Database Administrator Lead

Job Summary

Aptive Resources is seeking a Database Administrator (DBA), to be part of a team, to support the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Performance Analysis and Integrity (PA&I) for the Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA) Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW). EDW is the source for all data and information about Veterans benefits data. It contains relevant data from each of VBA's transactional systems and arrays the data in a variety of business intelligence reporting for executive managers, business lines and claims processing teams in VBA's Regional Offices. EDW data is used for fraud detection and prevention, financial auditing, and reports to Congress. It is the source for all legal reporting requirements, to include the Government Performance Accounting Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006.

The Lead DBA must have experience with diverse IT projects both large and small within an Oracle environment. You will work within a diverse team and multiple firms supporting one mission. This position will provide and act as the lead Database Administrator for enhancements of the current data warehouse to a more efficient structure that will meet the growing demands of retrieving data and producing integrated reports across VBA business areas.

This position is onsite in Washington, D.C. at the VA facility during the normal operating hours of 0800 - 1700 EST Monday to Friday, excluding Federal holidays.

Primary Responsibilities

Operations and Maintenance (O&M)

• Working with EDW's one Oracle M8 Supercluster database and thirteen (13) application servers operating on Windows and UNIX platforms, provide dedicated O&M support for EDW and its end users.
• Provide technical O&M support to software/databases.
• Develop and deliver a baseline O&M plan for review and approval and update as new data sources or large-scale reports are added.
• Define and execute a sound methodology for conducting routine and ad hoc repairs.
• Analyze known or potential risks and their subsequent impact on the development, deployment, and maintenance of the database applications.
• Provide consistent, reliable reporting on system resources and performance, monitoring alerts and providing system maintenance.
• Collaborate with domain leaders, application and data architects, application developers, infrastructure, and operations teams to understand network performance requirements.
• Enable effective network services governance and outline best practices for network solution design, risk mitigation, and change management.
• Develop and execute methodologies for increasing database /application optimization and standardization.
• Mitigate problems in database by leveling lock contention in transaction processing systems caused by attempts to run large, long-running, analysis queries in transaction processing databases.
• Manage deployment of appropriate upgrades and patches on a timely basis.
• Produce and maintain accurate system documentation.

EDW Application Support:

• Design and implement applications to support department specific needs for uptime, concurrent users, downtime availability and privacy requirements.
• Maintains ongoing communications with support teams regarding application issue resolution and general application support.
• Works with developers, system engineers and vendors for support with resolving issues and developing/maintaining platform strategy.
• Maximize the value applications derive from network services.
• Provides mentoring, guidance, and professional development support to others on the team.

Database Management, Architecture, Design and Development

• Create and/or implement logical data models that represent the abstract structure of assigned information in the form of data cubes and or star schemas.
• Provide a single common data model for all data of interest, integrating the data regardless of the data's source using common design and normalization, while organizing and disambiguating repetitive data.
• Congregate data to single database so a single query engine can be used to present data in operational data storage to ensure accurate metadata.
• Maintain data history, even if the source transaction systems do not.
• Develop tables: heap or index-organized tables, and table or indexed clusters.
• Improve data quality, by providing consistent codes and descriptions, flagging or even fixing/cleansing bad data.
• Restructure the data so that it makes sense to the business users.
• Make decision-support queries easier to write, helping support the accelerated development of business intelligence and reporting capabilities.
• Restructure the data so that it delivers excellent query performance, even for complex analytic queries, without impacting the operational systems.
• Understand and optimize materialized views and partitioning schemes.
• Analyze and recommend the most effective approach and timeline for delivering desired architectural enhancements in the form of a White Paper for review and approval.
• Provide subject matter expertise in database development tools and various optimization techniques.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or other related degree.
• 4+ years of IT Database Administrator experience.
• Oracle Database Administrator (DBA) Certification.
• Lead dedicated operations and maintenance (O&M) support.

• Highly organized, systematic and proactive in delivering materials and meeting client expectations within a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated expert knowledge in problem identification, alerting, troubleshooting, and incident resolution.
• Capable self-starter with a drive to get all types of work done and high attention to detail.
• Experience with baseline O&M plan and updates for new data sources or large-scale reports.
• Ability in leveling lock contention in transaction processing systems caused by attempts to run large, long-running, analysis queries in transaction processing databases.
• Be considered a subject matter expert in any or all development tools such as Structured Query Language (SQL), PL*SQL, Unix shell scripts, Informatica, OBIEE, PowerBI and Tableau reports as well as various optimization techniques.
• Ability to obtain and maintain public trust clearance.
• Legal authorization to work in the U.S.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience in influencing network strategy and drive transformation by partnering with business and IT leadership.
• Requisite skills and technical expertise to utilize modeling and data analytics tools.
  • Statistical Analysis System (SAS) Advanced Analytics Pro (Base model 9.4 SAS, SAS/STAT, SAS/GRAPH)
  • SAS Enterprise Business Intelligence (BI)
  • SAS/OR, SAS Enterprise Guide, JMP
  • Simulation Studio for JMP
  • Enterprise Miner
  • Forecast Server; SAS/IML
  • SAS/ACCESS for Oracle
  • Informatica
  • OBIEE; APEX
  • SQL, PL*SQL
  • Tableau
  • Power BI
  • Oracle Database Modeling
  • C Sharp
  • UNIX Shell scripting
  • Microsoft Excel, and all Microsoft Office Suite
• Ability to secure cloud services and analyze cloud service security requirements and solutions.
• Knowledge of IT security and risk management.
• Knowledge of Government Consulting environment.
• Strong critical thinking and analytical skills.
• Ability to communicate thoughts, ideas and solutions logically both written and orally.
• Strong critical thinking and analytical skills.
• Proven ability to organize, prioritize, and work well with others.
• Ability to get up to speed quickly on complex issues; desire to work in a fast-paced, rapidly evolving environment.
• Experience in communicating detailed and technical concepts to a diverse audience.

About Aptive

Aptive is a modern federal consulting firm focused on human experience, digital services, and business transformation. We harness creativity, technology, and culture to connect people and systems to impact the world. We're advisors, strategists, and engineers focused on people, above all else.

We believe in generating success collaboratively, leaving client organizations stronger after every engagement and building trust for the next big challenge. Our work inspires people, fuels change and makes an impact. Join our team to be part of positive change in your community and our nation.

EEO Statement

Aptive is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, parental status, veteran status, age, disability, or any other protected class.

Veterans, members of the Reserve and National Guard, and transitioning active-duty service members are highly encouraged to apply.