Senior Administrator, Database Operations

UMGC; Adelphi (MD); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

UMGC is seeking a Senior Administrator, Database Operations to provide senior-level administration and operational leadership for enterprise database platforms across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. The role supports critical academic, administrative, financial, and research systems with a focus on security, performance, and reliability.

You will partner with Application Engineering, Infrastructure, Cloud Engineering, and Information Security to ensure resilient database services,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field.
• 5+ years of database administration experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior-level administration and leadership for enterprise database platforms across production, development, testing, and disaster recovery environments.
• Administer, configure, maintain, and optimize databases across production, development, testing, and disaster recovery environments.
• Lead database provisioning, upgrades, patching, migrations, environment management, onboarding activities, and lifecycle management initiatives.
• Support modernization and cloud adoption while ensuring change management, security, and operational requirements.
• Mentor database administrators and drive automation, resilience, and operational maturity.

Skills

DB administration

Query optimization

Monitoring

Backup & DR

HA & clustering

Cloud DBs

Security & compliance

Automation scripting

Linux/Windows DB

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IS

Tools

Oracle

SQL Server

PostgreSQL

MySQL

Azure SQL

AWS RDS

Google Cloud SQL

Job description

Senior Administrator, Database Operations

Server Engineering

US Exempt Regular

Full time

Stateside Exempt 3.4

This position is classified as "hybrid" and the work location is Adelphi, Maryland. An on-site presence is expected for meetings, summits, or events, and as needed. In accordance with UMGC Travel policy, you will be responsible for any expenses incurred from traveling, including temporary lodging, to Adelphi or locations within the DMV region.

The Senior Administrator, Database Operations is responsible for providing senior-level administration, operational leadership, performance management, security oversight, and lifecycle support for enterprise database platforms that support mission-critical academic, administrative, financial, research, and operational systems across UMGC. This role serves as the primary technical escalation point for database operations, ensuring database environments remain secure, highly available, performant, recoverable, and aligned with institutional requirements. The Senior Administrator partners closely with Application Engineering, Infrastructure, Cloud Engineering, Information Security, Data Enablement, vendors, and business stakeholders to maintain reliable and resilient database services across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Database Administration & Operational Leadership.
• Administer, configure, maintain, and optimize enterprise database environments across production, development, testing, and disaster recovery environments.
• Establish operational standards, administration practices, and procedures that promote platform stability, performance, and reliability.
• Database Lifecycle, Deployment & Platform Modernization.
• Lead database provisioning, upgrades, patching, migrations, environment management, onboarding activities, and lifecycle management initiatives.
• Support modernization and cloud adoption efforts while ensuring alignment with change management, security, and operational requirements.
• Performance Optimization, Monitoring & Reliability Engineering.
• Provide senior-level oversight for database monitoring, observability, health management, capacity planning, performance analysis, and optimization activities.
• Identify performance bottlenecks, tune database services, and drive proactive improvements that enhance reliability and scalability.
• Backup, Recovery & Continuity Management.
• Lead backup, restore, replication, high-availability, failover, and disaster recovery activities. Validate recovery capabilities and continuity plans while ensuring enterprise databases remain recoverable and resilient during operational disruptions.
• Security, Compliance & Data Protection.
• Administer and monitor database security controls including access management, authentication, encryption, auditing, and privileged access practices.
• Support compliance requirements, governance standards, and institutional policies related to data protection and security.
• Incident Management, Mentoring & Continuous Improvement.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for database incidents, problem management, root cause analysis, and operational risk mitigation activities.
• Mentor database administrators, maintain operational documentation, and contribute to automation, modernization, and operational maturity initiatives.
• Other duties as assigned.

Competencies :

• Database operations leadership
• Technical problem solving and analytical thinking
• Database performance optimization
• Operational excellence and service reliability
• Security, compliance, and data protection awareness
• Systems thinking and troubleshooting
• Collaboration and stakeholder engagement
• Technical documentation and knowledge sharing
• Accountability and ownership
• Continuous improvement mindset
• Adaptability and learning agility
• Customer service and operational focus.

Skills :

• Enterprise database administration (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL)
• Query optimization and database performance tuning
• Database monitoring, observability, and health management
• Backup, recovery, replication, and disaster recovery operations
• High availability, clustering, and failover architectures
• Cloud database administration (Azure SQL, AWS RDS, Google Cloud SQL)
• Database migrations and platform modernization
• Database security, auditing, and compliance controls
• Linux and Windows database platform administration
• PowerShell, Bash, SQL, and automation scripting
• ITSM Incident, Change, Problem, and Release Management
• Capacity planning and performance analysis
• Technical documentation and runbook development
• Root cause analysis and operational troubleshooting.

Education & Experience Requirements :

Education: Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, Database Administration, Data Management, or a related discipline or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience: 5+ years of experience in database administration, database operatio