DreamWorks Technology - Database Administrator

DreamWorks Animation is looking for more adventurous dreamers who shoot for the moon. We tell stories about the journeys our unconventional heroes take to make dreams come true. As a growth-minded studio, we pride ourselves on being one of the world's leading producers of high-quality, award-winning, animated films and series, reaching consumers around the globe. We push to feel more, laugh more, and build immersive new worlds.

Comcast NBCUniversal has announced its intent to create a new publicly traded company ('SpinCo') comprised of most of NBCUniversal's cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine. The well-capitalized company will have significant scale as a pure-play set of assets anchored by leading news, sports and entertainment content. The spin-off is expected to be completed during 2025.

DreamWorks creates a diverse array of original content in a variety of formats, delivering compelling stories with unique characters. We place tremendous value on the experiences our talent brings to the table from their own non-traditional paths to success. We believe in frequent communication and that transparency and trust yield the best work. We are a community of artists, technologists, innovators, and creators, who are passionate about animation and also happen to love eating lunch together. 

It takes 80 million CPU hours, 500 million files and 350 TB of data to make a DreamWorks Animation film. Our studio is using microservice architectures with a variety of underlying data stores to handle the scope and scale that is required of film production. The Data Services team is responsible for the architecture, deployment and ongoing operational support of the underlying Databases for our services. It is part of a larger DevOps team that is leading the industry in groundbreaking technologies in the Cloud Native space.

DreamWorks is currently searching for a mid to senior level Database Administrator with deep technical skills in SQL & NoSQL databases. The engineer will work on critical database systems and duties include database upgrade, testing, designing, and planning for database deployments in Kubernetes, Docker & Bare metal. 

If you are part of the fandom and believe teamwork makes the dream work, join us in #livingthedream and #doingyourdreamwork! 

 “What would you say you do here?”

• Database administration for SQL & NoSQL DB (Postgres, Couchbase & Cassandra) running in Kubernetes and Docker.
• Managing the life cycle of database clusters (Upgrade & Patching).
• Prioritizing production issues with other internal support teams, support vendors and documenting solutions.
• Work with the team’s on-call tier-2/tier-3 break-fix support for production services while adhering to best practices
• Actively facilitate continuous process improvement within the team
• Effectively multi-task handling day-to-day duties while receiving minimal direction and supervision.
• Participate in the evaluation, selection, and implementation of DBA tools to improve performance monitoring and tuning, recovery, and database change management processes.
• Maintain and continuously improve team’s stateful architecture and systems (legacy and current gen Database-as-a-Service)

“What do I need to have in order to do this job?”

• At least 6+ years experience as Database Administrator (DBA)
• NoSQL Expertise (ideally Couchbase and/or CassandraDB) preferred
• Managing Postgres databases in production environment is required
• Experience with managing stateful applications on Kubernetes
• Solid grasp of distributed systems and stateful applications.
• Experienced at leading performance/scale testing and tuning for relational and NoSQL databases
• Worked on a production database with rotating on-call support.
• Good understanding of Linux administration with respect to supporting databases.
• Experience engaging with third party vendors for production incidents requiring their support and involvement.
• Sound knowledge of standard methodologies of SDLC as it pertains to data services tasks and schema applications from dev to production roll out.
• Articulate and personable with strong spoken and written language skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work independently and cross-functionally.
• Responsible, self-motivated, and highly dependable.
• Great teammate with a customer service orientation.
• Ethical, honest, fair and of high integrity.
• Ability to think through problems and visualize solutions.
• Proficient in Unix shell scripting.
• Knowledge of table architecture, index use, query plan analysis, and performance improvement

“What can I offer?”

• B.S. in Computer Science or equivalent experience
• Experience with public or private cloud services (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, OpenStack).
• Familiarity with Storage solutions such as Trident / Portworx.
• Familiarity with SQL & NoSQL databases such as Oracle, Redis & ElasticSearch.
• Familiarity with continuous integration/deployment tools and platforms (Spinnaker, Drone, Jenkins, Ansible, Terraform).
• Natural leadership skills.
• Broad and deep knowledge of operations and relevant technology stacks with an ability to learn quickly.
• Ability and desire to quickly learn new or unfamiliar technology and products using documentation and internet resources.

Hybrid: This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the office a minimum of three days per week.

This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks. Learn more about the benefits offered by NBCUniversal by visiting the Benefits page of the Careers website.

Salary range: $105,000 - $150,000

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

NBCUniversal will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories, or arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with relevant legal requirements, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative For Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, where applicable.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [email protected].