[Hiring] Database Administrator Senior Principal @General Dynamics Information Technology

Role 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.

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
• 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.

Qualifications

• 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 query optimization; adept with execution plans, indexing, partitioning, and statistics maintenance.
• Strong command of backup/restore, replication, HA/DR, and business continuity across on-prem and cloud.
• Practical automation skills with PowerShell, Python, Bash, and mainframe scripting (REXX, JCL).
• Solid grasp of security, compliance, and audit practices; experience with encryption, RBAC, auditing, and key management.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and incident leadership under pressure.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certifications: AWS Certified Database – Specialty, AWS SysOps Administrator, AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate, IBM Db2 certifications, Microsoft DP‑300 (Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure), PostgreSQL Professional.
• Experience with modern data ecosystems (e.g., Kafka, Snowflake, Redshift) and ETL/ELT tooling (e.g., Informatica, dbt, SSIS, AWS Glue).
• Experience with Observability tooling (e.g., CloudWatch, Grafana/Prometheus, Datadog, Dynatrace, Idera, Redgate).
• Familiarity with ITIL, Agile, and DevOps practices; prior work enabling database change automation and release governance.

Core Competencies

• Systems Thinking: Balances reliability, performance, cost, and risk across hybrid environments.
• Operational Excellence: Builds resilient processes and automation-first solutions.
• Security Mindset: Designs for least privilege and auditability; anticipates threats.
• Collaboration: Influences cross-functional decisions and mentors teammates.
• Ownership & Judgment: Drives outcomes; makes clear trade-offs under ambiguity.

Tools & Technologies

• Mainframe: z/OS, TSO/ISPF, JCL, RACF/TSS, IBM Data Studio, Db2 utilities (RUNSTATS, REORG, COPY/RECOVER)
• Relational DBs: Db2 LUW, SQL Server (SSMS/DMVs), PostgreSQL (psql/EXPLAIN), Redgate/Idera
• Cloud: AWS RDS/Aurora, EC2, S3, KMS, CloudWatch, Parameter Store/Secrets Manager, Ingestion and Integration Services
• Automation/Infra: Terraform/CloudFormation, Ansible, Git, CI/CD (Azure DevOps/GitHub Actions)
• Data Modeling: Idera ER/Studio, Erwin Data Modeler

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits and wellness packages
• 401K with company match
• Competitive pay and paid time off
• Full-flex work week to own your priorities at work and at home
• Award-winning culture of innovation and a military-friendly workplace