Database Associate Jobs in North Carolina (NOW HIRING)

IntroductionAhold Delhaize USA, a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, is part of the U.S. family of brands, which also includes five leading omnichannel grocery brands – Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop. Ahold Delhaize USA associates support the brands with a wide range of services, including Finance, Legal, Sustainability, Commercial, Digital and E-commerce, Technology and more.

OverviewThe Manager III - Database Engineering is responsible for the strategic leadership, operational management, engineering maturity, security compliance, and service delivery of the enterprise database platforms supporting Ahold Delhaize USA. This role provides leadership for all database technologies including Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and cloud-based database services while ensuring availability, recoverability, security, lifecycle compliance, and operational excellence across the Database Services domain.
The Manager leads internal associates, managed service providers, contractors, and vendor partners to deliver database services aligned to business objectives, regulatory requirements, NIST/CIS security standards, disaster recovery objectives, and enterprise modernization initiatives. This leader is accountable for database engineering strategy, platform governance, service quality, lifecycle management, automation adoption, financial stewardship, and continuous service improvement.
Our flexible/hybrid work schedule includes 3 in-person days at one of our core locations and 2 remote days. Our core office locations are Salisbury, NC; Chicago, IL; Quincy, MA.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.

ResponsibilitiesLeadership and Team Management

• Lead the Database Engineering organization supporting all enterprise database platforms and services.
• Provide leadership, coaching, mentoring, workforce planning, succession planning, and performance management for database engineering personnel.
• Establish organizational priorities, objectives, service metrics, and strategic roadmaps for the Database Services domain.
• Foster a culture of accountability, operational excellence, knowledge management, documentation, and continuous improvement.
• Eliminate key-person dependencies through cross-training, documentation, and succession planning.

• Own the enterprise database technology roadmap and long-term engineering strategy.
• Establish engineering standards, architecture guidelines, lifecycle policies, and operational practices for database platforms.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture and Solution Delivery teams to ensure new solutions align with database standards and enterprise architecture principles.
• Lead modernization efforts involving cloud database services, automation, infrastructure-as-code, database standardization, and platform optimization.
• Drive technology currency initiatives, including lifecycle upgrades and elimination of unsupported platforms.

• Maintain operational responsibility for Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Azure database services.
• Ensure database availability, performance, recoverability, resiliency, and operational support meet business requirements.
• Direct support for major incidents, problem management investigations, root cause analysis activities, and corrective action programs.
• Oversee disaster recovery readiness, backup validation, restoration testing, and business continuity planning.
• Establish and monitor service-level objectives and key operational performance indicators.

• Lead implementation of NIST, CIS, audit, and cybersecurity requirements within the Database Services domain.
• Ensure vulnerability remediation, patch currency, access management, encryption, and audit controls are effectively implemented.
• Own remediation activities related to internal audits, external audits, governance reviews, and security assessments.
• Maintain compliance reporting and technical risk management processes.
• Approve or escalate security exceptions and compensating controls as required.

• Serve as the business owner for database-related managed service providers and technology vendors.
• Establish performance expectations, service metrics, and operational governance processes.
• Conduct regular service reviews, operational reviews, and continuous improvement activities with service providers.
• Ensure third-party partners satisfy contractual obligations related to service delivery, documentation, operational procedures, and engineering standards.
• Participate in contract, licensing, and sourcing discussions impacting database technologies.

• Develop and manage database-related operational and project budgets.
• Oversee software licensing, vendor renewals, support agreements, and financial planning activities.
• Prioritize investments that improve reliability, security, automation, compliance, and platform modernization.
• Support enterprise project portfolio planning and execution for infrastructure and application initiatives requiring database services.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of progressive experience supporting enterprise database technologies.
• 5+ years of leadership experience managing database engineering, infrastructure engineering, or enterprise technology teams.
• Advanced expertise with Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and cloud database technologies.
• Experience managing highly available, business-critical database environments operating 24x7.
• Experience supporting large enterprise, retail, distribution, supply chain, manufacturing, or comparable environments.
• Experience leading managed service providers and offshore delivery organizations.
• Strong knowledge of ITIL, Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Disaster Recovery, and Service Delivery frameworks.
• Strong knowledge of cybersecurity, audit, compliance, NIST, and CIS standards.
• Demonstrated success leading modernization, automation, cloud migration, and infrastructure transformation initiatives.

• Master's degree in Information Technology, Engineering, Computer Science, or Business Administration.
• Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure, AWS, ITIL, CISSP, PMP, or similar industry certifications.
• Experience supporting Rubrik, Datadog, SolarWinds, Rapid7, Microsoft Defender, and enterprise observability solutions.
• Experience managing enterprise database licensing and vendor relationships.
• Experience leading infrastructure modernization and cloud transformation programs.