Senior Database Administrator (MySQL, PostgreSQL) - Takealot Cape Town

Takealot Group; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Staff discount

Job summary

Takealot Group in Cape Town, South Africa, seeks a Senior Database Administrator to join the Engineering & Product team. You will deploy, operate, and manage high-availability databases supporting Takealot features, troubleshoot issues, and drive performance improvements.

You will mentor junior DBAs, contribute to the team roadmap, and collaborate with development, networking, and systems teams to ensure secure, scalable database architectures in a fast-paced, agile environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or 5–7 years of relevant DBA experience.
• Strong expertise with MySQL and PostgreSQL, including deployment and operations.
• Experience with non-RDBMS systems such as MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, Elasticsearch or Solr.
• Solid knowledge of networking, operating systems and security for databases.
• Experience delivering projects independently and collaborating in teams.
• Deep knowledge of backups, replication, monitoring, disaster recovery and security.
• Scripting and Infrastructure as Code for database infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Troubleshoot slow queries and help developers optimise SQL.
• Assist with schema design, schema changes, and admin tasks.
• Design and execute operational excellence through metrics, monitoring and documentation.
• Design and implement backups, replication, security, and disaster recovery.
• Oversee performance, integrity and security of corporate databases.
• Maintain existing database systems and ensure optimum operation.
• Ensure backups and DR systems are functional and tested.
• Design database optimisations to improve performance.
• Manage architecture changes and ensure compliance with standards.
• Assist with design and administration of database cloud infrastructure as IaC.
• Participate in technical reviews and contribute solutions.
• Collaborate with development, network and systems teams to meet requirements.
• Identify and resolve database-related issues promptly.
• Report health and metrics to stakeholders; mentor junior DBAs.

Skills

Database performance tuning

Query optimisation

Troubleshooting

Collaboration

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

5–7 years of related experience

Tools

MySQL

PostgreSQL

SQL Server

Oracle

MongoDB

Redis

Kafka

Elasticsearch

Solr

Kubernetes

Job description

Cape Town

Takealot.com, South Africa's leading online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Senior Database Administrator (DBA) to join the Engineering & Product team based in Cape Town, South Africa.

We are a young, dynamic, hyper-growth company looking for smart, creative, hard-working people with integrity to join us!

Think you've been challenged before? Think again!

• Scale: 4 million happy shoppers shop online on takealot.com. Show them what you can do.
• Learn: We work with the best of the best, and then some. Code alongside industry leaders and upskill in record time.
• Grow: Expand your career in the fast-growing Takealot Group: takealot.com, Mr D, and TFS. We like to promote from within: Here's your chance.

Purpose of Role

You will leverage your knowledge of operating systems, networking, and databases to deploy, operate, support, and manage databases that support the applications delivering Takealot features. You will contribute to resolving operational issues, query improvements, and administrative tasks to provide a stable platform resilient to failures. You will also contribute to the Database team roadmap, investigating potential new technologies and designing process improvements. You demonstrate a keen interest in the latest technologies and follow database releases and security reports. You will work in a fast-paced agile environment and collaborate across both technical and non-technical teams.

This position reports to the DBA and DataOps Engineering Manager.

Key Responsibilities

• Troubleshoot slow queries and assist developers with creating optimisable SQL queries
• Assist developers with schema design, schema changes, and administrative tasks
• Design and execute operational excellence through metrics, monitoring, and documentation
• Design and execute operational standards such as backups, replication, security, and disaster recovery
• Oversee the performance, integrity, and security of corporate databases
• Provide ongoing maintenance and review of existing database systems to ensure optimum operation
• Ensure backups and disaster recovery systems are functional and regularly tested
• Design and implement database optimisations to improve performance
• Manage database architecture changes and ensure compliance with corporate standards
• Assist with the design and administration of database cloud infrastructure as IaC
• Participate in functional and technical specification reviews
• Contribute technical solutions to business problems, considering business and/or product requirements and constraints
• Collaborate with development, network, and system teams to ensure database requirements are met
• Identify and resolve database-related issues promptly
• Report on database health, performance metrics, and system improvements to stakeholders
• Provide technical guidance to internal teams (mentoring) and external teams (collaboration)
• Mentor junior DBAs and engage in knowledge-sharing initiatives
• Think outside the box and explore new and/or alternative approaches to find the best solution

Minimum Required Qualification and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field of study, or 5–7 years of related experience
• Proven extensive knowledge and experience with relational databases such as MySQL or PostgreSQL, including successful deployment, management, and operations
• Proven expertise with other database systems such as key-value stores, document stores, columnar databases, etc.
• Proven experience with one or more non-RDBMS systems such as MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, Elasticsearch, or Solr
• Proven expertise in auxiliary systems such as networking, operating systems, and security
• Experience delivering projects independently and/or contributing to open-source projects
• Experience collaborating on projects as part of a team
• Deep knowledge of database internals, backups, replication, metrics and monitoring, disaster recovery, security, database architecture, database configuration, query design, analysis, and optimisation
• Proven knowledge and experience in auxiliary systems that support databases, including development and/or scripting, configuration management, networking, operating systems, data structures, cloud computing, and operations
• Technical Skills: Proficient in database technologies (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle). Strong understanding of database performance tuning, query optimisation, and systems architecture

Attributes

• Problem-Solving: Effective troubleshooting and analytical skills for complex database issues
• Communication: Strong oral and written communication skills for conveying technical content to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Prioritisation: Ability to manage multiple database projects efficiently and meet tight deadlines
• Collaboration: Effective team player who can work with various teams (e.g., developers, administrators, and managers) across the organisation
• Attention to Detail: High accuracy and attention when performing backups, security configurations, and system monitoring
• Adaptability: Embraces new technologies in the dynamic database management landscape
• Leadership: Ability to mentor junior team members and foster a learning environment within the team

Let’s talk about life @ Takealot Group

• Mentorship programme: We aren't kidding when we say the people with the best people win. Now's your chance to be one of the best by learning from the best.
• Naspers Tech Community & Online Learning: Share ideas and grow with global industry leaders who are all just a Slack message away. Love to learn? Upskill with free access to courses on MyAcademy, Udacity, Coursera, and more.
• Good times: Get to know the other extraordinary minds at takealot.com during regular social events and out-of-office activities (think hikes, think mini golf, think good times)
• Staff discount: Millions of products across 28 departments. What more could you ask for?
• Birthday leave: Cake Day all the way. Enjoy your day off you deserve it.
• Right tools, right job: Mac or Linux, two monitors or one. Whatever your preference, you'll work on the latest tech, of the latest tech.
• Help when you need it most: Confidential counselling, legal support, and financial guidance, for free, anytime, anywhere.
• Exposure to the latest technologies: ReactJS, Python, Scala, Kotlin, Swift, Google Cloud, Kafka, Redis, Kubernetes, and all things machine learning. If you build it, they will come.
• Free parking: No more 5km fun runs to your desk (unless you want to).

Takealot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from previously disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities will be given preference.