert-level troubleshooting skills across query performance, replication/HA, storage, security, and connectivity for all supported engines.
• Strong track record of leading root cause analysis and driving permanent resolution for high-severity incidents.
• Demonstrated experience of mentoring engineers and acting as a technical escalation point within a 24x7 support environment.

Preferred / Good to Have

• Advanced certifications such as Oracle Certified Master (OCM), Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate/Expert-level, or equivalent PostgreSQL/MySQL expert certifications.
• Experience leading database migration, consolidation, or modernization programs across heterogeneous engines.
• Strong exposure to cloud-managed database platforms (Azure SQL, AWS RDS/Aurora, GCP Cloud SQL), and hybrid cloud database strategy.
• Experience with database performance engineering at scale, including workload benchmarking and capacity modeling.
• Familiarity with containerized/Kubernetes-hosted databases and database DevOps/GitOps practices.
• Experience presenting architecture and risk recommendations to senior stakeholders/leadership.