Advanced Database Administrator

MySQL, Oracle + Postgres
UNITED STATES
September 18, 2026
Full Time
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Job Description

Company: Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)
Location: New York, NY (2 Broadway, New York, NY 10004)
Workplace Type: Hybrid (Eligible for teleworking 2 days per week; new hires eligible to apply 30 days after effective date of hire)
Employment Type: Permanent
Pay / Compensation: $140,828 – $166,223

About the Role

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is North America’s largest transportation network, serving a population of 15.3 million people across a 5,000-square-mile travel area surrounding New York City, Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut. The MTA network comprises the nation’s largest bus fleet and more subway and commuter rail cars than all other U.S. transit systems combined. MTA strives to provide a safe and reliable commute, excellent customer service, and rewarding opportunities.

The Advanced Database Administrator serves as a senior technical expert responsible for the design, implementation, optimization, and ongoing management of the organization’s database environments. This role ensures data integrity, security, availability, and performance across complex, multi-platform, on-premises, and cloud database systems. The Advanced DBA supports database architecture and capacity planning, implements performance tuning, and maintains high-availability and disaster recovery solutions. Acting as a technical leader within the team, this role provides guidance to junior staff, collaborates across IT domains, and contributes to best practices, standards, and operational improvements to ensure reliable, secure, and high-performing database services.

Hours of Work: 9:00 am – 5:30 pm (7.5 hours/day) or as required.

What You’ll Do / Key Responsibilities

  • Contribute to database architecture and design within assigned environments, supporting scalable, secure, and high-performing database platforms for critical business applications.
  • Serve as a technical subject matter expert (SME) on multiple database technologies, providing guidance on integration, optimization, and modernization projects.
  • Support database technology roadmaps and platform improvements, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards and business requirements.
  • Resolve complex database performance, scalability, and resilience issues, coordinating troubleshooting and implementing effective remediation solutions.
  • Evaluate emerging database technologies to support future platform enhancements, providing recommendations to senior leadership or project teams.
  • Collaborate with business and technical stakeholders to identify opportunities for leveraging data to improve business processes and system performance.
  • Design, engineer, and document database solutions and technical standards, ensuring alignment with business objectives and architectural guidelines.
  • Implement and maintain disaster recovery (DR) and high-availability (HA) solutions (including replication, clustering, mirroring, and failover setups) to minimize service disruption.
  • Develop and execute database backup strategies, including scheduling, validation testing, and documentation, meeting defined RTO and RPO objectives.
  • Plan and coordinate database installations, upgrades, and maintenance activities.
  • Provide technical guidance and mentoring to junior or mid-level DBAs, promoting best practices and efficient workflows.
  • Ensure data consistency, integrity, and availability (CIA) through robust database design, configuration, and lifecycle management practices.
  • Monitor database performance using diagnostic tools and metrics, identifying trends and proactively addressing potential issues.
  • Perform advanced SQL optimization, including query tuning, indexing strategies, and configuration adjustments across platforms.
  • Implement automation and scripting solutions (e.g., Shell, Python, Ansible) to proactively identify and remediate performance bottlenecks, reduce manual administrative effort, and improve reliability.
  • Conduct system health checks and recommend operational or configuration improvements to optimize resource utilization.
  • Participate in disaster recovery testing exercises, validating procedures, documenting results, and supporting continuous improvement efforts.
  • Implement database security policies, access controls, encryption, and authentication procedures in accordance with standards.
  • Participate in security audits and vulnerability assessments, assisting with remediation of identified risks.
  • Configure and maintain monitoring frameworks to track database performance, availability, and usage trends.
  • Respond to incidents affecting database performance, connectivity, or data integrity, ensuring timely resolution and performing root cause analysis for recurring issues.
  • Support integration with enterprise identity platforms, such as Active Directory, to ensure secure and centralized authentication.
  • Execute cross-platform data transport, including transportable tablespaces, endian conversion, and platform migration support.
  • Observe work performed by contractors, review/approve invoices based on contractual standards, address performance issues, and escalate issues when needed.
  • Perform other duties as assigned and comply with all policies and standards.
  • May be required to work hours outside regular work hours, as applicable.

Requirements & Qualifications

  • Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Arts/Sciences (BA/BS). An additional 4 years of combined education and experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
  • Experience: Minimum 8 years of relevant experience.
  • Core Certification: Requires at least one certification in the current platform/domain/technical skill. Possible certifications include:
    • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
    • AWS Certified Solution Architect – Associate & Professional
    • Azure Administrator Associate
    • Fundamental knowledge of Oracle AWS RDS or Azure cloud
    • Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect
    • Microsoft Azure Administrator / Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
    • Oracle Database Administrator certification (e.g., OCP or OCE)
  • Technical Expertise:
    • Expertise installing, configuring, and administering Oracle Database platforms (11g, 12c, 19c) in complex enterprise environments.
    • Proficient in managing multiple relational database platforms, including Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL, with a focus on cross-platform integration and interoperability.
    • Skilled in database provisioning, cloning, and migration using DBCA, SQL scripting, and Oracle Data Pump.
    • Advanced experience designing and implementing backup, recovery, and cloning strategies using RMAN, Flashback technologies, and Recovery Catalogs.
    • Expert in database security and compliance (user/role management, privilege assignment, auditing, regulatory controls).
    • Advanced SQL performance tuning and query optimization using AWR, ASH, ADDM, and SQL Monitor reports.
    • Strong expertise in query execution plan analysis using EXPLAIN PLAN, DBMS_XPLAN, SQL Trace, and TKPROF.
    • Database and instance performance tuning expertise (SGA, PGA, I/O optimization, parallel execution).
    • Hands-on experience configuring, patching, and troubleshooting Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) for high availability and scalability.
    • Implementation and management of Oracle Data Guard and Active Data Guard solutions (monitoring, switchover, failover, DR planning).
    • Configuration and administration of Oracle GoldenGate replication (conflict detection, resolution, cross-environment synchronization).
    • Design, implementation, and maintenance of Automatic Storage Management (ASM) environments.
    • Proficient in provisioning and managing Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) database services (Autonomous Database, Exadata Cloud Service, OCI DB Systems).
    • Experience leveraging automation and scripting (e.g., Shell, Python, Ansible).
    • Experience with capacity planning, performance benchmarking, and advanced diagnostics.
  • Behavioral Skills & Competencies:
    • Advanced interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills to effectively collaborate with technical and non-technical peers.
    • Adept in critical thinking, risk analysis, problem-solving, and decision-making.
    • Ability to work independently, strategically, and effectively under pressure to meet deadlines.
    • Proven ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and prioritize tasks based on urgency and impact.
    • Strong competencies in cultivating innovation, customer focus, tech-savviness, and valuing diversity.

Other Information Pursuant to the New York State Public Officers Law & the MTA Code of Ethics, all employees who hold a policymaking position must file an Annual Statement of Financial Disclosure (FDS) with the NYS Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (the “Commission”).

Equal Employment Opportunity MTA and its subsidiary and affiliated agencies are Equal Opportunity Employers, including with respect to veteran status and individuals with disabilities. The MTA encourages qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and abilities, including military service members, to apply.

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