Cloud & Platform Database Administrator

Cloud & Platform Database Administrator
Lisboa
Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

Who We Are

At VML, Human First is our guiding creative philosophy: we create value for people first, knowing this drives authentic and sustainable brand impact. We are a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse.

We connect Brand Experience, Customer Experience, and Commerce to craft unified, emotionally resonant consumer journeys.

Our 26, 000 people across 50-plus markets are the heart of our company. Their perspectives, local expertise, and cultural insights drive creativity and innovation, making talent our most critical competitive advantage.

The opportunity We're seeking a Cloud & Platform DBA/Database Reliability Engineer to operate, optimize and secure both managed and self‑managed databases that power high‑traffic ecommerce sites. You'll work primarily across AWS and GCP, while also supporting a smaller estate of hosted/on‑prem databases.

Your mission: high availability, performance, security/compliance and cost efficiency—especially during peak events.

What You'll Be Doing

Operate managed databases (cloud):

• AWS RDS/Aurora (My
  SQL/Postgre
  SQL), Google Cloud SQL, Dynamo
  DB, Mongo
  DB , DB2, Oracle.
• Indexing, query plan analysis, schema design for OLTP, connection pool and concurrency tuning.
• Build and support self‑managed databases (hosted/on‑prem/VMs):
• Oracle 19c, IBM DB2 LUW 9. 5–11. 5, My
  SQL/Maria
  DB, Postgre
  SQL, Mongo
  DB on Linux/Unix/Windows.
• Installation, patching, upgrades, parameter/kernel tuning, storage layout (e. G. , ASM/LVM), backup/restore.

High Availability, Resilience And DR

• Cloud: Multi‑AZ, read replicas, Aurora Global Database, cross‑region replication, RDS Proxy;
  
  
  
  PITR/snapshots;
  
  tested RTO/RPO.
• Self‑managed: Oracle Data Guard (and/or RAC exposure), DB2 HADR, My
  SQL replication/Group Replication/Xtra
  DB Cluster, Mongo
  DB replica sets/sharding;
  
  
  
  RMAN, Xtra
  Backup, db2 backup utilities.
• Support for prod and nonprod env, which require backup and restore along with obfuscation of the sensitive data.
• skilled for writting sql/plsql code

Automation And Change Management

• Terraform/Cloud
  Formation for cloud, Ansible for self‑managed, Git
  Ops workflows.
• CI/CD for database changes (Flyway/Liquibase), standards, drift detection, automated patching and failover.
• Observability and performance engineering:
• Cloud
  Watch/Cloud Monitoring, RDS Performance Insights, pg_stat_statements, My
  SQL Performance Schema, Oracle AWR/ASH/Statspack/OEM, DB2 MON/Explain, Datadog/New Relic/Prometheus/Grafana.
• Capacity planning, load/soak testing for peak (e. G. , BFCM), SLOs for latency/availability/throughput, post‑incident reviews.

Security, Compliance And Governance

• IAM least privilege, secrets management (AWS Secrets Manager/Hashi
  Corp Vault), audit logging.
• PCI‑DSS and GDPR controls, data retention/masking, change control and approvals.
• Cost and capacity stewardship:
• Cloud: right‑sizing instances/storage/IOPS, reserved vs on‑demand/serverless choices, Dynamo
  DB capacity modes, cost anomaly detection.
• Self‑managed: capacity forecasting and scaling plans;
  
  
  
  basic license awarenessfor enterprise platforms.

Architecture Collaboration

• Schema evolution, query patterns, caching strategies (Redis/Memcached), read/write segregation.
• Guidance on ORM usage and connection pools;
  
  
  
  patterns for microservices and event‑driven systems (Kafka/Kinesis/Pub/Sub).

Operations And Ways Of Working

• Partner with development, support and architecture teams;
  
  
  
  maintain clear runbooksand documentation.
• Participate in a 24/7 on‑call rotation;
  
  
  
  lead incident response and preventative actions.
• Support and plan migrations between self‑managed and managed services with validation and rollback paths.

