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Provide senior-level administration and operational support for enterprise Microsoft SQL Server environments, taking ownership of complex technical issues through diagnosis, resolution, and documentation.
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Rapidly become familiar with the SQL Server estate, critical applications, operational procedures, and escalation paths in order to join and supplement the DBA out-of-hours on-call rotation as quickly as practical.
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Proactively monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize SQL Server health, performance, availability, capacity, and reliability, including complex performance and production issues.
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Administer and support HA/DR, backup and recovery, and replication technologies, including Always On Availability Groups, clustering, replication, log shipping, and Commvault.
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Lead and execute SQL Server installations, patching, upgrades, migrations, configuration changes, and modernization activities across production and non-production environments.
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Maintain appropriate SQL Server security and compliance controls, and support vulnerability remediation, access management, and audit requirements.
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Partner with application, infrastructure, and other technical teams on database deployments, incidents, changes, troubleshooting, and production readiness.
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Develop and improve T-SQL, PowerShell, automation, monitoring, standards, and repeatable DBA processes to improve operational efficiency and consistency.
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Produce and maintain high-quality technical documentation, operational procedures, troubleshooting guides, and runbooks.
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Provide knowledge transfer and technical mentoring to permanent DBA team members and proactively identify opportunities to improve the reliability, supportability, and management of the SQL Server estate.
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8+ years of hands-on SQL Server DBA experience, with significant experience operating at a senior level in complex enterprise environments.
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Demonstrated ability to independently administer and troubleshoot business-critical production SQL Server environments.
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Deep knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server administration, ideally across SQL Server 2016 through current supported versions.
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Strong understanding of SQL Server architecture, including the database engine, memory management, storage, transaction logging, tempdb, locking, concurrency, and query processing.
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Advanced experience troubleshooting SQL Server performance using DMVs, wait statistics, execution plans, Query Store, Extended Events, indexing analysis, and other diagnostic techniques.
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Strong experience designing and supporting backup, restore, and disaster recovery strategies, including point-in-time recovery and recovery validation.
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Significant hands-on experience with Always On Availability Groups and/or Windows Server Failover Clustering.
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Strong practical experience supporting and troubleshooting SQL Server replication.
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Experience performing SQL Server installations, cumulative updates, patching, version upgrades, migrations, and server/database consolidation activities.
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Strong knowledge of SQL Server security, including authentication, authorization, roles, permissions, service accounts, encryption, and least-privilege principles.
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Strong T-SQL scripting and troubleshooting skills.
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Experience automating DBA activities using PowerShell and/or other scripting technologies.
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Experience using enterprise database monitoring platforms such as SolarWinds, SentryOne, Redgate, or equivalent tools.
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Hands-on experience administering SQL Server backup and recovery through Commvault, including backup configuration, troubleshooting, point-in-time restores, and recovery validation.
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Experience operating within formal ITIL-aligned incident, problem, request, and change management processes, preferably using ServiceNow.
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Demonstrated experience producing clear, usable technical documentation and operational runbooks.
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Previous experience participating in an out-of-hours/on-call support rotation for business-critical database environments.
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Experience administering Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance.
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Experience migrating workloads between on-premises SQL Server and Azure SQL platforms.
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Experience with SQL Server infrastructure running on VMware or other virtualized enterprise infrastructure.
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Experience with enterprise monitoring and observability platforms such as SolarWinds and SCOM.
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Experience working with vulnerability management and remediation processes and tools.
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Familiarity with DevOps and database deployment practices, including source control and CI/CD pipelines.
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Experience developing repeatable automation and standardized SQL Server deployment and configuration processes.
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Experience participating in SQL Server estate modernization, consolidation, lifecycle management, or large-scale migration programs.
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Microsoft SQL Server or Azure certifications are beneficial but are not a substitute for demonstrated senior-level hands-on experience.