Senior MS SQL Database Administrator

Smart IMS•Mechanicsville, VA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Senior MS SQL Database Administrator, you will be responsible for administering, supporting, optimizing, and maintaining enterprise SQL Server and cloud database environments. This role combines database administration, cloud database management, performance tuning, troubleshooting, operational support, and database modernization efforts to ensure the availability, reliability, scalability, and security of critical business systems. The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in Microsoft SQL Server administration, high-availability architectures, cloud database technologies, performance optimization, and database migrations. In addition to database responsibilities, this role will support application operations, incident management, and operational support activities within a collaborative engineering and operations environment.

Requirements

Minimum 6 years of hands-on experience administering Microsoft SQL Server databases in enterprise environments.
Extensive expertise as a SQL Server DBA supporting mission-critical production systems.
Strong experience with SQL Server clustering, mirroring, failover clustering, and high-availability solutions.
Experience administering and optimizing large-scale SQL Server databases.
Advanced expertise in Transact-SQL (T-SQL) development and performance tuning.
Strong experience tuning SQL Server databases, workloads, stored procedures, and complex queries.
Proven experience installing, upgrading, patching, and migrating SQL Server environments.
Experience supporting SQL Server 2019 or higher versions.
Strong background working in Windows Server environments.
Exposure to SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).
Experience troubleshooting database connectivity, access management, security, blocking, deadlocks, and performance issues.
Hands-on experience diagnosing and resolving deadlocks using Extended Events, Query Store, wait statistics analysis, and performance monitoring tools.
Experience tuning and managing very large databases (2TB+) including index optimization, workload analysis, and resource contention reduction.
Experience supporting cloud database platforms, including Azure SQL, Snowflake, Databricks, or similar technologies.
Minimum 1 year of experience with Azure, Snowflake, Databricks, or related cloud data platforms.
Relevant certifications may be considered in lieu of direct experience.
Strong understanding of database backup, recovery, disaster recovery, and business continuity practices.
Knowledge of data modeling principles and database design best practices.
Experience creating scripts and leveraging automation tools to support database administration functions.
Ability to communicate technical concepts, requirements, and design solutions clearly and effectively.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
Ability to independently manage complex database initiatives and operational responsibilities.
Experience collaborating within engineering, operations, and development teams.
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and professional experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting large-scale transactional systems, modernization initiatives, and cloud database migrations is highly desirable.
Experience with cloud-native database architectures and hybrid environments is preferred.
Commitment to continuous learning and staying current with emerging database technologies and best practices.

Responsibilities

Administer, support, and maintain SQL Server and cloud database environments.
Monitor database health, performance, availability, and uptime across production and non-production environments.
Troubleshoot database and application issues related to connectivity, security, access controls, and performance.
Analyze and tune long-running SQL queries, stored procedures, and database workloads.
Perform SQL Server installations, upgrades, migrations, patching, and maintenance activities.
Design, implement, and support high-availability and disaster recovery solutions.
Review existing database implementations and recommend improvements to enhance performance, scalability, and operational efficiency.
Support database clustering, mirroring, failover clustering, and high-availability configurations.
Leverage operating system scripting tools and automation techniques to support database administration and maintenance activities.
Maintain and optimize very large databases and high-volume transactional systems.
Support cloud database platforms and cloud-based data management initiatives.
Perform database performance monitoring, troubleshooting, capacity planning, and resource optimization.
Develop, review, and maintain database documentation, standards, procedures, and operational runbooks.
Collaborate with engineering, operations, development, and business teams to support enterprise applications and database solutions.
Participate in operational support, incident response, issue resolution, and root-cause analysis activities.
Support data modeling, database architecture, and database design efforts.
Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives related to database operations and platform reliability.