Principal Database Administrator

SAIC - Ashburn, VA

Full-time - Principal

Onsite - Ashburn, VA

1,001-5,000 employees

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

About the position

The Principal Database Administrator will serve as a Database Subject Matter Expert (SME) specializing in PostgreSQL and Amazon Redshift. This role focuses on managing database operations, optimizing performance, and supporting application development teams. The ideal candidate will be proactive in ensuring database reliability and availability while implementing best practices in database administration.

Responsibilities

• Configure and administer managed PostgreSQL and Amazon Redshift instances in the AWS environment.
• Maintain database security policies, including role-based access control and data encryption.
• Analyze and optimize SQL queries for performance improvement, particularly on large tables.
• Set up and monitor Dynatrace alerts to ensure database reliability and availability.
• Investigate and resolve performance issues identified through monitoring tools or reported by users.
• Develop and implement database automation scripts for routine tasks such as deployments, scaling, and maintenance.
• Assist in Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) processes for database updates.
• Proactively monitor database health and resolve capacity or connectivity issues.
• Conduct root-cause analysis for database incidents and implement preventive measures.
• Provide input on data modeling and schema design for new and existing applications.
• Collaborate with developers and data engineers to ensure efficient data access patterns.
• Create and maintain detailed documentation of database environments, procedures, and standards.
• Enforce database best practices and policies across teams.
• Act as a technical mentor to junior team members.
• Provide training to application developers and other stakeholders on database-related topics.

Requirements

• Extensive experience with PostgreSQL, including deployment, maintenance, and optimization.
• Strong knowledge of database tuning, query optimization, and indexing strategies.
• Experience with database monitoring tools, particularly Dynatrace or similar platforms.
• Proficiency in scripting languages (e.g., Python, Bash) for database automation.
• Understanding of cloud database architectures and services, such as AWS RDS and Redshift.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and database version control.
• Excellent troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with other database systems (e.g., SQL Server) is a plus.
• Knowledge of ETL pipelines and data warehouse architectures.
• Familiarity with analytics/modeling tools like Sagemaker.
• Exposure to data replication and sharding strategies.
• Experience with DevOps tools like Harness and Kubernetes.
• Knowledge of government regulatory compliance standards.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Health insurance
• 401k plan
• Paid time off
• Professional development opportunities