Expert Database Administrator

Designation: System Database administrator Location: Bangalore Work Mode: Hybrid Shift Time: 11:00 Am - 8:00PM IST Introduction to the job We’re building a production-grade, self-managed Enterprise MongoDB platform running hybrid cloud infrastructure. Today, our estate is a mix of single instances and replica sets. Over the next 12–18 months, we will standardize operations, expand automation/monitoring, and design the path toward a global standard with multi-site resiliency. This IC-track role is the expert technical owner who sets platform standards, leads complex production problem-solving, and mentors a developing operations team while partnering directly with internal customers and application teams. Some Of the things you will be doing: Scope & Authority (What you will own) Define and own MongoDB platform standards (build/config baseline, backup & restore validation, patch/upgrade strategy, monitoring & alert thresholds, and incident runbooks). Lead technical direction for the roadmap to global standardization for MongoDB products (design decisions, operational model, and migration approach). Act as the senior escalation point for complex MongoDB incidents and performance bottlenecks; drive post-incident RCA and systemic fixes. Coach junior operations specialists and administrators to safely execute common tasks through documentation, checklists, and mentorship. Some of the things you’ll be doing Platform Engineering & Operations (Self‑Managed MongoDB on Nutanix VMs) Own day-to-day production administration for single instances and replica sets: provisioning, configuration, upgrades, maintenance, and operational hygiene. Define and enforce repeatable server build standards (naming, sizing, filesystem layout, access patterns, and environment parity across DEV/QA/UAT/PROD). Partner with virtualization/infrastructure teams to ensure MongoDB VMs align with required OS/VM configuration guidance and operational constraints. Implement a durable change process: risk assessment, rollback planning, communications, and CAB/change record readiness as required. Backup, Recovery, and Operational Tooling Own backup and recovery strategy including routine restore tests and documented RPO/RTO expectations. Operationalize tooling (e.g., MongoDB Ops Manager or equivalent) for monitoring, automation, and backup where appropriate; standardize agent deployment and backup configuration. Ensure backup/restore procedures are auditable, repeatable, and transferrable across the team. Performance Engineering & Capacity Planning Lead advanced troubleshooting: slow queries, index strategy, aggregation pipeline performance, replication lag, storage/IO contention, and resource saturation. Partner with application teams on document model design, query patterns, and index alignment to prevent collection scans and recurring performance issues. Create evidence-based capacity plans and right-sizing recommendations (CPU/RAM/disk/IOPS/network) for MongoDB workloads on VMs. Security, Governance & Compliance Implement and maintain MongoDB security controls appropriate to self-managed deployments (authentication, authorization/RBAC, TLS/transport security, audit posture). Drive least-privilege access, credential lifecycle hygiene, and secure operational practices aligned with enterprise security expectations. Partner with security stakeholders to support hardening baselines, evidence collection, and continuous compliance where required. Documentation, Mentoring & Customer Interface Create and maintain runbooks, standards, and operational checklists to reduce key-person risk and enable safe delegation. Mentor junior ops specialists/admins via structured enablement (pairing, lab walkthroughs, on-call coaching, and knowledge shares). Provide crisp, customer-ready communications during incidents and major changes; translate deep technical decisions into clear plans. What success looks like (first 90 days) Complete a current-state assessment (top reliability/security/performance risks; backup validation posture; upgrade/patch cadence; operational gaps). Publish v1 platform standards (replica set baseline, backup/restore validation cadence, monitoring thresholds, incident/runbook library). Deliver a 6–12 month roadmap toward automation maturity and sharding value and readiness (prereqs, design decisions, and operational requirements). What success looks like (6–12 months) Reduced production incidents via systemic fixes, better monitoring, and operational standardization (lower toil, faster MTTR). Clear, repeatable upgrade and change management motions with reliable rollback plans and stakeholder communications. A trained support bench: multiple team members can execute routine operations safely using documented procedures. A validated design and phased plan for sharding/multi-site resiliency, with readiness criteria and operational guardrails. What technical skills, experience, and qualifications do you need? Required Qualifications (Day‑1) 12+ years in database engineering/administration with significant, recent hands-on MongoDB production ownership. Strong experience operating self-managed MongoDB on Linux, including single instances and replica sets (elections/failover, replication health, recovery). Demonstrated ownership of backup/restore, disaster recovery thinking, and routine restore validation. Deep performance engineering capability (index strategy, query/aggregation analysis, replication lag triage, capacity planning). Strong Linux/systems fundamentals relevant to running databases on VMs (storage, IO, CPU/memory, OS services, troubleshooting). Excellent written and verbal communication; able to produce high-quality runbooks/standards and lead incident communications. Required Soft Skills Comfort mentoring and leveling up junior administrators through structured coaching and documentation. Strong customer/stakeholder orientation; sets expectations, explains tradeoffs, and drives work to closure. Calm incident leadership and bias toward measurable outcomes. Preferred Qualifications (Bonus / Nice-to-have) Experience with MongoDB Ops Manager (automation/monitoring/backup), including agent rollout and backup configuration. Experience planning or executing a move toward sharded clusters and developing an operational model for sharding. Infrastructure-as-code / automation experience (e.g., Ansible/Terraform) and CI/CD patterns for operational workflows. Observability tooling experience (metrics/log pipelines, alert tuning, dashboards) across database and host layers. MongoDB certifications (optional): Associate Database Administrator / related credentials, or equivalent demonstrated expertise.