Sr Database Administrator

At EZCORP we are a growing team focused on creating and changing the pawn industry as we know it today. We believe that our platform enabled lending and e-commerce solutions will revolutionize our ability to attract, engage and service our customers across the United States, Mexico and Latin America.

Join us now for an opportunity to be a part of a team that wants to provide access to short-term cash for every person – everywhere!

The Company

Founded in Austin in 1989, EZCORP has grown into a leading provider of pawn loans in the United States, Mexico and Latin America. We are dedicated to satisfying the short-term cash needs of consumers who are both cash and credit constrained and providing an industry-leading customer experience.

What’s in it for you

Ground Floor opportunity with EZCORP, a company with a start-up, purpose-driven mentality where innovative and agile problem solving are part of our DNA along with competitive compensation and benefits.

Address

Ciudad de Mexico

This role is responsible for the design, administration, reliability, performance, and security of Azure-based SQL Server environments, while also owning key Data Engineering and data platform responsibilities that enable trusted, automated, and well-governed data pipelines. The position requires traditional DBA ownership and deep expertise in SQL Server administration, performance optimization and database design combine with modern cloud engineering practice - automation, CI/CD, testing, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to ensure highly available, scalable, and compliant data systems. The role supports both production and non-production environments and plays a critical part in on-call operations, proactive monitoring, incident prevention, and continuous improvement across databases and the broader data platform.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Database Administration (Azure SQL & SQL Server)

• Administer and support ~30 SQL Server IaaS virtual machines hosted on Azure, including production and non-production workloads.
• Manage and maintain 2 high-availability SQL Server clusters, ensuring uptime, failover readiness, and business continuity.
• Administer ~20 Azure SQL PaaS logical servers hosting multiple elastic pools, including Business Critical, General Purpose, and 7 Azure SQL Managed Instances supporting enterprise workloads.
• Manage and optimize Azure SQL elastic pools containing multiple Azure SQL databases per pool.
• Perform routine DBA activities including:
• Performance tuning and query optimization
• Index and statistics maintenance
• Capacity planning and cost optimization
• Backup, restore, and disaster recovery testing
• Security configuration, access management, and compliance

High Availability, Disaster Recovery & Replication

• Design, maintain, and validate high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) strategies across IaaS and PaaS SQL environments.
• Support production and non-production replication from a monolithic source database using Attunity Replicate (Qlik).
• Ensure data consistency, replication health, and timely recovery across replicated systems.
• Collaborate with application, reporting, and analytics teams to meet data availability SLAs.

Monitoring, Alerting & On-Call Operations

• Design, implement, and maintain comprehensive monitoring and alerting solutions across SQL platforms.
• Maintain alerting via:
• SQL Server Agent jobs
• Ability to pinpoint KPIs with SQL PI tools like Foglight.
• Azure Monitor and Azure Alerts (per resource)
• Develop and maintain PowerShell-based monitoring scripts running on virtual machines to:
• Detect Azure resource thresholds and capacity risks
• Identify performance and availability conditions
• Trigger alerts for proactive issue prevention
• Integrate alerting with PagerDuty for critical on-call notifications and email-based warnings for non-critical events.
• Participate in on-call rotations and lead incident response, root cause analysis, and post-incident remediation.

Automation, CI/CD & Infrastructure as Code

• Use Terraform to deploy, standardize, and maintain Azure SQL resources, alerting configurations, and monitoring baselines.
• Maintain data platform infrastructure and pipeline deployment assets using Terraform modules (e.g., providers, variables, constraints, private endpoints, IAM patterns).
• Support continuous delivery by maintaining Azure DevOps YAML pipelines for build, test, and deployment workflows.
• Enforce engineering standards via repository governance practices (PR templates, pre-commit hooks, linting/validation, documentation).
• Continuously improve operational efficiency through scripting, automation, and self-healing solutions.

Data Engineering & Data Platform Responsibilities

• Own and maintain enterprise data platform repositories and assets spanning Azure Data Factory (ADF) pipeline definitions, Databricks job code (Python), configuration, and deployment artifacts.
• Build, maintain, and support modular data pipelines across domains (e.g., bronze synchronization, backoffice processing, parity checks, cart processing, and curation).
• Develop and support Python-based transformation and business-rule logic executed as Databricks jobs (including transaction processing such as items, loans, layaways, sales, purchases, and related event handling).
• Maintain and extend automated unit, component, and integration test suites and associated test datasets to validate pipeline correctness and prevent regressions.
• Support data quality validation and reconciliation activities (e.g., parity checks, duplicate handling, expected vs. actual output validation).
• Maintain technical documentation (README files, environment setup, pipeline documentation) to support onboarding, operational readiness, and auditability.

Architecture, Governance & Modernization (Current & Future Expectations)

• Develop a strong understanding of application data flows and business logic to better support production stability, data correctness, and platform evolution.
• Partner with stakeholders to drive data governance initiatives, including standardization, ownership clarity, and reduction of data sprawl.
• Contribute to database consolidation and redesign efforts, including analysis and planning to consolidate multiple Azure SQL databases into a governed target model to improve maintainability, performance, and cost.
• Participate in design reviews, data model discussions, and migration planning to ensure consolidation is safe, scalable, and aligned with application requirements.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

Required Experience

• 8+ years of hands-on experience as a Database Administrator with Microsoft SQL Server
• 5+ years of T-SQL development and performance optimization experience
• 3+ years of experience with database schema design, refactoring, and modernization
• 2+ years of experience with Azure cloud services
• Demonstrated experience optimizing databases supporting high-transaction OLTP systems
• Proven track record of successfully tuning poorly performing databases and queries
• Experience with code review processes and mentoring development teams
• Willingness to grow expertise in modern data platforms (essential)
• Strong expertise in SQL Server administration (IaaS and PaaS)
• Hands-on experience with:
• Azure SQL Database (Single, Elastic Pools)
• Azure SQL Business Critical and General Purpose tiers
• SQL Server Failover Clustering and/or Always On technologies
• Experience with Azure infrastructure and services
• Proficiency in PowerShell scripting for automation and monitoring
• Monitoring and alerting experience with tools such as Foglight, Azure Monitor, and custom solutions

Preferred Experience

• 2+ years of data engineering or ETL/ELT development experience
• Experience with Terraform and Infrastructure as Code practices
• Experience implementing medallion architecture or lakehouse patterns
• Hands-on experience with Databricks and Azure Data Factory
• Experience with Microsoft Fabric in production environments
• Background in migrating on-premises databases to cloud platforms
• Experience with DevOps practices for database deployments
• Experience in regulated industries with compliance requirements
• Exposure to real-time data streaming (Event Hubs, Kafka)
• Experience with data governance tools and frameworks
• Experience with Azure DevOps CI/CD using YAML pipelines for automated testing and deployment.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, or related technical field required
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or related field preferred
• Equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered

Professional Certifications

Highly Desirable

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate
• Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate or Professional

Additional Valuable Certifications

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE): Data Management and Analytics
• ITIL Foundation (for change management processes)

EZCORP is an Equal Opportunity Employer