Lead Database Platform Engineer

Great Eastern; Cyberjaya; On-site; MYR 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Great Eastern in Malaysia is seeking a Lead Database Platform Engineer to own end-to-end enterprise database platforms across on‑premises and cloud, leading a hybrid, multi‑cloud estate and guiding a team of DBAs and database engineers.

You will drive platform modernization, automation‑first operations, AI‑assisted management, and ensure availability, performance, security, audit outcomes, and regulatory compliance while partnering with application, security and engineering teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor degree in Computer Science, IT, or a related field.
• 12+ years in enterprise database roles, with 5+ years in senior leadership or platform-scale roles.
• Deep expertise in Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL/YugabyteDB, MySQL/MariaDB and DB2; strong OCI and hybrid cloud experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a high-performing database platform team across multiple technologies.
• Own performance management, succession planning, and career pathways for DB professionals.
• Define team objectives aligned to reliability, automation, and modernization outcomes.
• Foster engineering excellence, automation, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Act as senior technical authority for database platform architecture and standards.
• Drive end-to-end architecture and lifecycle of enterprise database platforms across on-prem and cloud.

Skills

Leadership

Database architecture

Automation scripting

OCI / cloud db

Stakeholder management

Regulatory compliance

Education

Bachelor Degree in Computer Science or related field

Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) advantageous

Tools

Oracle Exadata

OCI

SQL Server

MySQL / MariaDB

PostgreSQL / YugabyteDB

DB2

Job description

The Lead Database Platform Engineer is a senior leadership role responsible for the end‑to‑end ownership, evolution, and reliability of Great Eastern’s enterprise database platforms. This role combines strategic platform leadership with clear operational accountability, overseeing a large‑scale hybrid and multi‑cloud database estate supporting mission‑critical workloads across on‑premises and cloud environments.

Beyond traditional database administration, the role drives platform modernisation, automation‑first operations, cloud‑native and distributed database adoption, and AI‑assisted database management, while retaining accountability for availability, performance, security, audit outcomes, and regulatory compliance.

The role leads and develops a team of DBAs and database engineers and partners closely with application, cloud, security, and engineering teams to deliver highly available, scalable, secure, and future‑ready database platforms.

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high‑performing database platform team comprising DBAs and database engineers across multiple technologies.
• Own performance management, succession planning, capability uplift, and career pathways for mid‑to‑senior‑level DB professionals.
• Define clear team objectives aligned to platform reliability, automation, and modernisation outcomes.
• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, automation, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Act as the senior technical authority for database platform architecture, engineering standards, and operational practices.
• Proactively resolve conflicts and ensure effective collaboration across infrastructure, application, and security teams.
• Own the end‑to‑end architecture and lifecycle of enterprise database platforms, including:
• -Oracle (19c+), Exadata / ExaCC
• -Microsoft SQL Server
• -MySQL / MariaDB
• -IBM DB2
• Define and maintain reference architectures for on‑premises, hybrid, and cloud‑based database deployments (including OCI).
• Drive adoption of cloud‑native and distributed database architectures to improve scalability, resilience, and operational efficiency.
• Partner with application and solution architects to ensure optimal data models, workload patterns, and performance‑aware designs.
• Translate architectural standards into production‑ready, supportable, and auditable implementations.

Operational Accountability, Reliability & Resilience

• Retain ultimate accountability for production database platform stability, availability, and recoverability, even as operations are increasingly automated.
• Ensure databases consistently meet defined SLA, SLO, and availability targets.
• Lead and govern incident response, root cause analysis, and post‑incident remediation for complex and high‑severity database incidents.
• Define and oversee robust backup, recovery, disaster recovery, and high‑availability strategies across all platforms.
• Minimise business impact during upgrades, patching, and maintenance through resilience‑by‑design and automation.
• Ensure clear on‑call, escalation, and recoverability models are in place to support 24x7 business‑critical systems.
• Drive an automation‑first operating model for database platforms using Infrastructure‑as‑Code (IaC), scripting, and orchestration.
• Define which database activities are:
• Fully automated and self‑service
• Guardrail‑controlled with approvals
• Human‑led due to risk or regulatory requirements
• Enable Database DevOps / DataOps practices, including CI/CD integration for schema changes and database deployments.
• Collaborate with tooling and observability teams to deliver:
• Automated provisioning and lifecycle management
• Proactive monitoring, alerting, and self‑healing capabilities
• Standardised dashboards and operational insights
• Ensure automated operations remain secure, auditable, and compliant with change and risk management policies.

