At the forefront of medical discovery as it relates to understanding the causes of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia, Pennington Biomedical Research Center is a campus of Louisiana State University and conducts basic, clinical and population research. The Center includes Basic Science, Clinical Research, and Population and Public Health, enabling both focused research and translational science. Research at Pennington Biomedical is supported broadly by multiple NIH Research Centers, and includes approximately 65 faculty and 20 postdoctoral fellows who comprise a network of 44 laboratories and 13 highly specialized core service facilities. Pennington Biomedical is located within state-of-the-art research facilities on a 222-acre campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Position Type:Professional / Unclassified
Department:LSUPBRC CS - Database Administration (Eric Andrew LeBlanc (00013246))
Work Location:LSU - Pennington Biomedical
Pay Grade:Professional
Job Description:
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, a world-renowned academic research institute of Louisiana State University, is seeking a Database Administrator in Computing Services.
The Database Administrator (DBA) Analyst is responsible for the installation, configuration, administration, security, performance, availability, and lifecycle management of enterprise database systems. This position supports the organization's mission by ensuring the integrity, reliability, security, and accessibility of critical data resources across administrative, basic science, clinical research, population science, and enterprise applications. The DBA Analyst collaborates closely with application owners, developers, analysts, and technology teams to support existing systems, implement new solutions, maintain regulatory compliance, and facilitate effective integration with enterprise technology services.
Major Responsibilities
- Database Administration and Maintenance: Install, configure, upgrade, patch, monitor, and maintain enterprise database systems, including database objects, user access, permissions, configurations, and deployment environments.
- Performance Monitoring and Optimization: Monitor database health, availability, and performance; identify and resolve issues; and optimize queries, indexing, and database configurations to ensure efficiency, reliability, and scalability.
- Backup, Recovery, and Security: Develop and maintain backup, recovery, disaster recovery, and high-availability solutions. Implement database security controls, auditing, and compliance requirements to protect institutional data.
- Data Integration and Application Support: Support enterprise applications and database integrations, including data migrations, ETL processes, data exchanges, web applications, and reporting systems.
- Data Warehouse and Analytics Support: Support data warehouse and business intelligence environments, including data modeling, reporting, analytics, and data governance initiatives to ensure data accuracy, accessibility, and integrity.
- Technical Documentation and Collaboration: Develop and maintain database standards, procedures, and documentation while collaborating with developers, analysts, application teams, and stakeholders to support enterprise technology initiatives.
- Scope of Support: Supports databases, applications, integrations, reporting platforms, and analytics environments across administrative, research, clinical, population science, and public-facing operations.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Database Administration, Information Technology, or a related field.
- DBA Analyst 1: 1 - 3 years of experience in database administration, database development, or related IT support.
- DBA Analyst 2: 3 - 5 years of experience in database administration, database development, or demonstrated experience administering Microsoft SQL Server environments, including installation, configuration, upgrades, patching, database maintenance, and user access management.
- Strong working knowledge of SQL, T-SQL scripting, relational database architecture, database design, data modeling, and stored procedures.
- Experience monitoring and optimizing database performance through query analysis, execution plans, indexing, troubleshooting, and performance tuning.
- Hands-on experience developing and maintaining database backup, restoration, disaster recovery, and high-availability solutions.
- Knowledge of SQL Server security administration, including authentication, permissions, role management, encryption, auditing, and data protection practices.
- Experience troubleshooting complex database performance issues, connectivity problems, application integrations, and data inconsistencies.
- Experience supporting database environments across development, testing, staging, and production environments.
- Ability to analyze technical problems, evaluate solutions, and implement improvements that enhance database reliability, availability, and performance.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with developers, IT professionals, analysts, and non-technical stakeholders.
Pennington Biomedical Research Center seeks to recruit a highly productive workforce with a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives and will provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and prospective employees. Employment decisions shall be based strictly on merit and without regard to religious or political beliefs, sex, race, or any other non-merit factor.
Additional Job Description:
This position is not eligible for remote work.
This position is not eligible for sponsorship.
The approved hiring range for this position is $55,000 - $75,000 annually depending on the qualifications and experience of the selected applicant.
Competencies:NoneSpecial Instructions:Interested candidates should include a resume and a list of three (3) professional references to the online application. Professional references should be the name, title, company, and contact information from past employers. Professional references should include current or previous supervisors and/or coworkers. Personal references should not be considered for the reference check process. We will respect the request that we do not contact a current employer. However, we will need to contact a prior supervisor if such a request is made.A letter of application/cover letter is recommended but not required. Official transcripts are required prior to hire and are not required at the time of application.
Posting Date:November 6, 2026
Closing Date (Open Until Filled if No Date Specified):November 20, 2026
Additional Position Information:
Pennington Biomedical is located within state-of-the-art research facilities on a 222-acre campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more information, visit PBRC.
Questions regarding career opportunities at Pennington Biomedical should be sent to [email protected].
Background Check - An offer of employment is contingent on a satisfactory pre-employment background check.
Benefits - Pennington Biomedical Research Center offers outstanding benefits to eligible employees and their dependents including health, life, dental, and vision insurance; flexible spending accounts; retirement options; various leave options; paid holidays; wellness benefits; tuition exemption for qualified positions; training and development opportunities; employee discounts; and more!
Positions approved to work outside the State of Louisiana shall be employed through Louisiana State University’s partner, nextSource Workforce Solutions, for Employer of Record Services including but not limited to employment, benefits, payroll, and tax compliance. Positions employed through Employer of Record Services will be offered benefits and retirement as applicable through their provider and will not be eligible for State of Louisiana benefits and retirement.
Essential Position (Y/N):
Pennington Biomedical Research Center/LSU is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Contact Information:
Questions or concerns can be directed to PBRC Human Resources at 225-763-2776 or [email protected].
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Database Administration, Information Technology, or a related field.
- DBA Analyst 1: 1–3 years of experience in database administration, database development, or related IT support.
- DBA Analyst 2: 3–5 years of experience in database administration, database development, or demonstrated Microsoft SQL Server administration experience.
- Strong working knowledge of SQL, T-SQL scripting, relational database architecture, database design, data modeling, and stored procedures.
- Experience monitoring and optimizing database performance through query analysis, execution plans, indexing, troubleshooting, and performance tuning.
- Hands-on experience developing and maintaining database backup, restoration, disaster recovery, and high-availability solutions.
- Knowledge of SQL Server security administration, including authentication, permissions, role management, encryption, auditing, and data protection practices.
- Experience troubleshooting database performance issues, connectivity problems, application integrations, and data inconsistencies.
- Experience supporting database environments across development, testing, staging, and production environments.
- Ability to analyze technical problems, evaluate solutions, and implement improvements that enhance database reliability, availability, and performance.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills with developers, IT professionals, analysts, and non-technical stakeholders.
What We Do
LSU is the flagship institution of Louisiana and is one of only 30 universities nationwide holding land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant status. Since 1860, LSU has served its region, the nation, and the world through extensive, multipurpose programs encompassing instruction, research, and public service. The university brings in more than $150 million annually in outside research grants and contracts, a significant factor for the Louisiana economy
