Sr Database Engineer

We are looking for a talented and driven individual to help accelerate our IT program and be a major part in the development of our digital and data-centric culture. The ideal candidate will lead our data engineering and database administration journey while consolidating legacy infrastructure, automating workloads, and pursuing next-generation innovation. This role will contribute to the vision, roadmap, and delivery of modern capabilities utilized by Vital Energy to build data-centric solutions that contribute to business outcomes. This candidate will oversee multiple initiatives related to our Digital Operations portfolio that will modernize our processes and systems while also pushing the limits of technology improvements and innovations. This individual will work with technology leadership to leverage trends that can create business value, identify opportunities for automation and service quality improvement. In addition, the candidate will help build and maintain a highly effective team to foster a culture of digital, innovation and curiosity.

The Senior Database Engineer is responsible for the modernization, performance, design, planning, securing, monitoring and integration of Vital's data infrastructure, and pipelines to support the efficient and effective collection, storage, and analysis of large volumes of diverse data. They will also drive the modernization of our relational database cloud infrastructure, services, and capabilities, while evaluating and researching new technologies that align with the strategic direction of IT and the organization.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under supervision, responsibilities will include but not limited to the following essential functions:

• Architect, build, and optimize data integration frameworks and platforms to ensure seamless data exchange between internal systems, external partners, and cloud-based services
• Design and implement real-time and batch data processing systems to support analytics, reporting, and business intelligence initiatives
• Establish data governance practices, data quality standards, and data security protocols to maintain the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of corporate data assets
• Monitor and support business intelligence and analytics solutions
• Monitor and analyze database performance for performance, reliability, and efficiency, and proactively address any issues or bottlenecks
• Ensure efficient functioning of data storage, access, and process functions in accordance with company security policies and best practices in cloud security
• Identify, analyze, and resolve vulnerabilities
• Lead and mentor junior staff and business users by providing guidance and support in their professional growth and development
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand business requirements, data needs, and challenges, and design comprehensive solutions to address them
• Assist with screening new projects and initiatives to ensure operational readiness
• Document and diagram processes, procedures, standards, and playbooks
• Support and ensure functionality of data pipelines for extraction and cleanliness of process data
• Ensure the service health for critical capabilities within IT is maintained
• Stay up-to-date with emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices in data engineering and leverage them to drive innovation and optimization within the organization
• Available to provide planned and unplanned after-hours support
• Possesses a continuous improvement mindset and proactively looks for opportunities to increase efficiencies, refine processes and cut costs with internal IT processes as well as throughout the business

EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. An advanced degree is a plus
• Proven experience (10+ years) working as a Database Administrator or Data Engineer, with a focus on designing and developing data integrations, migrating databases from on-prem data centers to AWS RDBMS technologies like Oracle RDS and SQL Server RDS, as well as performance tuning and code reviews
• Experience translating SOX and Audit requirements into appropriate controls for relation databases like SQL Server and Oracle
• Proficiency in building and optimizing data pipelines on AWS or Azure using services such as AWS Data Pipeline or Glue
• Strong understanding of data modeling, ETL processes, data normalization/denormalization, and master data management principles within an AWS serverless context
• Experience with version control systems and code deployment strategies within AWS or Azure
• Proficient with development strategies, including Git, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD pipelines
• Prior experience supporting Oil and Gas applications in hybrid on-prem and SaaS environments
• Proficient with agile/product methodology
• Proficient with PowerShell, Python, or equivalent
• Strong proficiency in ANSI-SQL languages
• Successful track-record of designing and implementing enterprise database backup strategies to meet data recovery standards
• Experience planning, documenting, and implementing patching and service pack deployments for database technologies
• Experience designing and implementing security for SQL Server, SQL Server RDS, and Oracle RDS
• In-depth knowledge of cloud-based platforms (primarily AWS or Azure) and expertise across broad technology disciplines such as Serverless, Storage, Data, Networking and Visualization verticals
• Prior experience with data governance programs, data quality, and enhancing data quality across an enterprise
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to translate complex business requirements into technical specifications within the defined data frameworks
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams and present complex ideas related to AWS serverless solutions to non-technical stakeholders.
• Must have an eager mind to tackle interesting and challenging problems that do not have well-established precedents
• Strong understanding of High Availability and Disaster Recovery principles
• Performance analysis, troubleshooting, capacity planning and remediation techniques
• Ability to prioritize work, meet deadlines, achieve goals, and work under pressure in a dynamic and complex environment
• Ability to make timely and independent judgment decisions while working in a fast-paced and results-driven environment
• Ability to develop and promote creative alternatives to solve for business requirements
• Strong focus on automation, monitoring, and documentation
• Naturally curious and nimble learner
• Passionate about mentoring and development of junior team members

COMPENSATION:

Salary is commensurate with experience.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

Work is normally performed in a climate-controlled environment, where exposure to conditions of extreme heat/cold, poor ventilation, fumes and gases is very limited. Noise level is moderate and includes sounds of a normal office environment. No environmental hazards are encountered in performance of normal job duties.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

Work normally requires finger dexterity and eye-hand coordination to operate computer keyboard at moderate skill level. Work may require occasional pushing, pulling, or carrying 40-pound objects such as servers, workstations, monitors, files, documents, boxes, etc. Work involves sitting most of the time but may involve standing and walking for brief periods. Travel is not required.