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:

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