Database Administrator Sr Principal

Type of Requisition:

Regular

Clearance Level Must Currently Possess:

None

Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain:

None

Public Trust/Other Required:

None

Job Family:

IT Infrastructure and Operations

Job Qualifications:

Skills:

AWS Cloud Computing, IBM DB2 Database, Linux, Microsoft SQL Server, Unix

Certifications:

None

Experience:

8 + years of related experience

US Citizenship Required:

No

Job Description:

DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR SR PRINCIPAL

Advance how our customers operate while you advance your career. Join GDIT as a Database Administrator Sr Principal and build an impactful career in enterprise IT, collaborating with people who are driven and resourceful like you.

MEANINGFUL WORK AND PERSONAL IMPACT
We’re seeking a seasoned Senior Database Administrator (DBA) for the NCMMIS program with deep expertise in IBM Mainframe (z/OS), Db2 (z/OS and LUW), Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and AWS Cloud services. In this role, you’ll own the reliability, performance, security, and modernization of mission-critical data platforms across on‑prem, mainframe, and cloud. You’ll lead complex migrations, optimize large-scale databases, automate operations, and partner closely with application, security, and infrastructure teams to deliver resilient, compliant, and cost‑effective data services.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Ownership & Operations
- Administer, configure, and maintain databases across Db2 for z/OS, Db2 LUW, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and AWS (e.g., RDS/Aurora, EC2-based instances, CloudWatch/Config, and backup/DR services).
- Manage schema design, indexing strategies, data partitioning, compression, and workload management for high-throughput transactional and analytical systems.
- Implement and verify backup/restore, HA/DR, log shipping, replication, and failover strategies (native tools and third-party solutions).
- Perform capacity planning and cost optimization (licenses, storage tiers, IOPS, instance sizing), including AWS cost controls and reservations.

Performance & Reliability
- Conduct deep performance tuning: query optimization, execution plans, parallelism, memory, I/O, buffer pools, and connection management.
- Proactively remediate bottlenecks using profilers, DMVs, EXPLAIN/EXPLAIN ANALYZE, Db2 accounting traces, z/OS SMF data, and cloud metrics.
- Establish SLOs/SLAs, observability dashboards, and alerting for availability, latency, and error budgets.

Security, Compliance & Governance
- Enforce security baselines: encryption (at rest/in transit), secrets management, key rotation (KMS/HSM), RACF/TSS for mainframe, least-privilege roles, and auditing.
- Support compliance requirements (e.g., SOX, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR) with robust access controls, data masking, logging, and evidence for audits.
- Partner with InfoSec on vulnerability remediation, patching cadence, and incident response.

Automation, DevOps & Modernization
- Build infrastructure-as-code patterns for database provisioning and configuration (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible).
- Automate routine operations using PowerShell, Python, Bash, REXX/JCL (for z/OS), including jobs for checks, patching, and reporting.
- Lead data migrations and modernization initiatives (e.g., mainframe offload, heterogeneous migrations, schema conversions, and refactoring for cloud-native services).
- Collaborate with engineering to enable CI/CD for database changes, versioning, and repeatable deployments (e.g., Redgate, Liquibase, Flyway).

Consulting & Leadership
- Serve as a subject matter expert for architecture reviews, capacity assessments, and database design guidance.
- Mentor junior DBAs/engineers; establish best practices, runbooks, and knowledge bases.
- Coordinate vendor engagements and manage licensing/commercial considerations.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO SUCCEED
Bring your technology expertise and drive for innovation to GDIT. The Database Administrator Sr Principal must have:
- 8–12+ years of progressive DBA experience across Db2 (z/OS & LUW), SQL Server, and PostgreSQL, including production ownership in enterprise environments.
- Hands-on mainframe experience: TSO/ISPF, JCL, Linux, Db2 utilities, and performance analysis using SMF/IFC data and Db2 traces.
- Proven AWS experience running databases on RDS/Aurora and EC2, with strong knowledge of networking, storage, IAM, and monitoring (CloudWatch).
- Expert-level performance tuning and que