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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Lead Database Engineer

💰 $160,000 - $230,000

Data EngineeringDatabase AdministrationCloud EngineeringIT & Infrastructure

🎯 Role Definition

Are you a seasoned database expert with a passion for building robust, scalable, and highly performant data systems? This role requires a visionary Lead Database Engineer to take ownership of our database infrastructure and guide its evolution. In this critical role, you will be the technical authority for our entire database landscape, from relational and NoSQL systems to our cloud-native data platforms. You'll blend hands-on engineering with strategic leadership, mentoring a team of talented engineers while architecting the future of our data storage, reliability, and performance. If you thrive on solving complex data challenges and want to make a significant impact, this is the opportunity for you.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Database Engineer
  • Senior Database Administrator (DBA)
  • Senior Cloud Engineer (with a data focus)

Advancement To:

  • Principal Database Engineer
  • Data Architect
  • Manager, Data Engineering / Database Services

Lateral Moves:

  • Solutions Architect
  • DevOps Architect

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Architect, design, and implement highly available, scalable, and fault-tolerant database solutions across both cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) and on-premise environments.
  • Provide technical leadership and mentorship to a team of database engineers and administrators, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
  • Lead deep-dive performance tuning and optimization efforts for complex queries, stored procedures, and overall database configuration to ensure optimal system responsiveness.
  • Develop, manage, and test the organization's database backup, recovery, and comprehensive disaster recovery (DR) strategies to guarantee data integrity and business continuity.
  • Spearhead large-scale database migration projects, including on-premise to cloud, version upgrades, and transitions between different database technologies (e.g., Oracle to PostgreSQL).
  • Establish and enforce database engineering best practices, standards, and policies for schema design, code reviews, access control, and security.
  • Own the end-to-end strategy for database security, including implementing data encryption, managing access controls, conducting vulnerability assessments, and responding to security audits.
  • Design and manage robust CI/CD pipelines for database schema and code changes using tools like Liquibase or Flyway to enable agile development cycles.
  • Conduct thorough capacity planning and forecasting for our database systems, ensuring they can support future growth and performance requirements.
  • Automate routine database administration tasks, including maintenance, monitoring, patching, and health checks, using scripting languages like Python, PowerShell, or Bash.
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  • Serve as the ultimate escalation point for all critical and complex database incidents, providing expert-level troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
  • Evaluate, benchmark, and recommend new and emerging database technologies, tools, and cloud services to enhance our data infrastructure.
  • Collaborate closely with software engineering and DevOps teams to advise on optimal database design patterns, query writing, and data interaction strategies.
  • Develop and maintain comprehensive, real-time monitoring and alerting systems to proactively identify and address database performance issues and potential outages.
  • Manage a heterogeneous database environment, including expert-level administration of both relational (e.g., PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MySQL) and NoSQL (e.g., MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra) systems.
  • Lead the implementation of data governance and data quality frameworks in partnership with data governance teams.
  • Drive the cost optimization of our cloud database footprint by analyzing usage patterns and selecting appropriate instance types and storage options.
  • Create and maintain detailed documentation for database architecture, configurations, standard operating procedures, and disaster recovery playbooks.
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  • Partner with data architects to ensure that database designs are in complete alignment with the broader enterprise data architecture and strategy.
  • Manage database replication, clustering, and high-availability (HA) configurations to meet stringent uptime and service level agreements (SLAs).
  • Conduct regular code reviews for T-SQL, PL/SQL, and other database-related code to ensure quality, performance, and adherence to standards.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Manage vendor relationships for database-related software and services.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Expert-level proficiency in multiple relational database systems such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, MS SQL Server, or Oracle.
  • Strong hands-on experience with major cloud database platforms, including AWS RDS/Aurora, Azure SQL Database, or Google Cloud SQL.
  • Proven experience with NoSQL databases like MongoDB, Cassandra, DynamoDB, or Redis, including data modeling and performance tuning for these systems.
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  • Advanced skills in database performance tuning, query optimization, indexing strategies, and using database profilers and monitoring tools.
  • Proficiency in scripting and automation using languages such as Python, Bash, or PowerShell.
  • Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or CloudFormation for managing database resources.
  • Deep understanding and practical experience in designing and implementing High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) solutions.
  • Expertise in database security principles, including encryption, access control (IAM), and vulnerability management.
  • Hands-on experience with database change management and CI/CD tools (e.g., Liquibase, Flyway).
  • Strong data modeling and database design skills for both transactional (OLTP) and analytical (OLAP) workloads.
  • Experience with database migration tools and methodologies (e.g., AWS DMS, Azure DMS).

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional leadership and mentoring abilities to guide and develop a team.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a talent for debugging complex systems.
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, capable of explaining complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
  • Strategic thinking and the ability to contribute to a long-term technology vision.
  • Strong project management skills and the ability to lead complex projects from inception to completion.
  • Collaborative mindset and a proven ability to work effectively across different functional teams.
  • A high degree of ownership and accountability.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree

Preferred Education:

  • Master's Degree or relevant industry certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Database - Specialty, Oracle Certified Professional).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology
  • Software Engineering
  • Data Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 8-12+ years of progressive experience in database engineering, administration, and architecture.

Preferred:

  • At least 3+ years in a senior or lead role, with demonstrated experience mentoring junior team members and leading technical projects.
  • Proven track record of managing large-scale, mission-critical database systems in a public cloud environment.
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