Database Administrator / Data Engineer

Job Description

ORIS has an outstanding opportunity for A Database Administrator/Database Engineer (12-month Project) to join their team.

About this Opportunity

Reporting to the IT Technology Services Manager, the Database Administrator/Database Engineer (DBA/DE) is responsible for ensuring the stability, performance, and security of the databases and data.  This position supports databases across platforms and products, both in the cloud and on-premises and provides support through all phases of development as well as providing production support. 

This is an essential position and may be required to report to work when UW suspends operations. 

Key Responsibilities

Operations and Administration – 60%

• Design, deploy, configure, maintain, and deprecate database environments, databases, data schema, and data elements to support novel applications development and support
• Develop and assist with SQL query design for applications and reporting to meet organizational needs and ORIS commitments
• Recommend, design, implement, and maintain automation to reduce repetitive software development and maintenance tasks and increase application performance
• Maintain configuration and management of databases across Non-Prod and Prod environments to ensure optimal uptime and performance for ORIS products and services
• Engage and participate in ORIS’ culture of review both as reviewer and reviewee to ensure shared knowledge of development practices and high-quality code
• Implement and maintain regular database backup and retention plans to ensure that database archiving and disposition requirements are met
• Determine, implement, and maintain performance monitoring and tuning strategies to ensure that databases operate within security, reliability, and availability requirements
• Configure logging and monitoring to ensure reliable and accurate reporting on database and application health and performance
• Participate in software release (possibly including off hours release and update times)
• Plan and carry out any needed data migrations and system upgrades and updates
• Monitor ETLs and other regular or scheduled database processes and take appropriate steps when failures occur
• Research and respond to alerts and notifications of real or potential issues to proactively communicate and address problems
• Research data and database issues as they pertain to production support and non-production support requests, including application SQL queries
• Ensure business continuity and disaster recovery for ORIS databases
• Troubleshoot and resolve application and data infrastructure incidents

Technical Planning, Consultation, and Collaboration – 25%

• Partner with development teams to ensure data and database components and mechanisms meet all functional and non-functional requirements, including data modeling, data schema design, database design, query development and optimization, and similar tasks
• Participate in UW technology integration initiatives that involve ORIS supported systems
• Participate in organizational risk assessment activities, security planning, and vendor analysis to ensure solutions meet data and data infrastructure standards
• Build strong relationships, working with diverse technical and business partner groups, both internal and external to the University of Washington
• Effectively communicate and collaborate technical information with a wide range of people with varying levels of technical expertise

Administrative Duties – 10%

• Attend recurring organization meetings and one-on-ones with a supervisor.
• Engage in unplanned communications
• Participate in recurring HR processes

Professional and Organizational Development – 5%

• Maintain an awareness of industry, institutional, and organizational trends, best practices, and standard solutions
• Socialize key concepts, industry best practices, and organizational principles, strategies, and conventions related to data and database administration to both technical and non-technical staff via mentoring, meetings, hands-on learning, and documentation
• Become familiar with research administration in an R1 university setting in order to streamline its supporting business processes

