SQL Server Cloud Database Lead

Peraton•,

10d•$104,000 - $166,000•Remote

About The Position

Peraton is seeking a Senior Microsoft SQL Server Database Lead to provide advanced technical expertise and leadership in support of a large government agency. The role is responsible for designing, implementing, maintaining, and supporting mission-critical database environments hosted on AWS EC2 and Amazon RDS. The Senior DBA serves as a technical leader, mentors junior staff, consults with customer stakeholders and application teams, and helps ensure security and compliance standards and operational, performance, and availability objectives are met. This is a remote position with a scheduled shift of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The role also participates in 24x7 on-call rotations for the production environment. The position leads SQL Server architecture and operations, supports database security and compliance, automation, performance, backup and recovery, deployments, incident resolution, and coordination with application, infrastructure, security, and customer teams.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain and maintain the required Public Trust clearance.
Bachelor’s degree and 8 years of relevant experience, or a high school diploma or equivalent and 12 years of experience.
At least 7 years of production Microsoft SQL Server DBA experience supporting enterprise-scale environments.
Experience with SQL Server 2019/2022 in virtualized and high-availability configurations.
Advanced knowledge of Always On Availability Groups, replication, log shipping, SQL Agent jobs, maintenance plans, and Ola Hallengren maintenance frameworks.
Experience with AWS RDS databases PostgreSQL, Oracle, and Redshift.
Experience tuning SQL Server performance using execution plans, DMVs, extended events, and wait statistics.
Strong understanding of AWS VPC networking concepts, including subnets, routing, and security groups, as they relate to database deployments.
Experience with AWS EC2 for SQL Server instances, Amazon RDS for SQL Server, AWS Backup, AWS IAM for database access controls, AWS CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Systems Manager, Parameter Store, and AWS KMS.
Strong understanding of Windows Server, Active Directory, and Group Managed Service Accounts.
Strong PowerShell scripting skills for automation and administration.

Nice To Haves

Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present information to technical and non-technical audiences and leadership.
Experience working effectively in a remote environment and collaborating across distributed teams.
Experience with Transact-SQL development and scripting.

Responsibilities

Lead planning, installation, configuration, and optimization of Microsoft SQL Server environments in AWS cloud-hosted infrastructures.
Architect and implement high availability and disaster recovery solutions, including Always On Availability Groups, Windows Failover Clustering, replication, and log shipping.
Seek opportunities to automate database functions, provide data migration solutions, and facilitate innovation discussions.
Work with cross-functional teams to develop customer and application-team solutions and present value and outcomes to executive audiences.
Provide technical leadership to the DBA team by mentoring staff, reviewing technical deliverables, and reinforcing best practices.
Develop, implement, and maintain database security controls and auditing solutions in accordance with CIS, SCSEM, and federal compliance requirements.
Analyze Nessus scan results, remediate vulnerabilities, and document compliance.
Implement and manage database encryption and key rotation using SQL Server TDE, TLS, and AWS KMS.
Direct backup, restore, and disaster recovery processes, including verification and testing of backup strategies.
Conduct performance analysis, capacity planning, and proactive monitoring using Datadog and other monitoring tools.
Oversee and coordinate database patching, upgrades, maintenance windows, and certificate management.
Conduct advanced query tuning and execution-plan analysis to optimize application performance.
Support CI/CD pipelines by integrating database deployments with GitLab and Liquibase.
Automate operational tasks for monitoring, patching, deployment, and maintenance using PowerShell, AWS CLI, or Python.
Ensure adherence to standardized procedures, operational runbooks, and change-management protocols.
Collaborate with application, infrastructure, and security teams to meet business requirements, resolve issues, and ensure database reliability.
Participate in technical design reviews and provide architectural guidance for database-related components.
Lead resolution of complex incidents and problems, perform root-cause analysis, and implement long-term corrective measures.
Engage subject matter experts or vendor support as needed for escalated issues.
Review, approve, and implement database change requests in alignment with program policies and best practices.
Maintain comprehensive documentation of database configurations, processes, standards, and operational procedures.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Life insurance
Health savings account
Short- and long-term disability
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Parental leave
401(k)
Paid time off for vacation
Company-paid holidays
Employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus, depending on the position.