Database Architect

Job Summary

The Database Architect will be responsible for designing, developing, and administering a healthcare-related common data model. This includes primary responsibility for the definition, creation, and maintenance of enterprise databases and database structures within the organization. The successful candidate will analyze, test, and implement physical database design supporting various business applications, ensuring data recovery, maintenance, data integrity, and space requirements for physical databases are met.

Key Responsibilities

• Create a long-term common data model for integration and interoperability between internal and external systems.
• Research and recommend design criteria, publish standards, and work with development staff to standardize the environment and improve efficiency.
• Create, develop, and review the physical model created from the logical model, ensuring the detailed physical design of data structures and databases complies with standards, guidelines, and procedures.
• Produce entity relationship diagrams, data flow diagrams, database normalization schemata, logical to physical database mapping, DDL, and database commands.
• Manage the implementation and use of the enterprise data dictionary.
• Lead design reviews for database designs, application code, and pre- and post-implementation capacity meetings, estimate sizes of new databases.
• Develop rules, procedures, and standards for the access and maintenance of shared data resources.
• Review the overall physical database structures for considerations of data integrity, performance quality, recoverability, maintenance, and space requirements.
• Communicate complex technical information in a concise and articulate manner.
• Participate in technical strategy meetings to discuss upgrades, capacity planning, performance reporting, and new application designs.
• Participate in the evaluation and recommendation of DBA tools and new DBMS technologies.
• Develop utilities for monitoring and evaluating data quality.
• Assist in the definition and development of database documentation and standards.
• Conduct application transaction volume and traffic analysis and interpret the impact on the database and network performance.
• Design data infrastructure to extract and organize data for authorized individuals to access, identify internal and external data sources, collaborate to determine data storage and organizational needs, and use the information to create and maintain data infrastructure.
• Performance monitoring and tuning: Closely monitor performance, identify problems and implement solutions, ensure the database is running at optimum speed and efficiency.
• Maintain database backup/recovery environment: Assure that data recovery time objectives are established and met, verify implementation of correct backup strategy, develop recovery procedures, support recovery from loss of data caused by user or system error, respond quickly to refresh data.
• Keep database and model at current release and maintenance levels, install supporting products, provide current, stable production and development environments.
• Reorganize database structures as needed: Automate procedures at regular intervals, use tools to reorganize or defragment database table spaces, tables, and indexes, provide an efficient database environment to maximize productivity and improve performance.
• Perform application refreshes on request: Refresh data from one environment to another at the request of the application development staff, execute necessary tasks to accomplish this, including export, drop, create, and import pre-scheduled time to minimize impact, provide application development staff optimal development environment with current data.
• Capacity planning and reporting: Monitor file system space, database allocation, etc., verify efficient use of disk storage, reclaim unused space, optimize space allocation and avoid out-of-space conditions.
• Serve as business liaison to database vendors.
• Work closely with application development staff and clients to help resolve problems, such as performance problems, hardware/software upgrades, application program design reviews, new application setup and implementation, application workload growth prediction and measurement, etc.
• Build and maintain a trusted working relationship with team members.

Requirements

Education, Experience, and Skills/Knowledge

• Requires a bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Master's degree is desirable, equivalent experience acceptable.
• Recent in-depth experience in the design, administration, programming, and support of RDBMSs (e.g., Oracle, SQL Server, DB2) in one or more computing environments (e.g., Unix, z/OS, Windows, Linux, Web).
• Designing, implementing, and optimizing a common data model are a must.
• Demonstrated experience working well with customers of varying levels of technical expertise in high-pressure situations and complex environments.
• It is highly desirable that the individual has earned certification as a developer.
• Experience working with business-critical applications.
• Experience working with high availability applications.
• Thorough understanding of the common data model and solid theoretical knowledge of relational database techniques.
• Skilled in the ability to see the big picture and conceptualize and document creative solutions.
• Experience in designing, modeling, developing, and supporting large RDBMS systems (familiarity with electronic health record systems helpful).
• Extensive experience in logical and physical database design, hands-on data modeling techniques, and development methodology; physical schema design of table spaces, rollback segments, and data files.
• Experience in the design of data extract, data migration, and data queuing facilities.
• Proficiency in the concepts and practice of database normalization techniques.
• Strong working knowledge of state-of-the-art database concepts/design/deployment, recovery techniques, performance monitoring and tuning, structured query language, and relational database design techniques.
• Knowledge of server-side development issues surrounding triggers, stored procedures, and packages.
• Excellent oral and written communications skills.
• Ability to present and explain technical information to diverse types of audiences (management, users, vendors, technical staff) in a way that establishes rapport, persuades others, and gains understanding. Provide mentorship and share subject matter expertise with existing technical staff.
• Ability to write clear proposals and technical documents.
• Solid project management skills, including requirements definition, risk and quality management, schedule management, and ability to manage projects in a cross-functional environment. Ability to synthesize multi-user requirements into a standard approach.
• Ability to weigh various suggested technical solutions against the original business needs and choose the most cost-effective solution.
• Proficiency in several RDBMS-specific middleware tools and utilities to support such activities as monitoring, database migration, DDL management, and replication is required.
• Experience with cross-platform networking in a TCP/IP environment.
• Extensive knowledge of SQL, including programming and optimizing code.
• Extensive knowledge of Azure or AWS.
• Solid programming knowledge of at least one 3GL/4GL/OO4GL language (e.g., C/C++, Perl, Unix shell, Visual Basic).
• Knowledge of Web-enabled GUIs is a plus.
• Demonstrate the ability to effectively apply common sense and follow-through to daily tasks; demonstrate the ability to work with little or no supervision; demonstrate excellent analytical skills; demonstrate the ability to efficiently conduct research and ask appropriate probing questions to complete necessary tasks.
• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit and stand; use phone and headset; use hands, arms, finders to type; answer phones; write; use calculator; demonstrate strength to lift and carry materials weighing up to 10 pounds; demonstrate clear vision to read printed materials and a computer screen; hearing and speech to communicate in person and over the telephone.
• The incumbent must spend long hours in intense concentration. The incumbent must also spend long hours on the computer entering information, which requires attention to detail and high levels of accuracy.
• There are a number of deadlines associated with this position, which may cause significant pressure. The incumbent must also deal with a wide variety of people on various issues.
• Schedule varies depending on business needs; however, company normal business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Friday.