Required Qualifications

To be considered for this opportunity your application must demonstrate you meet both the minimum qualifications and additional qualifications listed below. Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license, certification, and/or registration.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Math/Statistics, Business
• A minimum of 6 years of experience in SQL database administration and software engineering database support to include at least the following minimum professional experience:
  • 6 years of the 6 years hands-on as an individual contributor on database implementation, maintenance, and operation in accordance with industry standards, data policies, and security best practices using SQL. The six years should include the following:
    • Expertise troubleshooting application database issues in an enterprise production environment
    • Expertise with database performance tuning, indexing, query profiling, query optimization, and monitoring, and the tools associated with these tasks (such as SolarWinds, Datadog, RDS Database Insights, and/or Redgate)
    • Proven success designing, implementing, and maintaining backup and disaster recovery strategies and retention lifecycles in a cloud environment
    • Experience with secure data management practices
    • Experience designing, implementing, and maintaining relational database schemas, structures, and models to support application and pipeline performance, maintainability, and data integrity
    • Experience partnering directly with software engineering teams through the application lifecycle to support data structure and data infrastructure needs (such as creation, transformation, optimization, support, etc.)
    • Experience with peer review and collaboration on data schemas, stored procedures, and data model changes to ensure adherence to standards, data quality, performance, maintainability, and security
    • Experience with Microsoft SQL Server
    • Experience supporting ETL processes and data integrations, and using associated tools (such as SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), AWS Glue, Informatica, or Alteryx)
  • 2 years of the six years to include experience configuring and managing databases in the AWS cloud environment including services such as RDS, EC2, DMS, and infrastructure as code (Terraform or CloudFormation)
  • 2 years of the six years to include experience with data engineering practices incorporating AI capabilities, including:
    • Proven success leveraging generative AI, agent-based solutions, and automation technologies to accelerate database administration and data engineering activities that result in improved operational efficiency, decision support, or engineering outcomes
    • Demonstrated application of generative AI, AI-powered agents, machine learning and other AI tools to support and improve data engineering lifecycle activities, artifacts, and assets
    • Experience evaluating, selecting, implementing, and supporting AI-enabled tools and services appropriate for cloud-based data engineering environments
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and effectively in both oral and written mediums with individuals and groups in order to socialize information and knowledge with a diverse group of colleagues
• Demonstrated ease in technical and non-technical review as both reviewer and reviewee in order to facilitate collaborative group activities such as change control and pull request review

Applicants who do not meet these qualifications WILL NOT be forwarded to the Hiring Manager.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with ...

• AWS Services such as Glue, DMS, Quicksight, Redshift, data pipeline
• Performing security audits and reviews of databases and data systems
• REST API development and management platforms, such as MuleSoft or Boomi (Mulesoft preferred)
• Open-source database technologies: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Oracle, etc.
• Information Security standards and frameworks
• Working in a Scrum-Agile environment
• Workday suite of applications/modules
• Workday data model, security, integrations, and data load capabilities

Working Conditions

This position:

• Contributes in a collaborative teamwork environment
• Collaborates across diverse backgrounds, personalities, and disciplines in a shared space working environment through scheduled and ad hoc meetings focused on problem solving
• May be required to work in a hybrid environment, using remote and on-site workplaces
• While normally has a Monday-Friday day shift, will occasionally have responsibilities or emergent situations where work outside of standard business hours is required to ensure software deployments go smoothly, to respond to incidents, and/or to meet critical deadlines
• May be required to be on call
• Is an essential position and is required to report to work when needed when UW suspends operations

About the Team
This position advances the Office of Research’s mission to support the integration of electronic research information systems both as a data engineer, ensuring the optimized and performance applications with the data layer and, as an administrator, ensuring the security and reliability of ORIS’s core database operations. This will reduce the administrative burden on researchers across the University by improving the amount of time researchers can spend on researching; improving University compliance; and ensuring that the University can continue to be at the forefront of academic research.

Compensation, Benefits and Position Details

Pay Range Minimum:

$117,600.00 annual

Pay Range Maximum:

$124,800.00 annual

Other Compensation:

-

Benefits:

For information about benefits for this position, visit https://www.washington.edu/jobs/benefits-for-temporary-per-diem-and-less-than-half-time/

Shift:

First Shift (United States of America)

Temporary or Regular?

This is a temporary position

FTE (Full-Time Equivalent):

100.00%

Union/Bargaining Unit:

Not Applicable

About the UW 

Working at the University of Washington provides a unique opportunity to change lives – on our campuses, in our state and around the world.  

UW employees bring their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to building stronger minds and a healthier world. In return, they enjoy outstanding benefits, opportunities for professional growth and the chance to work in an environment known for its diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty. 

Our Commitment 

The University of Washington is committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful and welcoming community for all. As an equal opportunity employer, the University considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, pregnancy, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability, or veteran status consistent with UW Executive Order No. 81.

To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 or [email protected]. 

Applicants considered for this position will be required to disclose if they are the subject of any substantiated findings or current investigations related to sexual misconduct at their current employment and past employment. Disclosure is required under Washington state law.