Background

Tana is a career launchpad for tech-savvy Kenyan youth. We believe that borders shouldn't constrain talent, and our mission is to create global opportunities for you to earn, learn, and build the future!

Position Overview

The role will be placed with a global leader in international mobile top-up, operating high-volume, always-on systems across multiple cloud environments. This Database Administrator position focuses on supporting and optimizing production database environments to ensure the performance, reliability, and availability of core systems.

Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain SQL Server and MongoDB production databases
• Ensure high availability, performance, and reliability of database systems
• Monitor systems and resolve performance or operational issues
• Support incident response and root cause analysis
• Participate in an on-call rotation for out-of-hours production support
• Optimize queries, indexing, and database configurations
• Support and maintain Kafka environments in production
• Collaborate with engineering teams on data infrastructure decisions
• Automate routine tasks using scripting (e.g., PowerShell, T-SQL, Bash) and improve monitoring and observability
• Manage database security and governance, including RBAC, encryption, auditing, patching, upgrades, and vulnerability remediation.
• Lead capacity planning and forecasting initiatives to support scalability, performance, and long-term operational reliability.

Requirements

• 4+ years of experience in a DBA, Database Engineer, or Data Engineering role
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft SQL Server (HA/DR, Always On, indexing, performance tuning)
• Experience working with at least one cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Hands-on experience with either MongoDB or Apache Kafka in a production environment.
• Strong scripting skills (PowerShell, T-SQL, Bash, or similar)
• Solid understanding of database performance tuning and optimization
• Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools
• Ability to work independently while collaborating with a broader engineering team
• Strong problem-solving, communication skills and a willingness to learn and grow within the role.

Nice to have

• Experience managing or administering the Microsoft BI stack (SSAS/SSRS/SSIS)

Location and Working Hours

This is a full-time, remote role based in Kenya. Working Hours are 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM EAT. In addition, there will be on-call responsibilities several times per month.

• Manage and maintain SQL Server and MongoDB production databases
• Ensure high availability, performance, and reliability of database systems
• Monitor systems and resolve performance or operational issues
• Support incident response and root cause analysis
• Participate in an on-call rotation for out-of-hours production support
• Optimize queries, indexing, and database configurations
• Support and maintain Kafka environments in production
• Collaborate with engineering teams on data infrastructure decisions
• Automate routine tasks using scripting (e.g., PowerShell, T-SQL, Bash) and improve monitoring and observability
• Manage database security and governance, including RBAC, encryption, auditing, patching, upgrades, and vulnerability remediation.
• Lead capacity planning and forecasting initiatives to support scalability, performance, and long-term operational reliability.

• Microsoft SQL Server (HA/DR, Always On, indexing, performance tuning)
• Cloud platform experience (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• MongoDB or Apache Kafka in a production environment
• Scripting skills (PowerShell, T-SQL, Bash, or similar)
• Database performance tuning and optimization
• Monitoring and observability tools
• Problem-solving skills
• Communication skills
• Microsoft BI stack (SSAS/SSRS/SSIS) (Nice to have)

• BA/BSc/HND
• 4+ years of experience in a DBA, Database Engineer, or Data Engineering role