Senior Database Administrator

Autotec; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Autotec is seeking a dedicated Senior Database Administrator to own health, performance, security, and recoverability of on-premises SQL Server and AWS Aurora Serverless PostgreSQL. You will lead backups, high availability, security, and performance tuning, while mentoring the data team and building runbooks.

You will collaborate with a data team handling maintenance, monitoring, and automation, and engage with AWS Glue, S3, Athena, and QuickSight for analytics workloads.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• 5+ years of hands-on production DBA experience
• Deep production experience with SQL Server (2016+) including HA/DR and tuning
• Experience with PostgreSQL including vacuum/bloat management and query tuning
• Experience with AWS services: RDS/Aurora, S3, Glue, Athena, CloudWatch, IAM, Secrets Manager
• Proven history of restores and failovers
• Scripting proficiency in PowerShell, Bash, or Python
• Strong written communication and ability to document procedures
• Self-motivated, detail oriented, and able to work independently

Responsibilities

• Own installation, configuration, patching, and upgrade planning for on-prem SQL Server
• Manage SQL Server high availability and DR (Always On/Failover Clustering) including DR runbooks
• Configure and manage AWS RDS Aurora Serverless v2 (PostgreSQL) including ACU capacity and failover priorities
• Design, test, and execute backup/recovery against RTO/RPO targets
• Tune performance on both SQL Server and PostgreSQL platforms
• Monitor databases via Extended Events, DMVs, Performance Insights, CloudWatch
• Own connection management strategy for serverless scaling
• Plan engine upgrades and Blue/Green deployments for Aurora
• Administer database security and data lake (S3) security
• Automate recurring tasks with PowerShell, Bash, or Python
• Support data analysis workflows with Athena and QuickSight
• Govern Aurora costs and produce runbooks for non-experts

Skills

SQL Server

AWS

PostgreSQL

CloudWatch

PowerShell

Bash

Python

Monitoring

Backup/Recovery

High Availability

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

SQL Server Always On

Aurora Serverless v2

RDS

S3/G LE/ Glue/ Athena/ QuickSight

Job description

Job Details

Job Location: Headquarters - Birmingham, AL 35209Position Type: Full Time

A dedicated senior Database Administrator who serves as the organization’s database expert, owning the health, performance, security, and recoverability of our on-premises Microsoft SQL Server and AWS RDS Aurora Serverless v2 (PostgreSQL) platforms, along with our AWS data lake and analytics stack (S3, Glue, Athena, and QuickSight). Working alongside others on the data team who handle routine maintenance and first-line troubleshooting, own the deep work - upgrades, high-availability, recovery, security, and performance - build the runbooks, monitoring, and automation that keep the database estate safe, and mentor the team to take on more over time.

Qualifications

• Own installation, configuration, patching, and upgrade planning for all on-premises SQL Server instances
• Administer SQL Server high availability and disaster recovery (Always On Availability Groups / Failover Cluster Instances), including failover testing and DR runbooks
• Own AWS RDS Aurora Serverless v2 (PostgreSQL) cluster configuration - ACU min/max capacity, parameter groups, reader instances, and failover priorities
• Design, implement, and routinely test backup and recovery on both platforms against documented RTO/RPO targets, including point-in-time recovery drills
• Tune performance on both platforms - wait statistics, execution plans, Query Store, index and statistics strategy, and pg_stat_statements analysis
• Manage PostgreSQL internals - autovacuum tuning, bloat remediation, and transaction ID wraparound prevention
• Monitor databases and manage alerting via Extended Events, DMVs, Performance Insights, Enhanced Monitoring, and CloudWatch
• Own the connection management strategy (RDS Proxy or equivalent pooling) appropriate to serverless scaling behavior
• Plan and execute engine version upgrades on both platforms, including Blue/Green deployments for Aurora major versions
• Administer database security - least-privilege access, encryption, auditing, IAM authentication, and Secrets Manager rotation
• Administer the S3 data lake - transactional and semi-structured data stored in JSON and Parquet, including storage layout, partitioning strategy, and lifecycle policies
• Manage AWS Glue crawlers and the Glue Data Catalog to keep data lake schemas current and queryable, and tune Athena query performance and cost (partitioning, file formats, workgroups)
• Support data analysis and visualization in Amazon QuickSight - administer datasets sourced from Athena and Postgres, including connectivity, permissions, and refresh performance
• Govern Aurora costs - monitor ACU consumption, right-size capacity settings, and explain cost anomalies to leadership
• Author and maintain runbooks that allow non-experts to safely perform routine database operations
• Automate recurring database work using PowerShell, Bash, or Python
• Support development teams with schema review, query optimization guidance, and data migrations across both platforms
• Own incident response for database outages, including escalations to AWS support as needed, and conduct post-incident reviews
• Perform capacity planning for database storage, memory, and compute
• Gather an expert understanding of the AutoTec products

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field. Experience may be considered in lieu of the degree
• 5+ years of hands-on production DBA experience, including significant time as a primary or sole DBA
• Deep production experience with SQL Server (2016 or later): HA/DR, backup/recovery, and performance tuning at the wait-statistics and execution-plan level
• Production experience administering PostgreSQL, including vacuum/bloat management and query tuning
• Professional experience in AWS, specifically: RDS/Aurora, S3, Glue, Athena, CloudWatch, IAM, Secrets Manager
• Demonstrated history of performing (not just configuring) restores and failovers
• Scripting proficiency in at least one of PowerShell, Bash, or Python
• Strong written communication - this role produces documentation others depend on
• Able to be self-motivated and directed
• Detail oriented, analytic mindset with strong technical & problem-solving skills
• Able to work independently and in a team-orientated, collaborative environment
• Able to prioritize, multitask, and handle shifting priorities
• Able to build and maintain relationships
• Adaptable and resilient through a changing environment

• Aurora experience, particularly Aurora Serverless v2
• Experience supporting data lake and analytics workloads - columnar formats (Parquet), partitioning strategies, and query engines such as Athena or Presto/Trino
• Microsoft SQL or AWS certifications
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform preferred)
• Experience migrating workloads between SQL Server and PostgreSQL (AWS DMS, Babelfish)
• Experience operating in a regulated or audited environment
• Knowledge of Agile Methodologies
• Experience estimating AWS pricing and system costs