DBA Lead

Database Administration And Operations LeadAre you passionate about leading database platforms that power critical business solutions and drive operational excellence?Do you enjoy mentoring technical teams, shaping database strategy, and solving complex infrastructure challenges in a collaborative environment?About the BusinessLexisNexis Risk Solutions is the essential partner in the assessment of risk. Within our Insurance vertical, we provide customers with solutions and decision tools that combine public and industry specific content with advanced technology and analytics to assist them in evaluating and predicting risk and enhancing operational efficiency. Our insurance risk solutions help drive better data-driven decisions across the insurance policy lifecycle, all while reducing risk.About our TeamThe Database Administration team provides enterprise-wide support for mission-critical database platforms, ensuring high availability, performance, security, and operational stability. The team manages MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and cloud database technologies across hybrid environments while driving automation, observability, disaster recovery readiness, and continuous improvement initiatives. Working closely with engineering, infrastructure, security, and DevOps teams, DBAs play a key role in delivering resilient and scalable data services that power business-critical applications.About the RoleThis candidate works with team on daily activities involving the design, management, maintenance, and utilization of databases. Provide leadership and drive strategy, standards, and processes for applicable database environments.ResponsibilitiesEnsure the maintenance, stability, and operational health of all databases and related technologies.Mitigate customer-impacting issues and support product and infrastructure releases according to development plans and schedules.Provide strategic direction for hosted database architectures and assess the impact of hosted product requirements.Lead research into new or alternative technologies and recommend upgrades or changes to database infrastructure.Review, implement, and sign off on enhancements, upgrades, and changes to systems, procedures, and back-office infrastructure environments.Provide technical leadership and mentoring to Database Administrators on complex database design, infrastructure, and maintenance topics.Engage with Technical Architects and senior Development team members to provide technical designs and guidance to the Database Operations team.Take responsibility for the implications and impact of technical design decisions.Resolve performance issues and support root cause resolution.Perform thorough impact analysis for assigned database infrastructure activities and understand their effect on business operations.Respond to issues and support calls in accordance with relevant procedures, including security requirements.Install, upgrade, test, and monitor new database infrastructure and equipment.Monitor database operations and support maintenance activities efficiently to minimize issues and incidents.Ensure clear and timely communication with the line manager and relevant stakeholders regarding progress, issues, and risks.Perform all other duties as assigned.Leadership and People ManagementAssign personnel to projects and direct their activities to meet business and technology objectives.Review and evaluate work, prepare performance reports, and support employee development.Project long-range requirements for database administration in collaboration with technology and business leaders.Carry out management responsibilities in accordance with organizational policies, procedures, and applicable laws, including interviewing, hiring, training, planning, assigning work, appraising performance, rewarding and disciplining employees, and resolving complaints or concerns.Ensure staff have the training, resources, feedback, and coaching needed to consistently meet or exceed individual and team performance goals.Encourage new ideas from staff to foster continuous improvement and innovation.Empower staff to be accountable and responsible for their actions and decisions.Qualifications7+ years of database administration experience.Bachelor's degree in engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent experience required.Demonstrated experience leading, mentoring, or managing technical teams.Technical SkillsStrong understanding of database infrastructure, administration, maintenance, design, and related technologies.Proven ability to troubleshoot database connectivity, infrastructure, and performance issues across multiple operating environments.Ability to perform root cause analysis and impact analysis for database-related issues.Experience installing, upgrading, testing, and monitoring database infrastructure and equipment.Ability to research, evaluate, and recommend new or alternative database technologies.Strong problem-solving, organizational, project planning, time management, change management, and delegation skills.Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to present concise and effective information to senior leadership, customers, and cross-functional teams.Strong interpersonal, mentoring, customer service, and presentation skills.Ability to set, communicate, implement, and achieve business objectives through the direct management of others.Additional Skills:Database Technologies7+ years of MySQL DBA or Database Engineering experience.Strong experience with MySQL replication design, implementation, and support.Experience with High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) architectures.Extensive experience with backup and recovery technologies including Percona XtraBackup and snapshot-based recovery solutions.Experience performing MySQL patching, upgrades, and major version migrations.Strong query optimization, performance tuning, and capacity management experience.Database security administration and governance experience.Additional Database Technologies (Preferred)Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, OracleModern Engineering CompetenciesCloud-native architecture principlesPlatform engineering and self-service automation.AI-assisted operations and engineering productivity tools.Automated testing and deployment strategies.Continuous improvement mindset and operational excellence focus.Cloud EngineeringStrong experience supporting cloud-hosted database services in Azure and/or AWSExperience with: Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server, Azure Managed Database Services, Amazon RDS, Amazon AuroraKnowledge of multi-zone and multi-region deployment strategiesDevOps & Platform EngineeringInfrastructure as Code using Terraform and/or TerragruntCI/CD pipeline implementation using GitHub ActionsGit-centric development workflowsAutomation experience using: Python, Bash/Shell Scripting, AnsibleObservability & Reliability EngineeringExperience with enterprise monitoring and observability platforms includingGrafana/Datadog/ELKAzure MonitorCloudWatchUnderstanding of SRE concepts including:Service Level Indicators (SLIs) and Service Level Objectives (SLOs)Error BudgetsIncident ManagementRoot Cause AnalysisBlameless Post-mortemsRESPONSIBILITIESDatabase Reliability EngineeringOwn and improve the reliability, availability, scalability, and performance of production database services.Design and support highly available, multi-region database architectures.Develop and maintain disaster recovery and business continuity solutions.Define and support operational reliability standards and best practices.Database Administration & OperationsSupport database management systems and all related software platforms.Design, build, and maintain database environments across development, testing, staging, and production.Provide technical support and database administration for mission-critical systems.Perform database upgrades, maintenance, patching, and lifecycle management.Conduct performance tuning, query optimization, and capacity planning activities.Automation & Cloud EnablementBuild and maintain Infrastructure as Code solutions.Develop automation to eliminate repetitive operational tasks.