Senior Database Administrator

SourcingXPress; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 1,000,000 - 3,000,000; Full time

Job summary

i2b Technologies is seeking a Senior Database Administrator to own the health, performance, and reliability of the data layer behind a high-scale, multi-tenant platform. The role spans PostgreSQL, NoSQL (Cassandra/ScyllaDB) and MySQL end-to-end, with emphasis on partitioning, performance tuning, backups, and DR.

You will script automation, work with Redis and Kafka, and partner with engineering leadership to ensure audit-ready data governance and secure, scalable data infrastructure.

Qualifications

• 5–9 years in production database administration/engineering.
• Hands-on with PostgreSQL internals, partitioning, replication, performance tuning.
• Experience with distributed NoSQL stores (Cassandra/ScyllaDB) and MySQL incl. migrations.
• Strong automation scripting in Python/Bash; IaC tools like Terraform/Ansible.
• Experience with managed cloud databases (AWS RDS or equivalent).
• Ability to design for multi-tenancy and data isolation.

Responsibilities

• Administer multiple PostgreSQL instances (v16+), migrations and release coordination.
• Design and maintain partitioning strategies and automate lifecycle.
• Tune queries, autovacuum, connections, replication topology.
• Own uptime, backups, DR planning, and runbooks.
• Automate maintenance with Python/Bash and IaC tooling.

Skills

PostgreSQL expertise

Distributed NoSQL experience

Scripting (Python, Bash)

SQL & data modeling

Performance tuning & monitoring

Tools

PgBouncer

Flyway

Terraform

Ansible

Kafka

Debezium

Job description

Job Description:

Company: i2b Technologies

Website: Visit Website

Business Type: Startup

Company Type: Product

Business Model: B2B

Funding Stage: Pre-seed

Industry: Information Technology

Salary Range: ₹ 10-30 Lacs PA

Senior Database Administrator (DBA)

Database Reliability & Performance

Senior Individual Contributor

• Experience: 5–9 years in production database administration / engineering
• Level: Senior Individual Contributor (hands‑on)
• Function: Data Platform — reliability, performance, and governance across relational and distributed SQL & NoSQL DBs.

About The Role

We are hiring a Senior Database Administrator to own the health, performance, and reliability of the data layer behind a high‑scale, multi‑tenant platform. Our environment spans several independent PostgreSQL database instances, a cache‑first read tier, change‑data‑capture pipeline, analytics and archival stores. Should be capable of implementing NoSQL stores (Cassandra / ScyllaDB) & MySQL end to end as we scale.

This is a hands‑on senior IC role for someone who has run demanding production databases and wants full ownership: partitioning and maintenance, performance tuning, monitoring, uptime, disaster recovery, and the security and data‑governance documentation that keeps a regulated, multi‑tenant platform audit‑ready. You will work closely with, and take direction from, engineering leadership — translating priorities into a well‑run, well‑documented data platform.

What You'll Own

PostgreSQL Depth

• Administer multiple production PostgreSQL instances (v16+), including schema/DDL review, migrations, and release coordination.
• Design and maintain table partitioning strategies (range/hash/time‑based) and automate partition lifecycle — creation, retention windows, and safe drops.
• Own query and instance performance tuning: EXPLAIN/ANALYZE, indexing strategy, autovacuum/bloat management, connection pooling (e.g. PgBouncer), and parameter‑group tuning.
• Execute zero‑downtime schema changes using expand–migrate–contract / blue‑green patterns; assess lock impact and avoid long ACCESS EXCLUSIVE locks on hot tables.
• Manage replica topology (writer/reader endpoints), replication lag, and read‑scaling as load grows.
• Partner with app teams on migration tooling (e.g. Flyway) and paired forward/rollback scripts; enforce idempotent, reviewed, tested DDL.

