Overview
We are seeking a Director of Database Operations to lead the design, reliability, and operational strategy for mission-critical data infrastructure supporting high-volume transaction systems. This role is responsible for ensuring database performance, scalability, security, and availability in a 24/7 environment.
The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in SQL Server and AWS database platforms, along with strong leadership experience overseeing database teams in high-throughput environments.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and manage a team of database administrators and engineers across production, staging, and development environments
- Oversee database architecture, administration, and operations for Microsoft SQL Server and AWS RDS (Aurora/MySQL)
- Ensure high availability, performance, and scalability of databases supporting transactional systems
- Partner with engineering, DevOps, and security teams to integrate database reliability into CI/CD pipelines and cloud infrastructure
- Drive automation of database operations including deployments, backups, failovers, and scaling
- Implement disaster recovery and business continuity strategies, including geographically redundant architectures
- Monitor and optimize database performance, including query tuning and indexing strategies
- Ensure compliance with data security and regulatory standards such as PCI DSS and SOX
- Evaluate and deploy observability and monitoring tools (e.g., DataDog, Splunk, CloudWatch)
- Lead database modernization initiatives, including migration to cloud-based and managed services
- Manage vendor relationships, service levels, and budget planning for database and infrastructure services
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of leadership experience managing database or operations teams
- 5+ years of hands-on experience supporting or engineering solutions on relational database platforms
- Strong expertise with Microsoft SQL Server (2016+) including high availability and performance tuning
- Experience with AWS RDS, Aurora, and/or MySQL
- Proven experience supporting high-availability, 24/7 production environments
- Strong understanding of database performance, scalability, and operational best practices
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to clearly explain technical concepts
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in fintech, payments, banking, or financial services environments
- Experience with database automation, scripting (PowerShell, Bash), and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation)
- Knowledge of streaming technologies such as Kafka and caching technologies such as Redis
- Experience with Snowflake or other modern data platforms
- Strong understanding of encryption, data security, and regulatory compliance frameworks
- Experience managing high-throughput transaction systems (1,000+ TPS)
- Relevant certifications (AWS Database Specialty, Microsoft SQL/Azure DBA)
Company Description
The professional staffing division of EmployBridge, America's Leading Workforce Specialist:
When our Talent is looking for their next opportunity, we know they are not just looking for their next paycheck. Our Recruiters are experts in their specialized fields and understand that making the right match between the candidate and the company, is the key to long term success.
We are an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.