Senior SQL Server DBA

Premier Trailer Leasing•Plano, TX

19h•Hybrid

About The Position

Premier Trailer Leasing is seeking a hands-on Senior SQL Server DBA to assume primary operational ownership of its SQL Server estate, hosted on Microsoft Azure virtual machines. The role focuses on SQL Server internals, query performance, PowerShell automation, reliability engineering, and database lifecycle management. The estate is described as stable and generally well-maintained, and the role offers broad latitude to reduce operational friction, modernize database deployment practices, strengthen observability, and improve resilience. SQL Server will remain a vital part of the enterprise architecture as Premier’s broader data platform evolves. The DBA will lead the continued operation and improvement of the estate while helping prepare the relational data layer to integrate reliably with the future-state platform. The position requires being based in, or commuting to, the Plano, Texas office at least three days per week.

Requirements

At least 7 years as a production Database Administrator in multi-server Microsoft SQL Server environments, with demonstrated success managing large or VLDB-class databases.
Hands-on experience operating SQL Server on Microsoft Azure virtual machines, including VM sizing, storage and disk configuration, network connectivity, monitoring, availability, and coordination with cloud infrastructure teams.
Experience supporting mixed transactional and reporting workloads in business-critical environments.
Strong proficiency with PowerShell for database administration, maintenance automation, monitoring, and operational scripting.
Demonstrated experience planning and performing SQL Server major-version upgrades, patching, and database migrations.
Experience with SQL Server 2022 or later, as well as earlier supported and legacy versions.
Hands-on experience designing, testing, documenting, and executing SQL Server backup, recovery, failover, and disaster recovery plans.
Deep understanding of SQL Server internals, including DMVs, wait statistics, Query Store, Extended Events, locking, blocking, memory management, storage behavior, and transaction log management.
Expert-level T-SQL troubleshooting, execution-plan analysis, and stored procedure optimization.
Familiarity with Git-based platforms such as Bitbucket or GitHub for tracking database schemas and objects, and interest in establishing automated deployment practices.
Ability to independently investigate complex issues, recommend practical solutions, communicate risk clearly, and operate with broad ownership.
Must be based in, or willing to commute to, the Plano, Texas office at least three days per week.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with consuming third-party SaaS REST APIs through PowerShell or Python for lightweight operational data movement.
Experience managing SQL Server back ends supporting ERP platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics GP or enterprise CRM systems.
Experience establishing automated database deployment and migration tooling through GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or comparable platforms.
Familiarity with Change Data Capture (CDC) and the operational requirements of using SQL Server as a source for modern ingestion platforms.

Responsibilities

Drive database health, capacity planning, indexing strategy, query performance, storage management, and resource utilization across large and VLDB-class SQL Server environments.
Improve backup, restore, integrity-check, maintenance, migration, and nonproduction refresh strategies for databases exceeding 1 TB, including a primary database approaching 4 TB.
Maintain, troubleshoot, and improve production PowerShell scripts for database administration, maintenance automation, monitoring, and operational data movement.
Plan, test, and execute SQL Server version upgrades, patch management, database migrations, and server transitions across the estate.
Manage SQL Server configuration and performance considerations within Microsoft Azure virtual machines, including compute sizing, storage design, disk throughput, networking, availability, and backup integration; coordinate with infrastructure and security teams.
Own business continuity and disaster recovery strategies, including backup, recovery, failover, and restoration workflows aligned with SLA requirements.
Manage privileged access, service accounts, database permissions, auditing, and SQL Server security configuration in partnership with infrastructure and security teams.
Manage, evolve, and modernize SQL Server alerting and observability using community and open-source solutions, including Erik Darling’s Performance Monitor and diagnostic scripts, dbatools, sp_WhoIsActive, and Ola Hallengren maintenance scripts.
Establish mature Git-based version control, review, release, and rollback practices for database changes, and transition manual deployment processes into reliable automated pipelines.
Partner with the Senior SQL Developer on T-SQL code reviews, stored procedure optimization, dataset development, load routines, and application-team support.
Maintain architecture diagrams, recovery procedures, operational runbooks, upgrade records, and support documentation to reduce key-person dependency and ensure repeatable administration.