The Opportunity:
We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Tech Lead - Couchbase Database Administrator - to join our dynamic team. In this pivotal role, you will be responsible for the architecture, deployment, management, and optimization of our critical Couchbase database environments. You will play a key role in ensuring the high availability, performance, and scalability of our data infrastructure, with a particular focus on deployments within Kubernetes. As a Senior Tech Lead, you will also mentor junior DBAs, drive best practices, and contribute to the strategic evolution of our database landscape.
What You'll Do:
Couchbase Expertise:
- Design, deploy, and manage highly available, scalable, and performant Couchbase clusters on Kubernetes clusters/Container platforms in production and non production environments.
- Perform database installation, configuration, patching, and upgrades.
- Implement and manage robust backup and recovery strategies for Couchbase.
- Monitor Couchbase health, performance, and capacity, proactively identifying and resolving issues.
- Conduct performance tuning, query optimization, and capacity planning for Couchbase.
- Manage user access, security, and data encryption for Couchbase.
- Troubleshoot complex Couchbase-related incidents, performing root cause analysis.
- Lead Life Cycle Management for Couchbase DB product.
- Lead projects in the DB space. Plan, design, execution, monitoring and control, drive the closure, articulate project stages, resolve dependencies etc
Kubernetes Integration (Highly Desirable):
- Manage Couchbase deployments on Kubernetes platforms (e.g., GKE, EKS, AKS, OpenShift).
- Automate Couchbase deployment, scaling, and management tasks on Kubernetes.
- Familiarity with containerization technologies (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes).
- Understand and implement best practices for running stateful applications on Kubernetes.
Leadership & Mentorship:
- Act as a subject matter expert for Couchbase, providing technical guidance and mentorship to junior DBAs and development teams.
- Drive the adoption of database best practices, standards, and automation initiatives.
- Lead technical discussions, design reviews, and problem-solving sessions.
- Contribute to strategic planning for database infrastructure and technology roadmaps.
Cross-functional Collaboration:
- Work closely with development, operations, and SRE teams to ensure seamless application and database integration.
- Participate in on-call rotations to provide 24/7 support for critical database systems.
- Document database architecture, procedures, and runbooks.
Additional Database Knowledge (Advantageous):
- Experience working with at least one other database technology such as MySQL or Elastic DB is an added advantage.
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or Ansible.
- Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and their database services.
- Experience with monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk) for database metrics.
What You'll Bring:
- Mandatory: 8 to 10 years of progressive experience as a Database Administrator, with at least 3+ years specifically focused on Couchbase.
- Mandatory: Deep expertise in Couchbase Architecture, N1QL, indexing, replication, Cross Data Center Replication (XDCR), and administration.
- Proven experience Couchbase Database Administrator with Couchbase backup and recovery strategies and tools.
- Strong understanding of database security principles and best practices.
- Proficiency in scripting languages (e.g., Python, Bash) for automation.
- Excellent troubleshooting, problem-solving, and analytical skills.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
Rakuten is committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of inclusion and connectedness. We are able to grow and learn better together with a diverse team and inclusive workforce. The collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, innovation, self-expression, and talent that our employees invest in their work represents not only part of our culture, but our reputation and Rakuten's achievement as well. In recruiting for our team, we welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of their education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran's status, color, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.
