SME - Oracle Administration,PostgreSQL,MYSQL, MS SQL

We are looking for an experienced L3 Database Engineer with deep expertise in Microsoft SQL Server to own the stability, performance, security, and recoverability of our production database estate. As the final technical escalation point above the L1 and L2 teams, you will resolve complex and business-critical SQL Server issues, lead root cause analysis, design high availability and disaster recovery solutions, and drive automation and continuous improvement. You will also mentor junior DBAs and work closely with application, infrastructure, security, and cloud teams to keep databases reliable, scalable, and compliant.

L3 Incident, Problem, and Escalation Management • Act as the final technical escalation point for complex SQL Server issues escalated by L1 and L2 teams. • Lead the resolution of P1/P2 incidents such as database outages, corruption (DBCC CHECKDB errors), failover failures, TempDB contention, and severe performance degradation. • Perform in-depth root cause analysis (RCA) using error logs, Extended Events, DMVs, and Query Store, and document permanent fixes. • Own problem records for recurring database issues and drive them to closure. • Raise and manage Microsoft Premier/Unified Support cases for product defects. • Participate in the rotational on-call schedule for after-hours critical support. 2. Performance Tuning and Query Optimization • Analyze and tune slow-running queries, stored procedures, and workloads using execution plans, wait statistics, DMVs, Query Store, and Extended Events. • Resolve blocking, deadlocks, parameter sniffing, plan regressions, and TempDB and memory pressure. • Design and maintain indexing strategies, including index and statistics maintenance (for example, Ola Hallengren scripts). • Tune instance-level settings such as MAXDOP, cost threshold for parallelism, max server memory, and TempDB configuration. • Review T-SQL code from development teams and recommend optimizations before release. • Establish performance baselines and proactive alerting. 3. High Availability and Disaster Recovery • Design, implement, and support Always On Availability Groups, Failover Cluster Instances (WSFC), log shipping, and transactional, merge, and snapshot replication. • Troubleshoot AG synchronization issues, listener problems, quorum and cluster failures, and replication latency. • Define and maintain backup and restore strategies (full, differential, transaction log) that meet agreed RPO and RTO targets. • Plan and run periodic DR drills, failover tests, and restore validations, and document the results. • Maintain up-to-date DR runbooks and recovery procedures. 4. Installation, Upgrades, Patching, and Migrations • Build and configure SQL Server instances (2016, 2017, 2019, 2022) to approved standards and hardening baselines. • Plan and execute version upgrades, Cumulative Update (CU) and security patching with minimal downtime. • Lead database migrations, including on-premises to Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, SQL Server on Azure VMs, or AWS RDS for SQL Server. • Review and approve database changes and deployment scripts through the change management (CAB) process, with implementation and rollback plans. 5. Security, Compliance, and Audit • Manage logins, users, server and database roles following least-privilege principles, with AD and Microsoft Entra ID integration. • Implement encryption and data protection features such as TDE, Always Encrypted, TLS, Dynamic Data Masking, and Row-Level Security. • Configure SQL Server Audit and support internal and external audits (for example, SOX, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, GxP, as applicable). • Remediate vulnerabilities and security findings within defined timelines and conduct periodic access reviews. 6. Automation, Monitoring, and Continuous Improvement • Automate health checks, backups, patching, provisioning, and reporting using PowerShell (dbatools), T-SQL, and SQL Server Agent jobs. • Configure and fine-tune monitoring and alerting (for example, SolarWinds DPA, Redgate SQL Monitor, SCOM, or Azure Monitor). • Support database CI/CD using tools such as Azure DevOps, Git, SSDT/DACPAC, or Flyway. • Identify improvement opportunities that reduce incident volume, manual effort, and licensing or infrastructure costs. 7. Documentation, Mentoring, and Stakeholder Communication • Create and maintain SOPs, runbooks, build documents, and knowledge base articles. • Mentor L1 and L2 DBAs, review their work, and run knowledge transfer sessions. • Share RCA reports, health check findings, and improvement proposals with application owners and leadership in clear,

Skill Area Tools and Technologies Proficiency Database Platform Microsoft SQL Server 2016 / 2017 / 2019 / 2022 Expert Query Language Advanced T-SQL, stored procedures, functions, triggers, dynamic SQL Expert Performance Tools Execution plans, DMVs, Query Store, Extended Events, Profiler, Database Engine Tuning Advisor Expert High Availability and DR Always On AGs, FCI / WSFC, log shipping, replication, backup and restore Expert Cloud Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, SQL on Azure VMs, AWS RDS for SQL Server Advanced Automation and Scripting PowerShell, dbatools, SQL Server Agent, Python (preferred) Advanced Security TDE, Always Encrypted, SQL Server Audit, Row-Level Security, Microsoft Entra ID authentication Advanced Monitoring Tools SolarWinds DPA, Redgate SQL Monitor, SCOM, Azure Monitor, Idera Advanced BI Platform Support SSIS, SSRS, SSAS (platform administration) Intermediate Other Databases (Nice to Have) PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, Cosmos DB Basic / Intermediate DevOps and ITSM Git, Azure DevOps, SSDT / DACPAC, ServiceNow Intermediate