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