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NWEA has an opening for a full-time Staff/Senior Database Administrator - Postgres at our NW Portland location.



The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) is a growing non-profit organization committed to improving K-12 academic student learning throughout the nation. We offer software solutions that deliver research-based adaptive assessments, detailed reporting of student achievement and growth, and professional training. School teachers and administrators use this information to accurately determine individual student instructional needs, tailor lessons and design school improvement plans. We are searching for talented individuals who desire to make a difference in education by demonstrating a commitment to our mission: Partnering to help all kids learn.

Position summary



The Senior Database Administrator (DBA) leads and provides the direction for database technology and administration for all database environments at NWEA. The DBA is the primary support for all development, test and production database environments to ensure high availability, reliability, appropriate capacity, scalability, backup, recoverability and performance. In addition, the Senior DBA is expected to participate in the 24x7 on-call support rotation.



Job Location: Portland, Oregon


Detailed Description

Responsibilities



Collaborate with others to determine and deploy database solutions to business prioritized requirements, including business continuance and information security along with functional requirements
Install, configure, and test new PostgreSQL databases, perform version upgrades of existing databases
Install, upgrade and maintain all PostgreSQL-related server and administration software
Perform DB profiling and optimization; analyze and propose schema changes to PostgreSQL databases as needed
Proactively monitor activity, utilization, exceptions and database health; propose and deploy appropriate improvements; automate repetitive tasks
Collaborate with team members to create, publish and maintain database deployment methods and procedures for PostgreSQL databases
Collaborate with the Infrastructure Architect to create and maintain database technology roadmaps and deployment plans
Perform database backup and recovery duties; establish standards and schedules for database backups; develop and routinely test recovery procedures for each database; ensure that backup schedules meet the recovery requirements and conforms to all database and data quality policies and standards
Work closely with project teams to ensure project success; coordinate product releases, data structure evolution, and manage and synchronize data promotions between development, test and production environments
Act as the final point of escalation and resolution for data related issues
Provide advanced technical support for database developers
Provide 24x7 database support as part of a rotation of DBAs
Design, implement and maintain archival and high availability strategies


Skills and abilities



· Exceptional knowledge of the PostgreSQL database platform

· Mastery of physical database design

· Expertise in configuring, implementing and supporting high availability strategies with database systems including clustering, and replication

· Mastery of ANSI SQL and/or PL-SQL

· Experience in software development using Perl, Shell, or other scripting languages

· Solution focused and methodical, careful attention to detail

· Solid background using UNIX operating systems – Ubuntu Linux administration a plus

· Experience with SQL Server and/or Oracle database platforms is desirable

· Ability to perform capacity planning which supports the forecasting and purchasing processes

· Ability to implement Database security safeguards and audit them

· Consistently learning about trends and features in DB solutions, able to bring best practices to bear at solving DB and overall application problems

· Ability to work in a high availability production environment where unplanned downtime is not acceptable

· Ability to communicate ideas and designs to all stakeholders, including non-technical audiences



Education and experience



Minimum bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field; equivalent combinations of education and experience will be considered in lieu of a degree
Minimum five years of progressive experience performing PostgreSQL administration in a production environment; experience should include three or more years of database administration in an enterprise level environment with very large (> 1 terabyte) databases


Benefits



NWEA’s generous benefits package includes: Additional monthly compensation in the form of flex pay, group retirement plan with 15% employer contribution, 100% employer paid medical, dental and vision insurance for eligible employees, company paid public transportation and free on-site parking in our lovely office conveniently located near public transportation near the Pearl District in downtown Portland. In addition, the NWEA culture is one that promotes work-life balance. Accordingly, we offer 4 weeks’ PTO in the first year, 5 weeks’ PTO after the first year anniversary, and 6 weeks’ PTO after the second year anniversary and in subsequent years. Our employees also enjoy flexible work schedules.




How To Apply

NWEA is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and we do not discriminate against employees or job applicants on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other status or consideration protected by local, state and federal laws, except where a bona fide occupational qualification applies. Equal opportunity applies to hiring, promotion, training, compensation, and any other organizational action. NWEA's written Affirmative Action Plan is available to all employees and job applicants upon request by contacting Careers@nwea.org.