Employment: Qatar Vacancies
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Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar
Position: Senior Database Engineer
Position Number: F25790
Location: Doha, Qatar
Position Begins: Fall 2009
Application Deadline: October 15, 2009
VCUQatar (www.qatar.vcu.edu) is an undergraduate and graduate degree granting campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts, ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the leading art and design program among all U.S. public universities. Located in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, VCUQatar is affiliated with the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (www.qf.org.qa). Celebrating ten years of operation in 2008, VCUQatar offers BFA degrees in Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Interior Design and Painting and Printmaking, and an MFA degree in Design Studies. The majority of students are from the Gulf region with approximately 30% international. The School is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art & Design, The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Council for Interior Design Accreditation. VCUQatar has substantial involvement with the emerging design industries in Qatar and is a significant catalyst for that growth.
VCUQatar benefits from a funding situation that allows it to be driven by innovative programmatic needs rather than typical fiscal constraints. Externally funded student and faculty research opportunities are expanding with the rapid development of Qatar, now among the wealthiest countries in the world based upon per capita GDP. (www.qnrf.org) The VCUQatar Center for Research in Design has a contract to design the Qatar military uniforms; is involved in the World Design Report with Icograda; has research funding to develop portable, sustainable architecture for labor housing; and is expanding its collaboration with faculty and external partners. The school is the center for design education in the country by emphasizing design entrepreneurship and design awareness through lectures, exhibitions, and conferences, such as the international conference “Tasmeem Doha”.
VCUQatar’s full-time faculty and administrative staff of 120 (60% female), instruct a coed student body of 215. The school maintains an enviable student/faculty ratio of 10:1. Housed in a 96,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility, the school has 123,000 square foot addition that will open in Fall 2010. VCUQatar was the first campus established in Education City, a unique 2,500 acre campus community. VCUQatar has since been joined by Carnegie-Mellon University (Business and Computer Science), Cornell University’s Weill School of Medicine, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Northwestern University (Journalism and Communication), and Texas A & M University (Engineering). Education City is able to continue increasing its international presence as Qatar remains one of the healthiest economies in the Gulf region.
Qatar is a liberal, hospitable and progressive country in the Arabian Gulf. English is the standard second language and the population of Qatar is approximately 1.65 million and growing – 350,000 Qatari, 15,000 US citizens, the remainder expatriates. Doha with a population of 980,000 has all the conveniences found in a contemporary city, and also maintains a traditional Arab flavor, evident in the old markets and the city’s Islamic Arab architecture. The new Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M.Pei opened in November 2008. The US Embassy considers Qatar among the safest countries in the world for Americans.
Position Description
The Senior Database Engineer is responsible for the performance, integrity and security of all databases utilized on the VCUQatar campus. This position will increase the level of custom database development as well as increase data analysis support to the students, administrative and instructional staff, as well as the research community at VCUQatar. This position will also provide instructional technology support, statistical analysis, application support, IT planning and development, and troubleshooting expertise. This position reports to the VCUQatar Director of Academic Technology and works collaboratively with VCUQatar instructional and administrative departments as well as the School of the Arts IT team in VCU Richmond to coordinate system applications needs and meet the daily and long-term educational goals of VCUQatar.
Major Responsibilities:
• Provides primary system administration and day-to-day operational support for all applications including operational support for data management, provisioning of standard and ad-hoc report requests, and data metrics support.
• Determines the needs of all users and monitors user data access and database security.
• Monitors database performance and manages systems parameters to provide fast query responses to front end users.
• Installs and tests new versions of the database management system (DBMS) while maintaining data standards, including adherence to the Data Protection Act.
• Develops, manages and tests backup and recovery plans and ensures that storage, archiving, backup and recovery procedures are functioning correctly. Performs capacity planning.
• Writes database documentation, including data standards and procedures and definitions for the data dictionary (‘metadata’).
• Controls access permissions and privileges to databases and maintains high level of confidentiality at all times.
• Assists faculty and staff in data statistical analysis and supports the development of custom report writing, conference presentations, online learning materials, and classroom learning systems.
• Provides software support to include, but not limited to, O/S, desktop publishing, presentations, spreadsheets, database design, webpage design and development, and statistical software.
• Provides technical support, consultation, and training on client/server and web-based applications systems.
• Oversees all activities required to complete projects including tasks assigned to others. Monitors the status of these tasks and seeks the assistance of management, if necessary, to meet deadlines.
• Acts proactively to anticipate and address potential obstacles before they cause delays. Escalates issues to management as appropriate to ensure no adverse impact on University.
• Maintains a high degree of confidentiality and accuracy with all data and records managed.
• Mapping out the ‘conceptual design’ for a planned database in outline; considering both 'back end' organization of data and 'front end' accessibility for end users.
• Refines the ‘logical design’ so that it can be translated into a specific data model; further refining the ‘physical design’ to meet system storage requirements.
• Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
Position requires an independent, self-motivated collaborator, with excellent interpersonal and leadership skills and a strong background in customer service. Ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing is required. Demonstrated ability to produce concisely written IT manuals, procedures, instructional materials and reports. Ability to develop and sustain effective working relationships with internal and external constituencies which includes administrators, faculty members, students and members of the Qatar professional community. Strong experience or potential for working in a culturally diverse work environment.
Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Business Administration or related field or combination of relevant experience and training is required. Minimum 7 years working experience in a database environment consulting with users at varying levels of IT knowledge is required. Script programming experience (i.e. VB, VB Script, SQL) required. Strong background with Win 2000 and Unix required. Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and ability set priorities and manage multiple tasks required. Experience using technology to meet the diverse needs of a higher education and university environment and introducing new tools and technology to students, faculty and staff is strongly preferred. Ability to provide additional support to areas such as user services and web development preferred.
Benefits
• Competitive international salary
• Tax protection for U.S. Taxpayers
• 30% Off-shore supplement to base salary
• Medical Insurance (100% employer funded premium and employer cost shared options available)
• Fully furnished villa or apartment including utility allowance and wireless internet
• Annual travel allowance to home of record (to include a spouse and dependents relocated to Qatar)
• Monthly transportation allowance
• Educational reimbursement for up to 4 dependent children enrolled in an accredited K-12 program
• International Professional Development and Research Opportunities
Application Process:Qualified applicants who have a record of achievement appropriate to VCUQatar should submit a letter of interest with a resume, unofficial transcripts, and the names of three references with phone and email contact information, to Ryan Ellington (rfellington@vcu.edu), Human Resources Administrator. Only Electronic submissions will be accepted. Application deadline is October 15, 2009.
Virginia Commonwealth University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Women, minorities and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
