Lead Database Administrator

MetLife, Inc.; Cary (NC); Hybrid; USD 148,000 - 176,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plan and vision/dental

Life insurance

401(k) with employer matching

Disability insurance

Tuition assistance

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Job summary

MetLife, Inc. in Cary, NC is seeking a senior database professional to design, implement, and operate scalable enterprise databases (MongoDB, PostgreSQL, CosmosDB) with automation-first approaches. This hybrid role requires a minimum of 3 days in the office weekly and involves on-call support for a 24x7 environment.

You will drive HA/DR, security/compliance, and performance tuning while mentoring DBAs and guiding architecture toward reliable, observable systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in IT/CS/Engineering or equivalent.
• 8+ years (or 5+ years with Master) in large-scale DB environments.
• Experience with MongoDB, PostgreSQL, CosmosDB on Linux.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and operate secure, resilient database platforms.
• Lead installations, upgrades, and reliability initiatives with CI/CD.
• Provide observability, tuning, capacity planning and DR strategies.
• Mentor DBAs and ensure security/compliance across environments.
• Participate in on-call support for a 24x7 enterprise environment.

Skills

Database administration

CI/CD

Automation

Observability

Security & compliance

Mentoring

On-call support

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT/CS/Engineering

Master's degree in IT/CS/Engineering

Tools

MongoDB

PostgreSQL

CosmosDB

Linux

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

When you join MetLife’s Global Technology team, you’ll be part of a forward-thinking group dedicated to shaping the future of digital solutions for customers worldwide. You’ll develop, maintain and support technology applications and delivery, leveraging AI, automation, and contemporary ways of working to enhance experiences and drive business outcomes. Your work will simplify complex processes, improve tech resiliency, and ensure high-performing, seamless solutions that power life’s most important moments. In this dynamic environment, you’ll collaborate with talented peers across teams and functions, expanding your skills in impactful ways. Ready to push boundaries and set new industry standards? Join us and help drive the future of technology forward.

Key Responsibilities

Design, implement, and operate secure, resilient, and scalable enterprise database platforms across MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and Azure Cosmos DB. Lead database installations, upgrades, and reliability initiatives with an automation-first approach, enabling self-service patching, upgrades, and schema or data changes through standardized CI/CD pipelines. Implement and maintain high availability and disaster recovery solutions to ensure business continuity. Provide observability, performance monitoring, capacity planning, and tuning to support current and future workload demands. Ensure database security and compliance controls across production and non-production environments. Advise application teams on database design, performance optimization, and operational best practices. Lead evaluation and adoption of new database services, establish enterprise database standards, manage related projects and documentation, and mentor database administrators. Collaborate with engineering and architecture teams to improve reliability, efficiency, and compliance. Participate in on-call support for a 24x7 enterprise environment.

Required Qualifications

Must have a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Computer or Electronics Engineering, or a related field (will accept foreign education equivalent) and eight (8) years of experience supporting large-scale, mission-critical database environments. Alternatively, employer will accept a Master’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Computer or Electronics Engineering, or a related field (will accept foreign education equivalent) and five (5) years of experience supporting large-scale, mission-critical database environments.

Position also requires experience in the following: performing database administration functions, including installations, patching, and upgrades for MongoDB, PostgreSQL, CosmosDB on Linux-based platforms; designing and implementing database monitoring, alerting, and observability solutions to support high availability and optimal performance; leading the architecture, design, and development of enterprise-scale database automation frameworks and platforms; implementing data driven operational intelligence to detect anomalies, predict failures, and automate corrective actions to improve reliability; ensuring database stability, availability, and performance; managing production operations, including incident response, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives; and, automating routine database operations and improving operational reliability in complex, enterprise environments.

Location Expectation: This is a hybrid role requiring a minimum of 3 days per week in office.

$148,421.00 - $175,600.00. This role may also be eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation. All incentives and benefits are subject to the applicable plan terms.

Benefits We Offer

Our U.S. benefits address holistic well-being with programs for physical and mental health, financial wellness, and support for families. We offer a comprehensive health plan that includes medical/prescription drug and vision, dental insurance, and no-cost short- and long-term disability. We also provide company-paid life insurance and legal services, a retirement pension funded entirely by MetLife and 401(k) with employer matching, group discounts on voluntary insurance products including auto and home, pet, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident insurance, as well as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and digital mental health programs, parental leave, paid time off, paid holidays, volunteer time off, tuition assistance and much more! For more information regarding MetLife’s U.S. benefits, please

About MetLife

Recognizedon Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies",Fortune World’s 25 Best Workplaces™, as well as the Fortune 100 Best Companiesto Work For®, MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of theworld’s leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities,employee benefits and asset management to individual and institutionalcustomers. With operations in more than 40 markets, we hold leading positionsin the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

As part of our New Frontier strategy, MetLife is building an AI-enabled, people-centered future. We’re looking for people who bring curiosity, adaptability, and a growth mindset as we use AI to enhance how we serve customers, support communities, and evolve the way work gets done. At MetLife, AI is a responsible partner that supports human judgment, creativity, and continuous improvement while helping us build trust, inclusion, and long-term value.

Our purposeis simple - to help our colleagues, customers, communities, and the world atlarge create a more confident future. United by purpose and guided by our corevalues - Win Together, Do the Right Thing, Deliver Impact Over Activity, andThink Ahead - we’re inspired to transform the next century in financialservices. At MetLife, it’s #AllTogetherPossible . Join us!

MetLife is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All employment decisions are made without regards to race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, genetic information, citizenship status (although applicants and employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States), uniformed service member or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law (“protected characteristics”). If you need an accommodation due to a disability, please email us at [e-mail]. This information will be held in confidence and used only to determine an appropriate accommodation for the application process.
MetLife maintains a drug-free workplace.

This posting is for a current vacancy and is anticipated to remain open for at least 30 days from the listed posting date.