Associate Director, Enterprise Database Services

Are you ready to transform lives through academic excellence, innovative research, strong community partnerships and economic opportunity? Kennesaw State University is one of the 50 largest public institutions in the country. With growing enrollment and global reach, we continue to expand our institutional influence and prominence beyond the state of Georgia. We offer more than 190 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to empower our 47,000 students to become thought leaders, lifelong learners, and informed global citizens. Our entrepreneurial spirit, high-impact research, and Division I athletics draw students from throughout the region and from more than 100 countries across the globe. Our university's vibrant culture, career opportunities, rich benefits, and values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity, and accountability make us an employer of choice. We are part of the University System of Georgia. We are searching for talented people to join Kennesaw State University in our vision. Come Take Flight at KSU!

(Primary Location for Job Responsibilities) Our Kennesaw campus is located at 1000 Chastain Road NW, Kennesaw, GA 30144.

Our Marietta campus is located at 1100 South Marietta Parkway, Marietta, GA 30060.

Provides leadership for the university's enterprise database services while maintaining active involvement in technical work. Leads the team responsible for managing database platforms that support mission-critical systems such as the Student Information System, administrative applications, and auxiliary applications. Ensures database services are secure, reliable, and optimized for performance, while aligning with institutional requirements for academic and administrative operations. Ensures that managerial responsibility blends with technical expertise to deliver scalable and cost-effective enterprise database services.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Provides strategic and operational leadership for enterprise database and application administration services, balancing technical execution with managerial responsibility for staff and service delivery
2. Leads the administration and optimization of enterprise database environments, including Oracle, SQL Server, and other platforms as adopted, supporting core university systems such as student, administrative, and auxiliary applications
3. Manages database backup, recovery, high availability, and disaster recovery strategies to ensure business continuity
4. Designs and implements database and application migration strategies for cloud and hybrid environments, ensuring stability, performance optimization, and cost effectiveness
5. Ensures database services comply with institutional governance, privacy, and security policies, and applicable regulations such as FERPA, HIPAA, and PCI
6. Oversees the Ellucian Banner Administration function, ensuring system availability, performance, and alignment with institutional needs
7. Monitors performance and implement proactive measures for scalability, efficiency, and reliability
8. Collaborates with university stakeholders, application owners, and IT leadership to align services with institutional priorities
9. Develops and supervises staff through mentoring, professional growth opportunities, training, performance management, and knowledge sharing
10. Evaluates emerging technologies and recommend adoption of tools that improve database services, application administration, and operational efficiency
11. Fosters a culture of curiosity and innovation, continuous process improvement, ownership and accountability, building repeatable solutions, learning, and data-informed decision making

Educational Requirements
Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution of higher education.

Required Experience
Seven (7) years of related IT experience.

Preferred Educational Qualifications
An advanced degree from an accredited institution of higher education in a related field

Preferred Experience
Previous experience managing multiple Oracle, SQL Server, or similar databases in enterprise environments
Experience working in higher education IT environments, particularly with the administration of Ellucian Banner and DegreeWorks
Experience with integration platforms such as Ellucian Ethos
Experience with cloud-based Student Information Systems such as Workday Student or Banner Student SaaS

ABILITIES
Able to manage and lead technical teams, fostering growth, collaboration, and accountability
Able to function with autonomy, making sound and timely decisions, anticipating problems, and appropriately assessing and communicating risks, benefits, and alternatives
Able to lead large, complex projects requiring tight coordination across IT and business units
Able to handle multiple tasks or projects at one time meeting assigned deadlines

KNOWLEDGE
Expertise in the administration of enterprise databases such as Oracle and SQL Server, with adaptability to support additional cloud-based databases
Hands-on experience with database performance tuning, backup and recovery, replication, clustering, and high-availability technologies
Knowledge of cloud infrastructure and services relevant to enterprise databases and application workloads, including migration strategies, performance optimization, and cost management
Knowledge of databases and application security practices, including encryption, access management, and auditing
Knowledge of enterprise application administration, including Student Information Systems such as Ellucian Banner and Degree Works
Familiarity with compliance standards such as FERPA, HIPAA, and PCI in higher education IT

SKILLS
Excellent interpersonal, initiative, teamwork, problem solving, independent judgment, organization, communication (verbal and written), time management, project management, relationship-building, and presentation skills
Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills across complex databases and application environments
Strong customer service orientation, with the ability to build trust and deliver responsive support to stakeholders
Proficient in automation and scripting relevant to database and application administration (e.g., PL/SQL, T-SQL, Python, Linux shell scripting, PowerShell)
Well versed in current and emerging databases, application, and infrastructure technologies, trends, and best practices
Strong attention to detail and follow-up skills

The University System of Georgia is comprised of our 26 institutions of higher education and learning as well as the System Office. Our USG Statement of Core Values are Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, and Respect. These values serve as the foundation for all that we do as an organization, and each USG community member is responsible for demonstrating and upholding these standards. More details on the USG Statement of Core Values and Code of Conduct are available in USG Board Policy 8.2.18.1.2 and can be found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section8/C224/#p8.2.18_personnel_conduct.

Additionally, USG supports Freedom of Expression as stated in Board Policy 6.5 Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section6/C2653.

Kennesaw State University is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to maintaining a fair and respectful environment for living, work and study. To that end, and in accordance with federal and state law, Board of Regents policy, and University policy, the University prohibits harassment of or discrimination against any person because of race, color, sex (including sexual harassment, pregnancy, and medical conditions related to pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity or national origin, religion, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran or military status by any member of the KSU Community on campus, in connection with a University program or activity, or in a manner that creates a hostile environment for members of the KSU community.

For additional information on this policy, or to file a complaint under the provisions of this policy, students, employees, applicants for employment or admission or other third parties should contact the Office of Institutional Equity at English Building, Suite 225, eeo@kennesaw.edu.

This is a supervisory position.
This position has financial responsibilities.
This position will not be required to drive.
This role is considered a position of trust.
This position does not require a purchasing card (P-Card).
This position may travel 1% - 24% of the time
This position does not require security clearance.

• Credit Report
• Standard Enhanced
• Education

Per the University System of Georgia background check policy, all final candidates will be required to consent to a criminal background investigation. Final candidates may be asked to disclose criminal record history during the initial screening process and prior to a conditional offer of employment. Applicants for positions of trust with screening
results which confirm a disqualifying criminal history will be immediately disqualified from employment eligibility.

All applicants are required to include professional references as part of their application process. Some positions may require additional job-based screenings such as motor vehicle report, credit check, pre-employment drug screening and/or verification of academic credentials.

https://www.usg.edu/hr/assets/hr/hrap_manual/HRAP_Background_Investigation_Employment.pdf