Senior SQL Server DBA

seeking an experienced Senior SQL Server DBA to manage the health, performance, availability, security, and capacity of our enterprise SQL Server environments.

This role is approximately 70% Production/System DBA and 30% Development DBA.

The primary focus is proactive administration of SQL Server infrastructure, including server monitoring, performance management, capacity planning, HA/DR, backups, security, patching, and automation. The role also requires strong T-SQL skills to troubleshoot performance issues, review development code, and build DBA automation and monitoring solutions.

We are looking for someone who actively manages the environment, identifies risks and growth trends early, and resolves issues before they impact production.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and manage SQL Server environments across production and non-production.
• Proactively monitor CPU, memory, storage, I/O, database growth, TempDB, transaction logs, blocking, waits, jobs, and backups.
• Perform capacity planning and forecast database, storage, and infrastructure growth.
• Build and maintain database health, performance, and capacity dashboards.
• Install, configure, patch, and upgrade SQL Server environments.
• Manage SQL Server Always On Availability Groups, Windows Clustering, HA, and DR.
• Maintain and regularly validate backup, restore, and disaster recovery procedures.
• Troubleshoot production database issues and participate in root cause analysis.
• Perform query, stored procedure, execution plan, indexing, and database performance tuning.
• Use tools such as SQL Sentry, SolarWinds DPA, Redgate, Query Store, and Extended Events to identify performance issues and trends.
• Maintain indexing and statistics strategies based on actual system usage.
• Administer database security, permissions, encryption, auditing, and access controls.
• Review T-SQL, stored procedures, schema changes, and database code developed by application teams.
• Build T-SQL, PowerShell, or other automation for monitoring, health checks, maintenance, reporting, and routine DBA activities.
• Support SQL Server Agent, SSIS, SSRS, and Power BI where database expertise is required.
• Maintain database standards, operational documentation, and runbooks.
• Mentor junior team members and work closely with development, infrastructure, security, and support teams.

Skills and Qualifications

• 6 years of post-graduation experience in Microsoft SQL Server administration.
• Strong hands-on experience managing production SQL Server environments.
• Strong knowledge of SQL Server Always On Availability Groups, Windows Failover Clustering, HA, and DR.
• Strong experience with backup, restore, recovery, and disaster recovery.
• Strong SQL Server performance tuning and troubleshooting skills.
• Experience with execution plans, Query Store, wait statistics, blocking, TempDB, memory, CPU, I/O, indexes, and statistics.
• Strong T-SQL skills with the ability to review and optimize stored procedures and queries.
• Experience with database monitoring tools such as SQL Sentry, SolarWinds DPA, Redgate, or similar platforms.
• Experience with database growth monitoring and capacity planning.
• Experience with SQL Server security, auditing, and access management.
• Experience with Windows Server, Active Directory, and clustering.
• Experience with PowerShell or other scripting for DBA automation.
• Familiarity with SSIS, SSRS, Power BI, source control, and database change management.
• Experience in healthcare or another regulated environment is a plus.
• Exposure to Azure or other cloud-hosted database environments is a plus.
• Comfortable leveraging AI-assisted tools for troubleshooting, query analysis, documentation, and automation while independently validating results.
• Must be able to work from our Parsippany, NJ office.
• Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States, and the company does not provide employment visa sponsorship now or in the future

Key Competencies

• Proactive Ownership Identifies risks, trends, and performance issues before they become incidents.
• Performance Focus Uses monitoring tools and system telemetry to improve SQL Server performance.
• Automation Mindset Reduces repetitive DBA work by automating tasks.
• Problem Solving Troubleshoots complex production and application database issues.
• Communication Clearly communicates technical risks, findings, and recommendations.
• Continuous Improvement Regularly identifies opportunities to improve reliability, scalability, and operational processes.