Cloud & Platform Database Administrator / Database Reliability Engineer (Ecommerce)

Who We Are

VML, part of WPP, is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and human first, award-winning work for blue chip client partners including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. The agency is recognized by the Forrester Wave™ Reports, as a Leader among Marketing Creative and Content Service Providers, Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Services and, most recently, Marketing Measurement & Optimization. In addition, VML’s specialist health network, VML Health, is one of the world’s largest and most awarded health agencies. VML’s global network is powered by 26,000 talented people across 55+ markets, with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney.

About WPP

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com.

 

The opportunity:

We're seeking a Cloud & Platform DBA/Database Reliability Engineer to operate, optimize and secure both managed and self‑managed databases that power high‑traffic ecommerce sites. You'll work primarily across AWS and GCP, while also supporting a smaller estate of hosted/on‑prem databases. 

Your mission: high availability, performance, security/compliance and cost efficiency—especially during peak events.

What you’ll be doing:

Operate managed databases (cloud):
AWS RDS/Aurora (MySQL/PostgreSQL), DB2 .
Indexing, query plan analysis, schema design for OLTP, connection pool and concurrency tuning.
Build and support self managed databases (hosted/on prem/VMs):
IBM DB2 LUW 9.5–11.5, MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL on Linux/Unix/Windows.
Installation, patching, upgrades, parameter/kernel tuning, storage layout (e.g., ASM/LVM), backup/restore.
High availability, resilience and DR:
Cloud: Multi AZ, read replicas, Aurora Global Database, cross region replication, RDS Proxy; PITR/snapshots; tested RTO/RPO.
Self managed:  DB2 HADR, MySQL replication, db2 backup utilities.
Support for prod and nonprod env, which require backup and restore along with obfuscation of the sensitive data. 
skilled for writting sql/plsql code

Automation and change management:

Terraform/CloudFormation for cloud, Ansible for self managed, GitOps workflows.
CI/CD for database changes (Flyway/Liquibase), standards, drift detection, automated patching and failover.
Observability and performance engineering:
CloudWatch/Cloud Monitoring, RDS Performance Insights, pg_stat_statements, MySQL Performance Schema, DB2 MON/Explain, Datadog/New Relic/Prometheus/Grafana.
Capacity planning, load/soak testing for peak (e.g., BFCM), SLOs for latency/availability/throughput, post incident reviews.
Security, compliance and governance:
IAM least privilege, secrets management (AWS Secrets Manager ), audit logging.
PCI DSS and GDPR controls, data retention/masking, change control and approvals.
Cost and capacity stewardship:

Cloud: right sizing instances/storage/IOPS, reserved vs on demand/serverless choices, cost anomaly detection.
Self managed: capacity forecasting and scaling plans; basic license awareness for enterprise platforms.

Architecture collaboration:
Schema evolution, query patterns,  read/write segregation.

Operations and ways of working:
Partner with development, support and architecture teams; maintain clear runbooks and documentation.
Participate in a 24/7 on call rotation; lead incident response and preventative actions.
Support and plan migrations between self managed and managed services with validation and rollback paths.

What we want from you:

• Hands on production experience with managed relational databases in AWS or GCP (RDS/Aurora ) using MySQL or PostgreSQL.
• Experience administering self managed enterprise RDBMS in Linux/Unix environments (IBM DB2 LUW), or strong evidence you can ramp quickly.
• Strong performance tuning skills: execution plans, indexing strategy, slow query analysis, concurrency and connection management.
• HA/DR expertise: replication, failover/runbooks, backups and point in time recovery; setting and meeting RTO/RPO.
• Automation mindset: Terraform/CloudFormation, Ansible, CI/CD for schema changes (Flyway/Liquibase), Git; scripting in Python/Bash.
• Security/compliance fundamentals: IAM, encryption in transit/at rest, auditing; familiarity with PCI DSS and GDPR.
• Clear communication and collaboration; ability to coach teams and document best practices.

If you know some of this even better:

• Deep Oracle (RAC, Data Guard), DB2 HADR, or advanced PostgreSQL/MySQL internals.
• MongoDB Atlas and on prem MongoDB (Ops Manager/backup, replica sets/sharding).
• Location and ways of working Hybrid working with regular time in our Watford office; occasional client site visits.
• Participation in an on call/out of hours rotation with appropriate compensation.

What we can offer you:

Alongside the opportunity to work with some of the most exciting brands around the world, we’ll also prioritise your career development and help you grow your skills. We’ll empower you to make a difference, allow you to be yourself, and respect who you are.

Our personality and behaviours: We believe that we are what we do, not just what we say. Our shared values and behaviours show how to bring the VML Enterprise Solution's culture to life through the actions we all take every day:

• Connect Meaningfully
• Inspire Creatively
• Include Purposefully
• Approach Positively

Our brilliant, talented people are what makes VML Enterprise Solutions what we are. That’s why we look for people who go beyond and always push our thinking to be better than yesterday.

AT VML Enterprise Solutions

Our Enterprise Solutions division houses strategic consultants, creative and technical architects and skilled developers and operators that together help some of the world’s leading organisations to deliver outstanding digital experiences across all major routes to market worldwide: marketplaces, online retailers, D2C, B2B and social platforms. With over 4,200 experts in 55 operational centres across 34 countries, our capabilities span the entire buying journey from customer acquisition, through engagement, to conversion and loyalty, driving multi-channel growth for world-leading brands.

We work with some of the most exciting brands such as The Coca-Cola Company, EY, Bosch, Unilever, Ford, DFS, Mercedes-Benz, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Sainsbury’s, Selfridges, Shell and Tiffany & Co. We’ve built over 500 platforms for brands and retailers and generate in excess of $29bn annually for our clients and work with over 50 strategic partners including Adobe, SAP, Salesforce, HCL, Shopify, Sitecore, BigCommerce, commerce tools and Acquia. Our reputation is based on our people, and we believe we have some of the best in the business.

As our business grows internationally, we’re looking for new people to join us on our journey to inspire and take a key role in shaping some of the best commerce solutions, services, and websites in the world. Working as a team, no problem is insurmountable; we share in our client’s successes and believe that anyone can show creative bravery no matter what their role is in the team.

 

WPP (VML Enterprise Solutions) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. 

VML is a WPP Agency. For more information, please visit our website, and follow VML on our social channels via Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. 

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