A Big Opportunity for ...
ROLE PURPOSE
The Senior Database Administrator is responsible for ensuring availability, integrity, confidentiality, and performance of banking databases that support core banking, payment systems, channels, risk, AML, and regulatory reporting.The role ensures full compliance with banking regulations, business continuity requirements, and security standards.
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
Regulatory & Compliance Responsibility (Critical)
- Ensure database systems comply with Central Bank and Financial Regulator directives, ISO 27001, ISO 22301, PCI-DSS (for card/payment systems), and internal IT and Information Security policies.
- Implement and maintain database audit logging, user activity monitoring, and evidence for regulatory and internal audits.
- Support regulatory examinations and IT audits, including Core Banking Systems (CBS), Disaster Recovery (DR), security, and access control.
Core Banking & Mission-Critical System Support
- Administer databases supporting Core Banking Systems (CBS), payment switches (RTGS, ACH, SWIFT, ATM, POS), and Digital Banking (Mobile and Internet Banking).
- Ensure 24x7 availability with zero tolerance for data loss. Participate in major cutovers EOD/EOM/EY processing, and system rollouts.
High Availability (HA) & Disaster Recovery (DR)
- Design, implement, and maintain bank-grade High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) architectures, including Oracle RAC/Data Guard and PostgreSQL/MySQL Replication.
- Ensure compliance with approved RTO/RPO, and Active-Active or Active-Passive DR models.
- Conduct regular DR drills, submit results to BCP/DR committees, and maintain DR runbooks and evidence for regulators.
Data Security & Access Control
- Enforce least-privilege access and segregation of duties between DBA, Application, and Operations teams.
- Implement encryption at rest and in transit, secure credential storage, and database firewall or activity monitoring where required.
- Review and approve privileged access requests and emergency access (Break-Glass) usage, and ensure timely user access revocation.
Backup, Recovery & Data Protection
- Define and maintain backup policies, including online, offline, and offsite backups, together with retention schedules aligned with regulatory requirements.
- Perform and validate backup integrity tests and point-in-time recovery. Ensure backups are encrypted and immutable, where applicable, and support legal, audit, and compliance data retrieval requests.
Performance, Stability & Risk Management
- Proactively monitor transaction latency, locking and contention, and storage and I/O performance. Perform SQL and schema optimization for high-volume banking workloads.
- Identify database-related operational risks, implement mitigation plans, support major incidents, and perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA).
Change & Release Management
- Participate in the Change Advisory Board (CAB). Review and approve database schema changes, patches, and upgrades.
- Ensure all changes follow the Maker-Checker principle and include rollback and contingency plans.
- Support UAT, SIT, and Production deployments.
Monitoring, Automation & Reporting
- Implement enterprise monitoring tools, including OEM, Prometheus, Grafana, and Zabbix. Define KPIs covering availability, performance SLAs, and backup success rates.
- Automate routine operations using scripts while ensuring auditability and produce regular operational and compliance reports.
Documentation & Audit Readiness
- Maintain updated database architecture diagrams, SOPs, runbooks, DR procedures, and backup procedures.
- Ensure documentation meets audit evidence standards and regulatory review expectations. Support internal, external, and regulatory audits.
Leadership & Governance
- Act as the Database Technical Authority. Mentor junior DBAs and review their work. Participate in IT governance committees, including BCP, DR, and Security.
- Evaluate new database technologies with a risk and compliance lens.