Job Description

Department of Personnel Management

Designation : Team Leader-Database Management (Code- DPM 14-39)

Job Description / Responsibilities:

1. IDENTIFICATION

AGENCY:

Department of Personnel Management

SYSTEM POSITION# (10-Digits):

 

REF#:

DPM14-39

OFFICE:

Office of the Public Service HR/Payroll Services

DESIGNATION/CLASSIFICATION:

Team Leader/Grade 14

DIVISION:

aPay IHRP System Database & App Support

LOCAL DESIGNATION:

Team Leader -  Database Management

BRANCH:

Infrast. Hosting Support & Database Mgmt

REPORTING TO:

Manager

SYS POS# (10-Digits):

 

REF#:

DPM14-38

SECTION:

 

LOCATION:

Central Government Office, Level 3, Waigani, NCD
       

HISTORY OF POSITION

 

 

FILE REFERENCE

DATE OF VARIATION

DETAILS

AGENCY REFERENCE/FILE NO:

Structure Approved Date:

27th March 2025

2. PURPOSE:

The position of Team Leader - Database Management exists to supervise and coordinate the day-to-day operations of the database support team responsible for maintaining, optimizing, and tuning the Ascender Pay IHRP System database. The role ensures that database systems are consistently operational, secure, and efficiently performing to support the delivery of payroll and HR services across the public sector.

  • This position contributes to the Department of Personnel Management's mandate of delivering timely and accurate payroll through reliable database support.
  • It ensures operational continuity of the database layer of the Ascender Pay IHRP System, which underpins payroll execution and HR processes.
  • Without this role, there would be no dedicated supervisory oversight of day-to-day database operations, risking performance degradation, unaddressed system issues, and potential payroll disruptions.
  • This role is required to ensure technical compliance, timely resolution of database issues, and execution of scheduled maintenance and backups.

3. DIMENSIONS:

  • Finance: Indirectly supports the management of over in public service payroll annually.
  • Staff Supervision: Supervises 2-3 technical officers (Database Support Officers).
  • Resources: Ascender Pay IHRP System Oracle 10g database, Red Hat Linux OS servers, hosted environment at Digitec Ltd, monitoring tools, backup solutions.
  • Scope: Manages database support for over 146,000 government employees across 120+ public service agencies.

4. PRINCIPLE ACCOUNTABILITIES:

  1. Ensure that the Ascender Pay IHRP System database is maintained and optimized to meet performance and availability benchmarks.
  2. Supervise and schedule routine maintenance tasks including backups, patching, performance tuning, and log monitoring.
  3. Monitor real-time system health and database performance, ensuring timely escalation of issues to the Manager - Database Management.
  4. Maintain up-to-date technical documentation of all database activities and system configurations.
  5. Support compliance with audit, backup, and disaster recovery requirements.
  6. Provide hands-on support during payroll processing periods to ensure system integrity.
  7. Mentor junior database officers and promote technical upskilling within the team.

5. MAJOR DUTIES:

  1. Perform scheduled database tuning and indexing to ensure optimal performance.
  2. Conduct log reviews and alerts monitoring to detect and resolve system anomalies.
  3. Supervise the implementation of database patches and updates in coordination with the hosting provider (Digitec Ltd).
  4. Schedule and verify regular backups and test recovery procedures.
  5. Support system testing during updates, patches, or configuration changes.
  6. Troubleshoot incidents and liaise with system vendors or infrastructure teams as required.
  7. Document and maintain all configuration changes, maintenance logs, and access logs.
  8. Provide monthly database status reports to the Manager.
  9. Ensure secure access protocols are enforced at the database level.

6. NATURE AND SCOPE:

The Team Leader - Database Management is part of the HR/Payroll System Governance and Support Division within the Department of Personnel Management. The position reports directly to the Manager - Database Management. The role involves direct supervision of technical support staff who perform critical infrastructure and database support operations.

It is a hands-on technical role, working closely with infrastructure providers, system vendors, and internal users to ensure continuous functionality of the system database.

6.1 Working Relationship:

(a) Internal:

  • Manager - Database Management
  • Executive Manager - HR/Payroll System Database Management & Application Support
  • Other team leaders in System Configuration and Application Support
  • HRIS team and Payroll Monitoring Units
  • System users from functional HR/Finance teams

(b) External:

  • Digitec Ltd (Infrastructure Hosting Partner)
  • Department of ICT and DataCo Ltd (for infrastructure governance and support)
  • Ascender system vendor support team
  • Department of Finance ICT and HR teams (as needed during transition phase)

6.2 Work Environment:

The position operates in a highly technical and specialist environment, dealing with mission-critical systems that host the payroll and HR data for the public service. It is largely administrative and technical in nature, requiring strong attention to detail, timely execution of database-related tasks, and adherence to ICT policies and standards.

7. CONSTRAINTS FRAMEWORK AND BOUNDARIES:

Rules/Procedures: General Orders, Public Service Management Act, ICT and Data Hosting Policies, Internal Change Control Procedures, Data Governance Standards

Decision-Making: Makes operational decisions related to database scheduling, routine maintenance, and system incident handling within approved guidelines.

Recommendations: Recommends performance improvements, security enhancements, and technical upgrades to the Manager - Database Management.

8. CHALLENGES:

The biggest challenge in this role is maintaining uninterrupted system uptime and performance of the Ascender Pay IHRP database in an environment with strict timelines (e.g., payroll deadlines) and multiple dependencies. Managing database performance tuning, patching schedules, and real-time monitoring without impacting critical operations requires precision, technical expertise, and sound judgment.

9. QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE, AND SKILLS:

(a) Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or Database Systems.
  • Certification in Oracle Database Administration or equivalent is desirable.

(b) Knowledge

  • In-depth understanding of Oracle 10g database architecture.
  • Familiarity with Linux operating environments (Red Hat preferred).
  • Knowledge of hosting environments and public sector payroll systems.

(c) Skills

  • Strong database administration and performance tuning skills.
  • Effective supervisory and scheduling skills.
  • Incident diagnosis and resolution.
  • Technical documentation and reporting.
  • Excellent communication and coordination skills.

(d) Work Experience

  • Minimum of 5 years in database administration, with 2+ years in a supervisory or team lead role.
  • Experience working with HR/payroll systems in a government or large enterprise setting is preferred.

Job Type:

Full Time

Language Requirements:

English

Salary(per annum):

K46696.00

Job Location:

Waigani

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