Lead MSSQL Database Administrator

L3- Lead Database Administrator / SME

Role summary: Technical lead and final escalation point for the multi-platform database estate. Designs HA/DR and migration architectures, leads database projects end to end, sets standards and automation strategy, and drives cost and reliability improvements with minimal supervision.

Key responsibilities

Architecture and projects

• Design and review HA/DR architecture: SQL Server AlwaysOn/FCI (multi-subnet, distributed AGs), Oracle RAC and Data Guard (including Active Data Guard, broker, fast-start failover), MSSQL/MariaDB replication and clustering.
• Lead complex migrations and upgrades: cross-platform, domain-to-domain, on-prem to Azure SQL IaaS/PaaS; own the plan, rollback, cutover and sign-off.
• Lead database projects independently with app owners, architects, developers, system engineers and infrastructure teams; own timelines and status reporting.
• Plan version upgrades before end-of-support and license optimization (edition downgrades, consolidation).

Critical incidents and performance

• Final escalation for P1 outages, corruption, failed failovers and severe performance degradation; lead bridge calls and RCA.
• Perform advanced tuning: wait analysis, plan regression, parameter sniffing, memory/tempdb/IO configuration, AWR/ASH deep dives, SQL plan baselines, and server-level tuning.
• Advise development teams on schema design, indexing, partitioning strategy and query design.

Standards, automation and governance

• Define database build standards, security baselines, backup/retention and DR standards aligned to OTIS policies.
• Define the automation roadmap (PowerShell/dbatools, shell, OEM, scheduled health checks) to remove manual operations.
• Own the monthly database health metrics review and present findings and risks to stakeholders.
• Govern CVE remediation and patch compliance across the estate.
• Approve change requests and review scripts before production deployment.

Leadership

• Lead and mentor L1/L2 engineers; manage shift and on-call rosters and knowledge transfer.
• Discover undocumented environments independently and build complete documentation and processes for each system.
• Ensure team SLA adherence in ServiceNow; drive problem management to reduce repeat incidents.
• Propose robust, integrated and low-cost improvements to the existing estate.

Required skills

• 812 years of DBA experience, including 3+ years as lead/SME; expert in SQL Server and Oracle, strong in MSSQL/MariaDB.
• Deep expertise in AlwaysOn, clustering, replication; Oracle RAC, ASM, Data Guard, RMAN, OEM, GoldenGate (preferred).
• Proven delivery of large migrations and version upgrades, including Azure SQL (PaaS/Managed Instance).
• Advanced PowerShell and shell scripting; exposure to infrastructure-as-code or CI/CD for database deployments is a plus.
• Strong capacity planning, cost optimization and licensing knowledge.
• Excellent stakeholder communication, incident leadership and documentation.

Qualifications

• Bachelors or Master’s degree in Computer Science, IT or equivalent.
• Preferred: Oracle Certified Professional/Master (OCP/OCM), DP-300, Azure Solutions Architect, ITIL Foundation.

Common requirements (all levels)

• Willing to work 24/7 rotational shifts, be on call, and support outages and planned maintenance on weekends and holidays.