Database Administrator

ThoughtWorks; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

ThoughtWorks in Chicago hosts a Database Administrator role focused on enterprise-grade databases across Azure and AWS. The team ensures secure, compliant, and high-performing database platforms with PaaS and IaaS services, enabling self-service capabilities for application teams.

The role emphasizes reliability, resilience, and operational excellence in a system DBA context, driving automation, patching, and capacity planning for mission-critical workloads.

Qualifications

• Proficient in database security, encryption, and auditing to meet regulatory requirements.

Responsibilities

• Database Security and Compliance: Implement robust security controls, encryption, and auditing to safeguard sensitive data and meet regulatory requirements.

Skills

Database Administration

Cloud Platforms

Automation & IaC

CI/CD Pipelines

Scripting

Tools

Oracle

Microsoft SQL Server

PostgreSQL

CosmosDB

MySQL

RDS Aurora

MongoDB

Terraform

Ansible

GitHub Actions

GitLab

Azure DevOps

Python

Bash/Shell

PowerShell

Linux/Unix

Windows

Job description

Our Database Team is the foundation of enterprise-grade databases, delivering secure, compliant, and high-performing database platforms across Azure and AWS. We provide managed services for Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, operating in a system DBA role to ensure platform reliability, resilience, and operational excellence. In addition, we support PaaS and RDS database services by acting as the platform team defining policies, enforcing security standards, and managing networking configurations while enabling self-service capabilities for application teams to consume these services efficiently.

Responsibilities:

• Database Security and Compliance: Implement robust security controls, encryption, and auditing to safeguard sensitive data and meet regulatory requirements.
• Lifecycle Management: Oversee patching, upgrades, and end-of-life transitions to maintain platform stability and minimize risk.
• Performance Optimization: Monitor and tune databases for optimal performance across diverse workloads.
• Automation and Operational Excellence: Design and deploy automation for provisioning, monitoring, and maintenance to achieve brilliant basics and reduce manual intervention.
• Business-Critical Certification: Validate and certify database environments to support mission-critical applications with high availability and disaster recovery strategies.
• Incident and Problem Management: Provide rapid response and root-cause analysis for database-related incidents to ensure business continuity.
• Capacity Planning and Scalability: Forecast growth and optimize resources to support evolving business needs.

Requirements:

• Technology Expertise and DBA Skill Set.
• Cloud Platforms: AWS, Azure.
• Database IaaS: Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL.
• Database PaaS: CosmosDB, MySQL, SQL Managed Instance, RDS Aurora, MongoDB.
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform, Ansible.
• CI/CD and Automation: GitHub Actions, GitLab, Azure DevOps.
• Programming and Scripting: Python, Bash/Shell, PowerShell.
• Operating Systems: Linux/Unix (RHEL, Ubuntu), Windows