Senior Database Administrator/Engineer

Summary

Job Summary

The Data Engineering team within the University of Colorado Boulder Office of Information Technology (OIT) encourages applications for a Senior Database Administrator/Engineer! Part of the Data & Analytics (D&A) division, this team designs, develops, and maintains high-quality data infrastructure and products that support campus IT and analytics. We collaborate with partners across CU Boulder and the CU System to improve academic and administrative data services. The team works with a range of database technologies, including MS SQL Server, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and others. This role may also support campus cloud initiatives, such as the implementation of Snowflake for analytics infrastructure.

In this role, the Administrator/Engineer is responsible for designing, implementing, and administering enterprise-scale database architecture—both on-premises and in the cloud. This involves leading all aspects of high-availability environments, ensuring 24/7 service reliability, and providing performance tuning, organizational change, and incident response. The position requires expertise in deploying, operating, and supervising fast, scalable database technologies, setting technical direction for database architecture, maintaining data integrity, and supporting data integration needs. The role also involves eliciting customer requirements, curating data models, developing technical standards, and leading solutions for sophisticated database challenges. In doing so, this role works closely with data engineers, data modelers, software engineers, site reliability engineers, data scientists, and diverse campus partners.

While working with the Director of Data Engineering, the Senior Database Administrator/Engineer role operates with significant independence and autonomy, using discretion in how objectives are achieved, and collaborates closely with the Windows Infrastructure team, the Linux Platform team, and other OIT units. Though it has no direct supervisory responsibilities, it is expected to provide cross-training and knowledge-sharing. This position participates in a 24/7 on-call rotation to ensure the availability and integrity of critical enterprise services.

The University of Colorado Boulder is committed to building a culturally diverse community of faculty, staff, and students dedicated to contributing to an inclusive campus environment. We are an Equal Opportunity employer, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Vision

Who We Are

• Office Information Technology will be valued by campus as a strategic, inclusive and innovative partner in advancing learning and discovery in order to enable CU Boulder to be a premier public university.
  
  

Mission

• Office Information Technology enables campus priorities by providing high-value IT services and solutions.
  
  

Values

• Trust, as a foundation for how we engage with one another and with campus partners, along with
• Avid curiosity in how to better support the campus and our stakeholder’s while
• Fostering empowerment and authentic engagement among ourselves and
• Celebrating inclusivity that promotes a sense of belonging while acknowledging that each person is unique and valued.
  
  

Strategy

• Office Information Technology will advance learning and discovery by delivering high-value reliable IT services and solutions that:
• Provide a fluid and adaptable academic and student experience
• Enable research competitiveness and
• Deliver core infrastructure and enterprise IT services for business effectiveness.
  
  

Based on our departmental goals and our commitment to diversity and inclusive excellence, CIO Information Technology particularly welcomes applications from candidates whose knowledge, skills, and abilities, and desire to contribute to an inclusive campus environment, will help us achieve our vision of a diverse and inclusive community.

Responsibilities

What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be

Database Administration and Operations:

• Supervise operational database administration, including database installations, upgrades, patching, monitoring, performance tuning and optimization of database infrastructure to ensure the highest level of availability and continuity of these services.
• Ensure the availability, performance, and integrity of database services by managing system changes, including installation of system patches and hotfixes, responding to service outages or events, tuning performance, optimizing queries, and developing appropriate monitoring checks.
• Develop and implement automated processes for database backups, failovers, monitoring, and alerting.
• Provide support for development and testing including test data setup, automated testing scenarios, and dev/test environment data refreshes.
• Administer database replication between servers, across Local Area Network and Wide Area Network for high availability and disaster recovery.
• Conduct root cause analysis of problems and implement solutions to prevent recurrence and minimize customer impact.
• Maintain comprehensive documentation for database configurations, policies and procedures.
• Ensure compliance with security and governance standards for data infrastructure, including implementing automated access controls and security audits.
• Participate in project management for database projects and initiatives in conjunction with the data engineering team.
• Under minimal mentorship, lead projects and resource management, while supporting infrastructure solutions that meet business needs.
• Provide 24x7 production database support on a rotating basis.
  
  

Data Engineering, Modeling, And Integration

• Design and implement data integrations and database solutions that support operational and analytical business processes, including logical and physical data models, roles and grant taxonomies, and database objects.
• Enhance and automate CI/CD pipelines for database changes, deployments, and data pipelines.
• Collaborate with data engineers, analysts, and partners to understand requirements and deliver reliable data solutions.
• Develop and maintain documentation for database configurations, data integrations, and standard operating procedures.
  
  

Professional Development And Innovation

• Stay ahead of trends in database administration and data engineering practices.
• Research and propose new tools, frameworks, and practices to improve database reliability and data pipeline efficiency.
  
  

What You Should Know

• This position is in a hybrid work situation, This position may infrequently be expected to come on-site, 1 - 2 times per year. Applicants from outside of Colorado are encouraged to apply.
• Includes a rotation for 24/7, 365 on-call support.
  
  

What We Can Offer

• Salary: $88,638 - $99,725.
  
  

Benefits

The University of Colorado offers excellent benefits , including medical, dental, retirement, paid time off, tuition benefit and ECO Pass. The University of Colorado Boulder is one of the largest employers in Boulder County and offers an inspiring higher education environment. Learn more about the University of Colorado Boulder .

Be Statements

Be balanced. Be flexible. Be Boulder.

What We Require

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent combination of education and experience may substitute.
• 3 years of experience in database administration within an enterprise environment, including:
• Database installation, patching, monitoring, upgrades, tuning, and support.
• Advanced SQL development, query optimization, and performance tuning, including relational or transactional data modeling.
• Business analysis, project management, or working with key collaborators in a customer facing role.
• Knowledge of and/or experience with:
• Microsoft SQL Server, including configuration, monitoring, and solutions for failover clustering and availability groups.
• Database technologies including MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MariaDB, and/or similar.
• Unix shell commands, bash scripting, or other command line tools.
• Functional understanding of APIs and web application architectures, IP networking, routing, and DNS.
• Version control (e.g. Git), continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD), testing strategies, and the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
  
  

What You Will Need

• Ability to work independently, research and implement technical solutions, proactively ensure proper availability of systems/services.
• Ability to support database availability and performance independently.
• Proven good interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, particularly strong customer skills interacting with key partners.
• The ability to work well in team environments and contribute to a positive work culture.
• Commitment to the values of welcoming and belonging.
  
  

What We Would Like You To Have

• 3 years of Microsoft SQL database services related experience in a critical/high-availability enterprise-level environment, which includes administering SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), or SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).
• Experience administering and optimizing cloud data platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake, etc.).
• Developing and deploying dbt models or similar data transformation workflows.
• Familiarity with monitoring tools (Nagios, Naemon, Datadog, etc.).
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code (IaC) tools like Terraform or Ansible.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, etc.).
• Knowledge of networking, communications, and routing applications databases such as PCR360 or Intrado, and/or MS Teams.
• Familiarity with data in higher education, such as knowledge of common student information systems and human capital management.
• ITIL Foundation certification.
  
  

Special Instructions

To Apply, Please Submit The Following Materials

• A current resume.
• A cover letter that specifically tells us how your background and experience align with the requirements, qualifications, and responsibilities of the position.
  
  

We may request references at a later time.

Please apply by March 16, 2025 for consideration.

Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email. For consideration, please apply through CU Boulder Jobs.

In compliance with the Colorado Job Application Fairness Act, in any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.