Database Administrator III

Want to be part of a team that keeps AccuWeather’s critical database environments reliable, secure, performant, and available around the clock for a global audience? We are looking for an experienced Database Administrator with deep hands-on expertise in SQL Server and PostgreSQL who can take ownership of the health and reliability of our production database systems while helping modernize our database infrastructure for the future. Reporting directly to the Data Architect II overseeing AccuWeather’s data architecture function, this role will serve as a hands-on database administration expert responsible for the day-to-day operational health and long-term reliability of AccuWeather’s database environments. Key responsibilities include performance tuning and optimization, backup and recovery, high availability, security and access management, capacity planning, monitoring and maintenance, and incident and root-cause analysis. The DBA will work closely with the Data Architect and engineering teams to establish strong database standards, improve operational practices, and proactively address reliability and performance concerns. This role will also play an important part in the migration of select backend databases to cloud-based environments, helping assess existing workloads, plan and execute migrations, optimize databases for their target environments, and ensure appropriate performance, security, resiliency, and recoverability throughout the transition. It is an opportunity to combine deep database administration expertise with meaningful involvement in the continued modernization of AccuWeather’s data infrastructure. We are open to hiring candidates to work from our global headquarters in State College, PA, USA, or remotely. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES · Administer SQL Server and PostgreSQL databases end to end — performance tuning, query optimization, indexing strategy, and execution plan analysis. · Design, implement, and regularly test backup, replication, and disaster recovery procedures for databases, ensuring high availability across production environments. · Manage database security — roles, permissions, access control, and auditing. · Monitor and plan for database capacity — storage growth, connection pooling, and resource allocation. · Manage database version upgrades, patching cycles, and configuration tuning. · Perform routine database maintenance — index/statistics upkeep, vacuuming, storage optimization, and space reclamation — to sustain performance over time. · Proactively monitor database health and performance, identifying and resolving issues before they affect production. · Manage cloud cost optimization and capacity planning, including license reporting and true-ups, resource forecasting, and optimization of Azure compute spend through Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, and related strategies. · Partner with the Data Architect and engineering teams to establish database standards, improve operational practices, and proactively address reliability and performance concerns. · Plan and execute database migrations to the cloud, optimizing configurations for target environments, and ensuring performance, security, resiliency, and recoverability throughout the transition. · Build strong working relationships with engineering teams, communicating database constraints and recommendations in terms they can act on. · Share database expertise and best practices with less experienced administrators and engineering team members. · Performs other duties as assigned. QUALIFICATIONS · Required Qualifications: o BA/BS in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, with 5+ years of experience in data operations or database administration, or MS with 3+ years of experience. o Demonstrated experience as a database administrator with SQL Server and/or PostgreSQL, including performance tuning, backup and recovery, high availability, security and access management, and capacity planning. o Advanced SQL/T-SQL proficiency, with working knowledge of at least one scripting language (Python or PowerShell) for database automation. o Ability to design and implement monitoring solutions for database health, performance, and capacity. o Experience with, or strong working knowledge of, migrating databases to cloud-based environments (e.g., Microsoft Azure). o Awareness of the monetary costs associated with operational work. o Demonstrated experience mentoring or coaching less experienced engineers. · Preferred Qualifications: o Experience with advanced replication topologies (e.g., multi-region, active-active) for SQL Server and/or PostgreSQL. o Experience administrating, performance monitoring, troubleshooting, and performing backup/recovery of database systems (e.g. SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Azure SQL or similar systems). o Familiarity with, or willingness to grow into, modern cloud data platforms, including Databricks and Snowflake. Experience with CI/CD automation. o Experience with Azure Data Factory (ADF) for building, orchestrating, and maintaining reliable data ingestion and loading pipelines. o Experience participating in structured post-mortems and root cause analysis for significant incidents. o Familiarity with data governance practices (quality checks, lineage documentation, access control). · Skills & Competencies: o Strong systems thinking; understands how failure in one system cascades to others across a portfolio. o Sound judgment balancing database performance, availability, security, and cost trade-offs. o Excellent written communication; operational health reports are usable by data consumers and leadership without interpretation. o Sound judgment distinguishing proximate causes from systemic causes when writing postmortems. o Mentoring and coaching skills; able to develop the operational judgment of less experienced engineers. o Ability to lead complex incident response and drive systemic reliability improvement independently. ABOUT ACCUWEATHER AccuWeather, recognized and documented as the most accurate and most used source of weather forecasts and warnings in the world, has saved over 12,000 lives, prevented injury to over 100,000 people, and saved companies tens of billions of dollars through better planning and decision-making. Billions of people around the world rely on AccuWeather’s proven Superior Accuracy™ across our consumer digital platforms. AccuWeather.com is the #1 weather destination and one of the top 100 most-visited websites in the world, and our award-winning AccuWeather app delivers detailed real-time forecasts to millions of smartphones. AccuWeather forecasts also appear on digital signage, in 700 newspapers, are heard on over 400 radio stations, and viewed on 100 television stations. The AccuWeather Network and AccuWeather NOW® reach an audience of over 125 million on cable and streaming platforms including DirecTV, Charter Communications