What We Want From You

• Hands‑on production experience with managed relational databases in AWS or GCP (RDS/Aurora or Cloud SQL) using My
  SQL or Postgre
  SQL.
• Experience administering at least one self‑managed enterprise RDBMS in Linux/Unix environments (Oracle or IBM DB2 LUW), or strong evidence you can ramp quickly.
• Strong performance tuning skills: execution plans, indexing strategy, slow query analysis, concurrency and connection management.
• HA/DR expertise: replication, failover/runbooks, backups and point‑in‑time recovery;
  
  
  
  setting and meeting RTO/RPO.
• Automation mindset: Terraform/Cloud
  Formation, Ansible, CI/CD for schema changes (Flyway/Liquibase), Git;
  
  
  
  scripting in Python/Bash.
• Security/compliance fundamentals: IAM, encryption in transit/at rest, auditing;
  
  
  
  familiarity with PCI‑DSS and GDPR.
• Clear communication and collaboration;
  
  
  
  ability to coach teams and document best practices.

Desirable Attributes

• Deep Oracle (RAC, Data Guard), DB2 HADR, or advanced Postgre
  SQL/My
  SQL internals.
• Mongo
  DB Atlas and on‑prem Mongo
  DB (Ops Manager/backup, replica sets/sharding).
• Redis/Memcached (Elasti
  Cache/Memorystore), Kafka/Kinesis/Pub/Sub, or Kubernetes‑based app stacks.
• Exposure to analytics platforms (Big
  Query/Snowflake) for operational reporting.
• Experience migrating legacy estates to managed services with minimal downtime.
• Location and ways of working Hybrid working with regular time in our Watford office;
  
  
  
  occasional clientsite visits.
• Participation in an on‑call/out‑of‑hours rotation with appropriate compensation

What We Can Offer You

Alongside the opportunity to work with some of the most exciting brands around the world, we'll also prioritise your career development and help you grow your skills. We'll empower you to make a difference, allow you to be yourself, and respect who you are.

Permanent Only

We offer a great benefits package including training opportunities, medical insurance, Dental insurance, Meal cards, social events, family friendly policies, discounts with hundreds of retailers and much more.

Our personality and behaviours:

We believe that we are what we do, not just what we say. Our shared values and behaviours show how to bring the VML Enterprise Solution's culture to life through the actions we all take every day:

• Connect Meaningfully
• Inspire Creatively
• Include Purposefully
• Approach Positively

Our brilliant, talented people are what makes VML Enterprise Solutions what we are. That's why we look for people who go beyond and always push our thinking to be better than yesterday.

AT VML Enterprise Solutions

Our Enterprise Solutions division houses strategic consultants, creative and technical architects and skilled developers and operators that together help some of the world's leading organisations to deliver outstanding digital experiences across all major routes to market worldwide: marketplaces, online retailers, D2C, B2B and social platforms. With over 4, 200 experts in 55 operational centres across 34 countries, our capabilities span the entire buying journey from customer acquisition, through engagement, to conversion and loyalty, driving
- channel growth for
- leading brands.

We work with some of the most exciting brands such as The Coca-Cola Company, EY, Bosch, Unilever, Ford, DFS, Mercedes-Benz, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Sainsbury's, Selfridges, Shell and Tiffany & Co. We've built over 500 platforms for brands and retailers and generate in excess of $29bn annually for our clients and work with over 50 strategic partners including Adobe, SAP, Salesforce, HCL, Shopify, Sitecore, Big
Commerce, commerce tools and Acquia. Our reputation is based on our people, and we believe we have some of the best in the business.

As our business grows internationally, we're looking for new people to join us on our journey to inspire and take a key role in shaping some of the best commerce solutions, services, and websites in the world. Working as a team, no problem is insurmountable;



we share in our client's successes and believe that anyone can show creative bravery no matter what their role is in the team.

We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we've adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

VML is a WPP Agency. For more information, please visit our website, and follow VML on our social channels via Instagram, Linked
In, and X.

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