Senior IT Database Administrator I

About the role

Rocket Lab is looking for a Senior IT Database Administrator to join its Auckland team. Working on‑site at the Mt Wellington campus, you will partner with the US DBA team to deliver world‑class SQL Server services for global operations.

Key responsibilities

• Design, implement and maintain on‑premise and cloud SQL Server environments (2016/2019/2022).
• Manage availability groups, replication, and failover clustering.
• Perform installations, upgrades, patches and migrations of database instances.
• Monitor uptime, performance and resources; resolve performance issues and advise on query optimisation and indexing.
• Develop and test robust backup, recovery and disaster‑recovery procedures.
• Ensure compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, SOX and other regulatory requirements.
• Provide senior‑level technical support across all Rocket Lab sites and coordinate hand‑over with the US Senior DBA.
• Collaborate with ERP, BI, software development and other IT functions.
• Create and maintain comprehensive global documentation of database systems and procedures.

Required profile

• 5+ years of experience in IT with a focus on database administration.
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• Deep expertise in SQL Server environments, both on‑prem and cloud.
• Proven experience with high‑availability features such as availability groups, replication and clustering.
• Strong background in backup, recovery and disaster‑recovery planning.
• Familiarity with regulatory compliance (GDPR, HIPAA, SOX).
• Ability to work collaboratively with global teams.

Required skills

• SQL Server 2016
• SQL Server 2019
• SQL Server 2022
• SQL Server availability groups
• SQL Server replication
• SQL Server failover clustering
• Database backup and recovery
• Disaster‑recovery procedures
• Performance monitoring
• Query optimisation
• Table indexing
• Regulatory compliance (GDPR, HIPAA, SOX)