DBA Skill Matrix

Public example of a matrix for database administrators responsible for performance, availability, and governance.

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Junior Middle Senior
Data Platform
Data modeling
Read and support existing schemas

Understands tables, keys, and normalization rules used in the current system.

Review schema changes for production use

Assesses migration safety, write amplification, and query impact before rollout.

Shape data modeling standards

Guides consistency, lifecycle design, and cross-system data ownership.

SQL and tuning
Read query plans and basic metrics

Finds obvious inefficiencies and applies standard indexing or query fixes.

Tune critical workload paths

Improves slow queries with plan analysis, indexing strategy, and workload context.

Own performance strategy

Defines tuning priorities, storage patterns, and capacity tradeoffs at system level.

Operations
Execute standard maintenance safely

Follows runbooks for users, permissions, vacuum, and routine health checks.

Handle incidents and operational changes

Owns production fixes, maintenance windows, and impact communication.

Lead critical database operations

Coordinates high-risk changes and defines resilient operational processes.

Availability and Governance
Backup and recovery
Monitor backup success

Checks job status and understands the basics of restore procedures.

Validate recovery readiness

Runs restore tests, verifies recovery objectives, and documents realistic scenarios.

Define disaster recovery standards

Sets backup topology, restore cadence, and business-aligned recovery targets.

Replication and availability
Support replica monitoring

Tracks lag, replication health, and routine failover prerequisites.

Operate replication under production load

Diagnoses lag, slot issues, and planned failover procedures.

Shape high-availability architecture

Balances failover speed, data safety, operational cost, and service complexity.

Governance and access
Apply access rules consistently

Follows least-privilege patterns and existing audit requirements.

Review risk in data operations

Controls sensitive access, validates changes, and tracks operational exceptions.

Define governance policy for databases

Sets ownership, audit expectations, and cross-team controls for critical data assets.