NoSQL & Scale

• Data‑model, deploy, and operate distributed NoSQL clusters — Cassandra and/or ScyllaDB — including partition/clustering key design, compaction strategy, repair, and node operations (bootstrap, decommission, scale‑out).
• Lead the planned migration of high-volume payload tables from partitioned PostgreSQL to Cassandra/ScyllaDB: capacity planning, dual‑write/backfill design, cutover, and validation.
• Tune distributed‑store read/write paths, consistency levels, and cluster sizing for predictable latency at scale.
• Support the cache‑first architecture (Redis) and change‑data‑capture / streaming pipelines (e.g. Kafka) that move data to analytics and cold‑archival stores.

Operations, Reliability & DR

• Own database uptime and SLOs; build and maintain monitoring, alerting, and dashboards for the key signals (latency, replication lag, CPU/IO, connections, vacuum lag, error rates).
• Define and regularly test backup and disaster‑recovery strategy — RPO/RTO targets, point‑in‑time recovery, restore drills, and cross‑AZ / future multi‑region readiness.
• Drive incident response for database‑related issues: triage, mitigation, root‑cause analysis, and follow‑up actions.
• Write and maintain runbooks (partition maintenance, failover, archival, DR, migration procedures) and participate in an on‑call rotation for the data layer.
• Establish production‑change discipline: pre‑flight and post‑deploy verification, rollback criteria, and backup verification before destructive operations.

Security, Governance & Documentation

• Implement and maintain database access control — least‑privilege roles, schema‑scoped permissions, and row‑level security (RLS) for multi‑tenant isolation.
• Own data‑governance documentation: PII maps, per‑table retention policies, audit‑readiness, and the controls behind privacy‑regulation compliance (e.g. GDPR / DPDP‑style erasure and legal‑hold workflows).
• Author and maintain architecture decision records (ADRs), schema documentation, and monitoring/runbook docs so the data platform is legible to the wider team.
• Uphold encryption‑at‑rest/in‑transit posture and safe handling of sensitive columns; keep the data layer aligned with the platform's compliance requirements.

Coding & Automation Bar (Required)

This role is automation‑first, not click‑ops. The right candidate treats repetitive database work as something to script away and can drop into application code when a problem demands it.

• Strong scripting in Python and Bash for automation of maintenance, backups, partition management, backfills, and health checks.
• Comfortable with infrastructure‑as‑code (e.g. Terraform) and configuration management (e.g. Ansible) for reproducible database infrastructure.
• Solid SQL and PL/pgSQL; able to read and debug application‑layer database code and, worst case, write or patch application code (e.g. Python/Node/Java) to unblock a fix.
• Fluent with Git‑based workflows, code review, and CI for database migrations and tooling.

Required Qualifications

• 6–9 years operating relational databases in demanding production environments, with deep PostgreSQL expertise (internals, partitioning, replication, performance tuning).
• Hands‑on experience running at least one distributed NoSQL store in production — Cassandra or ScyllaDB strongly preferred (other wide‑column/distributed stores considered).
• Proven ownership of backup/DR, monitoring, and incident response for production databases.
• Strong scripting/automation background (Python, Bash) and experience with IaC.
• Experience with managed cloud databases (AWS RDS or equivalent) and understanding of instance/parameter‑group tuning, replicas, and failover.
• Experience designing for multi‑tenancy and data isolation at scale.
• Clear written communication — able to produce runbooks, ADRs, and governance docs a team can rely on.

Nice to Have

• Experience migrating workloads from PostgreSQL to Cassandra/ScyllaDB (or similar relational‑to‑distributed migrations).
• Familiarity with Redis as a cache tier and with CDC / streaming pipelines (e.g. Kafka, Debezium).
• Exposure to Flyway (or Liquibase), pgTAP or similar schema testing, and PgBouncer.
• Working knowledge of privacy regulations (GDPR, India DPDP) and audit/compliance processes.

How You Work

• Ownership mindset — takes a directive and runs it to done, with sound judgment on trade‑offs.
• Reliability‑first and detail‑oriented; disciplined about verification, rollback, and documentation.
• Collaborative in a high‑performing engineering team; communicates clearly with developers and leadership.
• Pragmatic and scale‑aware — designs for where the platform is going, not just where it is.

Requirements: