{"id":461129,"url":"https://alion.io/job/onafriq-senior-database-administrator","title":"Senior Database Administrator","company":{"id":177417,"name":"Onafriq","domain":"onafriq.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/onafriq","size_band":"1-10","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"BambooHR","truth_index":null},"role":"Data Science","role_family":"Data Science","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["Johannesburg, South Africa"],"countries":["ZA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":38000,"max_usd":71000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":13},"experience_years_min":7,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"MySQL","optional":false},{"name":"Oracle","optional":false},{"name":"PostgreSQL","optional":false},{"name":"SQL","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-19T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-19","last_verified_at":"2026-11-08T20:14:22Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":81,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":81},"description":"Senior Database Administrator\nWho We Are\nOnafriq is an omnichannel network of networks, making borders matter less by providing our partners with a single pathway to unlock the full power of cross-border and cross-platform payment solutions.\nWith a network spanning over 40 African markets, Onafriq connects over 1 billion mobile money wallets, 500 million bank accounts, and 300,000 agents in Nigeria, enabling domestic and cross-border disbursements and collections, card issuing and processing, agency banking, and treasury services.\nBy connecting global and regional enterprises, mobile money operators, money transfer operators, banks, fintechs, global development organisations, and online and offline merchants, supported by world-class regulatory and compliance capabilities and a strong regional presence in 10 offices in Africa, and others in the UK, US, and China, Onafriq is ushering in a new era of access for people across the African continent and beyond.\nThe Role\nOwn the performance, reliability, and scalability of mission-critical database systems powering real-time transaction processing. This role is hands-on and high-impact-focused on keeping high-throughput systems fast, available, and secure across a multi-database environment (Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL) in a PCI-regulated ecosystem.\nThis role operates in a 24/7 transaction processing environment with an on-call rotation. Expect occasional after-hours work tied to releases, maintenance windows, and incident response.\nThe duties and responsibilities captured within this role are as follows:\nTechnical Responsibilities\nOwn Database Performance:Drive end-to-end performance tuning across Oracle (primary), PostgreSQL, and MySQL-query optimization, indexing strategy, execution plans, and resource management \nEngineer for Scale & Availability:Design and maintain highly available database architectures (RAC, replication, failover) that support 24/7 transaction processing with minimal latency \nBuild Resilient Systems:Implement and validate backup, recovery, and disaster recovery strategies with strict RTO/RPO targets \nSecure Sensitive Data:Enforce strong access controls, encryption, and auditing aligned with PCI compliance and financial data protection standards \nExecute Zero/Low-Downtime Changes:Plan and deliver upgrades, patching, and migrations with minimal business impact \nStandardize Across Platforms:Establish consistent operational practices across Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL while respecting platform-specific strengths \nProactive Monitoring & Incident Response:Detect, troubleshoot, and resolve production issues promptly; identify root causes and prevent recurrence \nPartner with Engineering:Work closely with application teams to influence schema design, query patterns, and data access strategies \nDocument What Matters:Maintain clear, usable documentation for architecture, runbooks, and operational procedures. \nThis position is based in either Johannesburg, South Africa, or Port Louis, Mauritius, and reports to the Head of Cards Engineering\nQualifications and Experience\n7-10+ years managing production-grade relational databasesin high-availability environments \nDeep expertise in Oracle (SQL, PL/SQL, RAC)with strong working knowledge of PostgreSQL and MySQL\nProven track record of performance tuning under real production load\nExperience supporting high-throughput, low-latency transactional systems(payments/financial systems strongly preferred) \nStrong command of backup/recovery, replication, and HA strategiesacross platforms \nFamiliarity with Oracle ODA, Data Guard, and modern monitoring/observability tools \nSolid understanding of PCI or comparable regulatory environments\nAbility to diagnose complex issues quickly and drive them to resolution \nClear, direct communicator who can work effectively with engineering teams\nWhy Work With Us\nWe are highly innovative and were ranked by Fast Company as one of the most innovative companies in the world.\nWe work at the very cutting edge of fintech in Africa.\nWe solve relevant problems for Africa and the world and are building the Onafriq Hub into a payment infrastructure designed to transcend generations.\nWe have a very diverse work environment with over 30+ nationalities represented and continually strive to build a culture of caring and execution.\nWe operate a flexible working and unlimited leave policy.\nWe offer a competitive salary package and bonuses.\nWe prioritize the overall well-being of our staff through various initiatives aimed at ensuring they reach their full potential in a supportive environment.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4586,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":7,"management_years_min":10,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Flexible schedule"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"South Africa","iso":"ZA","kind":"country"},{"name":"Mauritius","iso":"MU","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Payment Processing & Gateways","Money Transfer & Remittances"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-06T11:00:49Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":9,"band":"cold","label":"Long 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