Overview
BuyICT Restricted Opportunity LH-06901 — Australian Electoral Commission (DMP2 ICT Labour Hire). The Database Administrator (DBA) ensures that databases supporting the modernised AEC website and associated applications are secure, reliable, performant and well-governed. The candidate must hold an active Baseline security clearance prior to commencement.
About the Team
The Website Modernisation Project team is responsible for the design, uplift and delivery of a modernised website for the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). The role sits within the CIOD Division, part of the AEC's Enterprise Transformation Group, which leads ICT transformation and modernisation initiatives including the Modern Workplace Program, Cloud Technology Project, and the Election Systems Modernisation Program (Indigo Program).
Key Duties and Responsibilities
- Design, administer and maintain database architecture, schemas, tables, views and naming conventions to ensure data integrity and accuracy.
- Monitor and tune performance (indexes, queries, storage, connections) to meet service levels across development, test, staging and production environments.
- Implement and maintain backup, recovery and failover procedures; contribute to disaster recovery planning and testing.
- Apply security hardening and access controls (roles, privileges), and ensure encryption, patching and audit requirements are met.
- Safeguard information against unauthorised access, modification or disclosure and maintain compliance with AEC security and governance frameworks.
- Support controlled changes to database structures and configurations; maintain versioned change records and documentation.
- Test database systems and upgrades, including debugging, tracking, reproduction and resolution of issues.
- Write and maintain logical and physical database descriptions and related technical documentation.
- Work with developers to optimise SQL and data access patterns; contribute to solution design and data modelling discussions.
- Support data migration, cleansing and validation activities.
- Assist with integrations (including CMS and API-driven services) to maintain data quality across platforms.
- Provide service support in diagnosing, resolving and repairing database-related issues; participate in incident and problem management processes.
- Provide accurate specialist advice and guidance to project teams and stakeholders, tailoring explanations for technical and non-technical audiences.
- Identify opportunities to improve database reliability, automation and operational efficiency.
Essential Criteria
- Demonstrated experience administering enterprise databases (e.g. MS SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB), including performance tuning, monitoring and capacity planning.
- Experience implementing security controls, backups, recovery and high-availability patterns in line with governance and audit requirements.
- Proven ability to support upgrades, patches and structured change processes, including testing and issue resolution.
- Strong SQL skills and experience collaborating with developers and technical teams to optimise queries and data design.
- Clear written and verbal communication skills with the ability to provide sound advice to stakeholders at different levels.
Desirable Criteria
- Experience with AWS database services (e.g. RDS/Aurora, snapshots, Performance Insights) and cloud-hosted operational patterns.
- Experience supporting web platforms or CMS technologies (Drupal desirable) and data integrations with APIs.
- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and automated database deployment or schema management.
- Experience working in multi-disciplinary Agile delivery teams.