Cloud, Hybrid & Platform Modernisation

• Cloud migrations and hybrid architectures
• Version upgrades and platform refreshes
• Capacity expansion and performance optimisation
• Define and execute near‑term and long‑term database platform roadmaps aligned with Group IT strategies.
• Provide thought leadership on managed database services, cloud‑native databases, and emerging platform capabilities.
• Own delivery outcomes for platform initiatives, ensuring designs are successfully realised in production.

AI‑Driven Operations & Observability (AIOps)

• Champion the adoption of AI‑assisted database operations, including:
• Intelligent performance monitoring and tuning
• Automated anomaly detection and workload prediction
• AI‑driven recommendations for indexing, partitioning, and query optimisation
• Leverage platforms such as Oracle OEM with AI extensions and modern observability tools.
• Define measurable outcomes for AIOps adoption, such as:
• Reduction in MTTR
• Reduction in manual operational effort
• Improved availability and performance predictability
• Explore AI‑enabled governance, compliance, and security capabilities.
• Ensure database platforms comply with internal security policies and external regulatory requirements.
• Own database hardening, vulnerability remediation, encryption, access control, and data protection practices.
• Define governance models for automated and self‑service database operations, ensuring auditability and risk controls.
• Partner with Security, Risk, and Compliance teams to manage audits, remediate findings, and continuously improve controls.
• Ensure adherence to change management, incident management, and operational governance frameworks.
• Act as the primary senior stakeholder for database platform health, strategy, risks, and major incidents.
• Communicate complex technical topics clearly to senior IT and business leaders.
• Collaborate with Group and regional counterparts to align standards and share best practices.
• Manage strategic relationships with database and platform vendors, ensuring SLAs and contractual obligations are met.
• Represent the database platform domain in cross‑functional and enterprise‑wide initiatives.

We are looking for people who

Experience & Technical Expertise

• Extensive experience managing large‑scale, enterprise database environments in regulated industries.
• Deep expertise in Oracle (including Exadata/ExaCC), SQL Server, PostgreSQL / YugabyteDB, MySQL, and DB2.
• Strong experience with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and hybrid cloud database architectures.
• Proven leadership in database modernisation, cloud migration, and platform engineering initiatives.
• Strong scripting and automation skills (e.g., Shell, Python, SQL, infrastructure automation concepts).
• Solid understanding of end‑to‑end infrastructure (OS, storage, network, cloud, security).

Leadership & Professional Skills

• Demonstrated ability to lead and influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong vendor and partner management experience.
• Excellent problem‑solving, incident management, and decision‑making skills.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts into business outcomes.

Experience & Qualifications

• Possesses Bachelor Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field. Professional certification such as Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) is added advantage.
• Typically 12+ years of experience in enterprise database roles, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership or platform‑scale role.
• Deep expertise in core enterprise databases (Oracle, SQL Server) with governance‑level oversight of additional platforms (PostgreSQL/Yugabyte, MySQL/MariaDB, DB2).
• Strong experience with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and hybrid cloud database architectures.
• Proven leadership in database modernisation, cloud migration, automation, and platform engineering initiatives.
• Strong scripting and automation skills (e.g. Shell, Python, SQL, IaC concepts).
• Solid understanding of end‑to‑end infrastructure (OS, storage, network, cloud, security).
• Relevant database or cloud certifications (e.g. Oracle, cloud platforms) are advantageous.

How you succeed

• Champion and embody our Core Values in everyday tasks and interactions.
• Demonstrate high level of integrity and accountability.
• Take initiative to drive improvements and embrace change.
• Take accountability of business and regulatory compliance risks, implementing measures to mitigate them effectively.
• Keep abreast with industry trends, regulatory compliance, and emerging threats and technologies to understand and highlight potential concerns/ risks to safeguard our company proactively.

Who we are

Founded in 1908, Great Eastern is a well-established market leader and trusted brand in Singapore and Malaysia. With over S$100 billion in assets and more than 16 million policyholders, including 12.5 million from government schemes, it provides insurance solutions to customers through three successful distribution channels – a tied agency force, bancassurance, and financial advisory firm Great Eastern Financial Advisers. The Group also operates in Indonesia and Brunei.

The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited and Great Eastern General Insurance Limited have been assigned the financial strength and counterparty credit ratings of "AA-" by S&P Global Ratings since 2010, one of the highest among Asian life insurance companies. Great Eastern's asset management subsidiary, Lion Global Investors Limited, is one of the leading asset management companies in Southeast Asia.

Great Eastern is a subsidiary of OCBC, the longest established Singapore bank, formed in 1932. It is the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets and one of the world’s most highly-rated banks, with an Aa1 rating from Moody’s and AA- by both Fitch and S&P.