Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior database administrators and lead database administrators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior database administrator and a lead database administrator. Additionally, a senior database administrator has an average salary of $114,969, which is higher than the $114,426 average annual salary of a lead database administrator.
The top three skills for a senior database administrator include linux, DBA and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a lead database administrator are DBA, PL/SQL, and linux.
| Senior Database Administrator | Lead Database Administrator | |
| Yearly salary | $114,969 | $114,426 |
| Hourly rate | $55.27 | $55.01 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 56,932 | 58,263 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A senior database administrator is in charge of maintaining and managing a database, ensuring its efficiency and security. Their responsibilities revolve around monitoring the performance of databases, identifying any problems or inconsistencies, performing corrective measures, and devising security measures to keep data safe from any cyber-attacks. They are also responsible for responding to any inquiries or concerns, resolving them promptly. Furthermore, as a senior in the field, it is essential to lead and encourage the junior administrators, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
A lead database administrator or DBA serves as a primary technologist in an organization or company. Lead database administrators are technical experts in terms of database and middleware technology design, tuning, configuration, troubleshooting, and building. They use specialized software for data storage and organization. Their role may also include database migration, troubleshooting, performance monitoring, and data recovery. Among the necessary skills for this job include problem-solving, organizational, interpersonal, and communication.
Senior database administrators and lead database administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Database Administrator | Lead Database Administrator | |
| Average salary | $114,969 | $114,426 |
| Salary range | Between $88,000 And $149,000 | Between $88,000 And $148,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Foster City, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Credit Karma | Amazon |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Retail |
There are a few differences between a senior database administrator and a lead database administrator in terms of educational background:
| Senior Database Administrator | Lead Database Administrator | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between senior database administrators' and lead database administrators' demographics:
| Senior Database Administrator | Lead Database Administrator | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.6% Female, 19.4% | Male, 80.3% Female, 19.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.1% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 25.3% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 8.3% Asian, 27.3% White, 52.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |