Senior Database Administrator

Times Network is seeking an experienced and proactive Senior Database Administrator (DBA) to manage our multi-database environment, encompassing MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, Cassandra, and Elasticsearch. You will be responsible for the stability, performance, security, cost-efficiency, and scalability of our data infrastructure across both development and production environments. (Immediate joiners will be preferred)

Key Responsibilities

Database Operations & Management

• Design, implement, and maintain high availability and replication strategies across all databases.
• Perform scheduled backups and define robust disaster recovery plans, including node-level recovery and cost-based strategy evaluation.
• Manage patching, version upgrades, and migrations with minimal downtime.

Automation & Housekeeping

• Automate regular tasks such as backups, log cleanup, index maintenance, and retention policies.
• Maintain database hygiene by implementing housekeeping jobs and health checks.

Monitoring, Alerting & Metrics

• Set up and maintain comprehensive monitoring and alerting using Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, and other observability tools.
• Collect, analyze, and act on logs and performance metrics to preemptively identify issues.

Performance, Tuning & Scaling

• Oversee initial database setup, tuning, and scaling strategies, including Cassandra compaction/repair and Kafka rebalancing.
• Continuously improve performance through indexing, query optimization, and resource tuning.

Security & Compliance

• Implement and manage user access control, encryption in transit and at rest, and audit logging.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and maintain audit-readiness documentation.

Schema & Query Optimization

• Collaborate with development teams on schema design, versioning strategies, and governance standards.
• Provide guidance on query execution plans and performance analysis.

Capacity & Cost Optimization

• Forecast storage and compute needs, supporting capacity planning and cost-efficient resource allocation.
• Partner with DevOps and engineering to optimize cloud resource usage and database infrastructure costs.

Key Functional Areas

• Backup & Disaster Recovery
• Monitoring, Alerting & Logging
• Automation & Maintenance
• Security & Compliance
• Schema & Query Optimization
• Performance Tuning & Scaling
• Capacity & Cost Planning
• Patch Management & Upgrades

Required Skills & Experience

• 6–10 years of hands-on experience as a DBA managing multiple database technologies.
• Strong knowledge of:
• MariaDB: Query tuning, Galera Cluster, Percona XtraBackup.
• MongoDB: Replica sets, sharding, schema design, aggregation framework.
• Redis: Sentinel, Cluster setup, persistence (AOF/RDB), memory tuning.
• Kafka: Broker setup, topic partitioning, lag monitoring, Kafka Connect.
• Cassandra: Data modeling, compaction, repair strategies, nodetool operations.
• Elasticsearch: Index lifecycle, query DSL, snapshot & restore, Kibana.
• Proficient in Linux administration and scripting (Bash, Python).
• Familiarity with Docker and Kubernetes (especially StatefulSets, Helm charts).
• Experience with CI/CD, Terraform, Ansible, and infrastructure automation.
• Strong understanding of HA architectures, replication models, and distributed systems concepts.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cloud providers: Azure preferred, optional AWS or GCP.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., MongoDB Certified DBA, Azure Certified Database).

Soft Skills

• Analytical mindset with excellent troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills.
• Strong communicator, able to work with DevOps, SREs, and software engineers.
• Comfortable working in production-critical, on-call, or high-pressure environments.

Interested candidates can share their resumes at jyoti.sharma1@timesgroup.com