Leo is currently unavailable
Leo Hu
Verified Expert in Engineering
Database Engineer and Developer
Auckland, New Zealand
Toptal member since July 20, 2020
Bio
Leo Hu is not just a traditional database administrator (DBA), engineer, and architect with 12+ years of database engineering and architecture experience—he is a passionate data guru. Leo prefers proactive database monitoring and thrives on projects where he has to solve severe problems and design an efficient database solution based on the client's requirements. Leo was named a Microsoft SQL Server MVP and also has an AWS certification as a cloud practitioner.
Portfolio
Fraedom (VISA)
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Database Architecture, SQL, Microsoft Power BI...
Aderant
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Database Design, Database Modeling, Obfuscation...
Volkswagen Finance China
Mirroring, Clustering, Linux, MySQL, Windows PowerShell, Oracle...
Experience
- SQL - 15 years
- Microsoft SQL Server - 12 years
- Database Administration (DBA) - 10 years
- Database Development - 10 years
- Database Design - 8 years
- High Availability Disaster Recovery (HADR) - 8 years
- Database Architecture - 8 years
- Database as a Service (DBaaS) - 5 years
Work Experience
Senior Database Engineer
2019 - PRESENT
Fraedom (VISA)
- Designed and developed a data platform for a fintech company that benefits 600,000 organizations in 178 countries.
- Worked with operations and database administrators to continuously improve production environments and helped mitigate database-related production incidents.
- Provided database expertise to engineering and development teams, such as reviews of database designs, queries, and performance optimizations.
- Designed and implemented database-related projects, e.g., data archiving, data streaming, and data classification.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Database Architecture, SQL, Microsoft Power BI, Streaming Data, Classification, Windows PowerShell, Elasticsearch, Apache Kafka, Azure, Database Development, High Availability Disaster Recovery (HADR), Database Triggers, Database as a Service (DBaaS), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Data Engineering, Reporting, Data Analytics, Dashboards, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), SQL DML, Microsoft Excel, APIs, Data Processing Automation, Data Processing, ETL, Python, Data Queries, Data-level Security, Data Visualization, Data Warehouse Design, Excel 365, Data Cleaning, Reports, Microsoft Access, Data Pipelines, CSV, CSV Export, Data Extraction, Documentation, PL/SQL Tuning, Performance Tuning, Optimization, Database Optimization, Excel 2013, SharePoint, Teamwork, SQL Server 2016, SQL Stored Procedures, Visual Studio, Databases, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2017, SQL Server 2019, SQL Server Clusters, Windows Server 2012
Senior Database Administrator and Database Developer
2016 - 2019
Aderant
- Optimized and supported databases for a global industry leader in providing comprehensive business management software for law firms.
- Served in a multi-purpose role that combined the responsibilities of a database administrator and database developer.
- Designed and implemented the database architecture and developed a database feature as a service to internal development teams.
- Mentored and coordinated internal database-related development projects across all product teams, including a cloud-based product (AWS), along with providing solutions for database issues from the critical response team.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Database Design, Database Modeling, Obfuscation, Windows PowerShell, .NET, Microsoft SQL Server, Database Development, High Availability Disaster Recovery (HADR), Database Administration (DBA), Database Triggers, Database Security, Database as a Service (DBaaS), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Data Engineering, Reporting, Data Analytics, Dashboards, Azure SQL, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), SQL DML, Microsoft Excel, APIs, Data Processing Automation, Data Processing, ETL, Python, Data Queries, Data-level Security, Data Warehouse Design, Excel 365, Data Cleaning, Reports, Microsoft Access, Data Pipelines, CSV, CSV Export, Data Extraction, Documentation, PL/SQL Tuning, Performance Tuning, Optimization, Database Optimization, Excel 2013, SharePoint, Teamwork, SQL Server 2016, SQL Stored Procedures, Visual Studio, Databases, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2017, SQL Server 2019, SQL Server Clusters, Windows Server 2012
Database Administrator (DBA)
2013 - 2015
Volkswagen Finance China
- Worked for the top-level auto finance company in China as part of the Volkswagen Group, one of the largest automakers worldwide.
- Served as a development and production database administrator and worked on release processes in a highly available database topology, featuring clusters and availability groups under SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2012.
- Defined the disaster recovery, designed and built the SQL Server, and reviewed, managed, and developed SQL Server DBA best practices.
- Implemented the upgrades and support of the SQL Server along with performance-tuning and troubleshooting issues.
- Monitored alerts and fulfilled other general DBA duties.
