Overview
Database Administrator Jobs in Nairobi County, Kenya at Wizglobal Kenya
Title: Database Administrator
Company: Wizglobal Kenya
Location: Nairobi County, Kenya
WIZGLOBAL KENYA
Job Description
Database Administrator (DBA) – Multi-RDBMS with Programming Skills
Department
Engineering – Platform & Data
Reports To
Technical Manager
Location
Nairobi, Kenya (on-site / hybrid)
Employment Type
Full-time, Permanent
Job Level
Mid – Senior
Deadline – 20th August 2026
JOB PURPOSE
Wizglobal Ltd is looking for a hands-on Database Administrator with strong programming ability to design, secure, and operate the relational database systems that power our financial services platforms. This role blends classic DBA discipline – performance tuning, replication, backup/recovery, and security – with the ability to write production-grade code (SQL, PL/pgSQL, scripting, and application-layer integration) to automate operations and support engineering teams directly.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Administer, monitor, and tune production RDBMS environments (PostgreSQL primarily; working exposure to Oracle and SQL Server across client and legacy systems).
• Design and maintain replication and high-availability topologies (e.g., streaming replication, clustering, connection pooling with PgBouncer or equivalents).
• Own performance engineering: query optimization, index design, execution plan analysis, autovacuum/maintenance tuning, and resolution of lock contention and long-running queries.
• Plan and execute schema migrations, large-scale data migrations, and zero/low-downtime deployment strategies, including timing/impact testing before production changes.
• Write and maintain stored procedures, functions, triggers, and automation scripts (PL/pgSQL, PL/SQL, T-SQL, Python, or Node.js) to support application and operational needs.
• Implement and test backup, restore, and disaster recovery procedures across on-prem and cloud-hosted database clusters; participate in DR drills.
• Enforce database security best practices: role-based access control, encryption at rest and in transit, auditing, and compliance with data protection regulations (e.g., Kenya Data Protection Act 2019) and standards such as ISO 27001 / SOC 2.
• Collaborate with application engineers on data modeling for financial data reporting and operations.
• Build and maintain monitoring, alerting, and observability for database health (e.g., via Elastic Stack, Sentry, or equivalent tools), and lead root-cause analysis for database-related incidents.
• Support CDC/ETL and analytics pipelines (e.g., Debezium/Kafka to ClickHouse or similar) feeding downstream reporting and BI tools.
• Document database architecture, standards, and runbooks, and contribute to configuration management and change control processes.
• Provide day-to-day support and mentorship to development teams on writing efficient, database-friendly application code.
REQUIRED SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 3–6+ years of hands-on DBA experience in production environments, with at least one RDBMS at expert level (PostgreSQL strongly preferred).
• Working knowledge of at least one additional RDBMS – Oracle and/or Microsoft SQL Server – including backup/recovery and basic administration.
• Strong SQL skills, including complex query writing, query optimization, and execution plan analysis.
• Programming proficiency in at least one of: PHP (Laravel), Node.js/JavaScript, Python, or a comparable language, sufficient to write automation scripts and collaborate on application code.
• Solid understanding of database internals: indexing strategies, transaction isolation levels, MVCC/locking, and replication mechanisms.
• Experience with connection pooling (e.g., PgBouncer), high-availability clustering, and disaster recovery design.
• Familiarity with Linux server administration (Ubuntu preferred) and command-line tooling.
• Experience with database activity monitoring/auditing (DAM) tools, e.g. Imperva, to track data access, detect anomalies, and support compliance audits.
• Understanding of data security and regulatory compliance concepts relevant to financial services (data protection, encryption, audit logging).
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, with the ability to work under pressure during incidents.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills for documentation and cross-functional collaboration.
PREFERRED / ADDED ADVANTAGE
• Experience in the financial services, fintech, or asset/fund management domain.
• Exposure to CDC/streaming tools (Debezium, Kafka) and analytics stores (ClickHouse or similar).
• Experience with containerized deployments (Docker) and CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with monitoring/SIEM tooling (Elastic Stack, Sentry) and intrusion detection systems (e.g., Suricata).
• Relevant certifications (e.g., PostgreSQL certification, Oracle OCP, Microsoft SQL Server certification).
KEY COMPETENCIES
• Ownership mindset with strong attention to data integrity and precision.
• Ability to balance proactive engineering with reactive incident response.
• Collaborative approach to working with cross-functional engineering teams.
• Sound judgment when making changes to live, business-critical financial systems.
WHAT WE OFFER
• Opportunity to work on mission-critical financial platforms used by leading financial institutions.
• A collaborative engineering culture with room to grow into senior data engineering or platform architecture roles.
