About this role
Senior Database Administrator
Who We Are
Onafriq is an omnichannel network of networks, making borders matter less by providing our partners with a single pathway to unlock the full power of cross-border and cross-platform payment solutions.
With a network spanning over 40 African markets, Onafriq connects over 1 billion mobile money wallets, 500 million bank accounts, and 300,000 agents in Nigeria, enabling domestic and cross-border disbursements and collections, card issuing and processing, agency banking, and treasury services.
By connecting global and regional enterprises, mobile money operators, money transfer operators, banks, fintechs, global development organisations, and online and offline merchants, supported by world-class regulatory and compliance capabilities and a strong regional presence in 10 offices in Africa, and others in the UK, US, and China, Onafriq is ushering in a new era of access for people across the African continent and beyond.
The Role
Own the performance, reliability, and scalability of mission-critical database systems powering real-time transaction processing. This role is hands-on and high-impact—focused on keeping high-throughput systems fast, available, and secure across a multi-database environment (Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL) in a PCI-regulated ecosystem. This role operates in a 24/7 transaction processing environment with an on-call rotation. Expect occasional after-hours work tied to releases, maintenance windows, and incident response.
The duties and responsibilities captured within this role are as follows:
Technical Responsibilities
• Own Database Performance: Drive end-to-end performance tuning across Oracle (primary), PostgreSQL, and MySQL—query optimization, indexing strategy, execution plans, and resource management
• Engineer for Scale & Availability: Design and maintain highly available database architectures (RAC, replication, failover) that support 24/7 transaction processing with minimal latency
• Build Resilient Systems: Implement and validate backup, recovery, and disaster recovery strategies with strict RTO/RPO targets
• Secure Sensitive Data: Enforce strong access controls, encryption, and auditing aligned with PCI compliance and financial data protection standards
• Execute Zero/Low-Downtime Changes: Plan and deliver upgrades, patching, and migrations with minimal business impact
• Standardize Across Platforms: Establish consistent operational practices across Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL while respecting platform-specific strengths
• Proactive Monitoring & Incident Response: Detect, troubleshoot, and resolve production issues promptly; identify root causes and prevent recurrence
• Partner with Engineering: Work closely with application teams to influence schema design, query patterns, and data access strategies
• Document What Matters: Maintain clear, usable documentation for architecture, runbooks, and operational procedures.
This position is based in either Johannesburg, South Africa, or Port Louis, Mauritius, and reports to the Head of Cards Engineering
Qualifications and Experience
• 7–10+ years managing production-grade relational databases in high-availability environments
• Deep expertise in Oracle (SQL, PL/SQL, RAC) with strong working knowledge of PostgreSQL and MySQL
• Proven track record of performance tuning under real production load
• Experience supporting high-throughput, low-latency transactional systems (payments/financial systems strongly preferred)
• Strong command of backup/recovery, replication, and HA strategies across platforms
• Familiarity with Oracle ODA, Data Guard, and modern monitoring/observability tools
• Solid understanding of PCI or comparable regulatory environments
• Ability to diagnose complex issues quickly and drive them to resolution
• Clear, direct communicator who can work effectively with engineering teams
Why Work With Us
• We are highly innovative and were ranked by Fast Company as one of the most innovative companies in the world.
• We work at the very cutting edge of fintech in Africa.
• We solve relevant problems for Africa and the world and are building the Onafriq Hub into a payment infrastructure designed to transcend generations.
• We have a very diverse work environment with over 30+ nationalities represented and continually strive to build a culture of caring and execution.
• We operate a flexible working and unlimited leave policy.
• We offer a competitive salary package and bonuses.
• We prioritize the overall well-being of our staff through various initiatives aimed at ensuring they reach their full potential in a supportive environment.