Position Title: Cloud Database Administrator (DBA)
Reports Directly To: Director of IT Operations
Location: Remote / Hybrid, Columbia, MD
Hours Per Week: Full Time
Risk Designation: High

Job Summary

The Cloud Database Administrator (DBA) will serve as the primary owner and steward of our cloud database platforms. This role will be responsible for the reliability, performance, security, cost efficiency, and governance of databases supporting business-critical and healthcare applications. CSS maintains a significant amount of Protected Health Information (PHI) across Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, and Azure Storage services. The Cloud DBA will design and operate secure, highly available, and compliant database platforms while partnering closely with IT and development teams to enable scalable application growth. This role blends hands-on technical leadership with strategic ownership-establishing standards, driving automation, and evolving the database platform as CSS continues to scale in the cloud.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The essential functions include, but are not limited to, the following below. Other duties may be assigned.

Database Platform Ownership
• Serve as the primary owner for the design, implementation, and ongoing operation of cloud database platforms across the organization
• Define and maintain database standards, best practices, and operational procedures.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance on database architecture and service selection

Cloud Database Administration
• Implement, administer, and maintain Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, and Azure Storage data stores in a primarily PaaS-based Azure environment
• Ensure database availability, performance, scalability, and data integrity across all supported systems
• Plan and execute database upgrades, maintenance, and migrations, including transitions from IaaS/VM-hosted databases to PaaS services

Security, Compliance, and Governance
• Design and enforce database security controls including environment isolation, RBAC, encryption at rest and in transit, auditing, and data masking
• Support HIPAA and other regulatory requirements related to PHI/PII, including audit readiness and security assessments
• Implement and automate data governance and retention policies to support compliance and cost optimization

Backup, Disaster Recovery, and Reliability
• Design, implement, and regularly test backup, restore, and disaster recovery strategies to meet defined RPO/RTO requirements.
• Establish and maintain high-availability and resiliency patterns appropriate to each database workload.

Performance, Monitoring, and Cost Optimization
• Implement monitoring, alerting, and performance baselines using Azure-native and/or third-party tools
• Lead performance tuning efforts, including query optimization, indexing strategies, and capacity planning
• Monitor and optimize database resource usage to control cloud costs through scaling strategies, tier selection, and automation

Automation & DevOps Integration
• Automate database provisioning, configuration, maintenance, and governance processes using scripting and Infrastructure-as-Code
• Partner with development teams to support and streamline CI/CD workflows, schema versioning, and controlled database change management
• Improve operational efficiency through automation and repeatable deployment patterns

Incident Management & Collaboration
• Act as the escalation point for complex database-related incidents and outages.
• Perform root cause analysis and post-incident reviews; drive corrective and preventive actions.
• Collaborate closely with IT, development, security, and leadership stakeholders to align database strategy with organizational goals

Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, the candidate must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Strong understanding of database architecture, internals, and operational best practices
• Proven ability to secure and manage databases containing sensitive health data
• Detail-oriented with exceptional problem-solving and troubleshooting skills
• Ability to communicate complex technical topics to both technical and non-technical audiences

Experience and/or Education Requirements
• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or equivalent experience
• 5+ years of experience in database administration or cloud database engineering roles
• 3+ years of hands-on experience managing cloud databases in Microsoft Azure, with a strong emphasis on PaaS services
• Demonstrated experience in multi-server cloud database environments and multi-terabyte scale
• Demonstrated experience with:
o Azure SQL
o PostgreSQL
o Cosmos DB
o Azure Storage
• Strong experience implementing:
o Backup and disaster recovery strategies
o Security controls for PHI/PII
o Monitoring and performance tuning
o Automation via scripting and/or Infrastructure-as-Code
• Demonstrable experience identifying and implementing newly released or previously unused database platform features

Preferred Experience
• Experience supporting healthcare or regulated environments managing PHI/PII
• Familiarity with Databricks and data analytics workloads
• Experience supporting .NET-based application environments
• Exposure to Terraform, Bicep, ARM templates, PowerShell, or Azure DevOps
• Prior experience acting as the lead or sole DBA for an organization or platform
• Familiarity with modern vectorization techniques, storage, and service solutions to support RAG and full text search product functionality

Compensation
Targeted base salary: $140k - $160k per year, based on experience and qualifications, plus benefits and bonuses.