Technologies: Mirroring, Clustering, Linux, MySQL, Windows PowerShell, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Database Development, High Availability Disaster Recovery (HADR), Database Administration (DBA), Database Triggers, Database Security, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Transact-SQL (T-SQL), SQL DML, Microsoft Excel, APIs, Data Processing Automation, Data Processing, ETL, Data Queries, Data-level Security, Data Visualization, Data Warehouse Design, Excel 365, Data Cleaning, Reports, Microsoft Access, Data Pipelines, CSV, CSV Export, Data Extraction, Documentation, PL/SQL Tuning, Performance Tuning, Optimization, Database Optimization, Excel 2013, SharePoint, Teamwork, SQL Stored Procedures, Visual Studio, Databases, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server Clusters, Windows Server 2012
Database Administrator (DBA) and Developer
2011 - 2013
Websense
- Supported a database and IT system for a global company with 2,000+ employees.
- Developed tools to integrate and monitor the availability and performance of IT services and infrastructure.
- Dealt with database work involving high availability, emergencies, monitoring, analysis, and performance tuning.
- Oversaw the database disaster recovery and security, database deployment, maintenance and management, and migration upgrade.
Technologies: Salesforce, Visual Basic, Ruby, PHP, ASP.NET, Microsoft SQL Server, Database Development, High Availability Disaster Recovery (HADR), Database Administration (DBA), Database Triggers, Database Security, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Reporting, Data Analytics, Dashboards, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), SQL DML, Microsoft Excel, APIs, Data Processing Automation, Data Processing, ETL, Data Queries, Data-level Security, Excel 365, Data Cleaning, Reports, Microsoft Access, CSV, CSV Export, Data Extraction, Documentation, PL/SQL Tuning, Performance Tuning, Optimization, Database Optimization, Excel 2013, SharePoint, Teamwork, SQL Stored Procedures, Visual Studio, Databases, SQL Server Clusters, Windows Server 2012
Project History
Data Governance and Lifecycle Management
Implemented solutions in the data lifecycle to support data governance and management in SQL Server, including create, use, share, archive, and destroy phases. The solutions include data classification, CDC, scrubbing, archiving, and retention. These solutions are configuration-based and can be integrated within SDLC, reducing toil and effort for the organization to align with data strategy.
Database Archiving Solution
Designed and implemented a database archiving solution. It's a configuration-based system that allows you to add a configuration for archiving tables and then this system will automatically generate archive stored procedures and scheduled jobs.
Push-mode Data Streaming for SQL Server
Created a push-mode data streaming platform for SQL Server. Once the data is transformed, it pushes the incremental change to message queueing systems, such as Kafka and Service Broker, digests it in the other application like Elasticsearch, and then eventually presents it on reporting tools like Kibana, PowerBI, and so on.
Optimization of Complex Queries and Stored Procedures
Optimized and refactored complex T-SQL queries or stored procedures for a few companies in the fintech, software, and eCommerce industries.
Database High Availability and Disaster Recovery Solution Design and Implementation
Processed the database's high availability and disaster recovery architecture, including a range of SQL Server technologies such as AlwaysOn, clustering, mirroring, replication, and log shipping.
Education
2001 - 2005
Bachelor of Management in Information Management and Information System
Beijing Information Technology Institute - Beijing
Certifications
JUNE 2022 - PRESENT
AWS Certified Database - Specialty
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
AUGUST 2020 - PRESENT
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
JANUARY 2019 - PRESENT
MCSA — SQL 2016 Database Development
Microsoft
JANUARY 2019 - PRESENT
MCSE — Data Management and Analytics
Microsoft
DECEMBER 2018 - PRESENT
MCSA — SQL 2016 Database Administration
Microsoft
APRIL 2014 - APRIL 2015
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Microsoft
MAY 2012 - PRESENT
MCITP — Database Administrator 2008
Microsoft
Skills
Tools
Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Excel 2013, Visual Studio
Languages
SQL, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), SQL DML, Visual Basic, Python, PHP, Ruby
Paradigms
Database Development, Database Design, ETL
Platforms
Windows, SharePoint, Windows Server 2012, Oracle, Azure, Apache Kafka, Linux, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Storage
Microsoft SQL Server, Database Administration (DBA), Database Architecture, Database Security, Database Triggers, Database Modeling, Database Mirroring, SQL Server DBA, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Data Pipelines, SQL Server 2016, SQL Stored Procedures, Databases, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2017, SQL Server 2019, Database as a Service (DBaaS), Azure SQL, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Elasticsearch, MySQL, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Aurora
Frameworks
Windows PowerShell, .NET, ASP.NET
Other
High Availability Disaster Recovery (HADR), Database Clusters, Classification, Obfuscation, Clustering, Mirroring, Data Engineering, Data Processing Automation, Data Processing, Data Queries, Data-level Security, Data Visualization, Data Warehouse Design, Excel 365, Data Cleaning, Reports, CSV, CSV Export, Data Extraction, Documentation, PL/SQL Tuning, Performance Tuning, Optimization, Database Optimization, Teamwork, SQL Server Clusters, Streaming Data, Reporting, Data Analytics, Dashboards, APIs, Cloud, Amazon RDS
Collaboration That Works
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
1
Share your needs
Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2
Choose your talent
Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3
Start your risk-free talent trial
Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring