Lead SQL, DBA

The right candidate needs to have people management experience. They are still doing all the tech work, but they will be leading people and operating as a tech lead / manager. For the right person, this can go up to 180k base if they have the lead management experience.

Position : Lead SQL, DBA

Direct Recruit Agency is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Lead SQL, DBA to join our team at [Company Name]. As the Lead SQL, DBA, you will be responsible for managing and maintaining our company's databases to ensure optimal performance and data integrity.

• This is a team lead position- they will be the go-technical person, leading a team of 4 (2 DBAs, 2 UNIX SAs)
• doing timesheets, working assignments, the on-call rotation, etc.
• SQL is most important, then team lead experience, then AWS
• PostgreSQL is a big plus
• Dynatrace monitoring is a huge plus
• coming from finance or IT services like IBM, etc.
• NJ only

Job Information :

• Functional title : Vice President, SQL Server Database Administrator
• Department - Technology
• Corporate level - Vice President
• Report to - Director, Infrastructure DB Support
• Location - Iselin, NJ (Hybrid Onsite 2x per week)

Job purpose

Provide lead support for the database team and operational support for the CLS internal Microsoft SQL database infrastructure and systems in the company's 24x7 hosted environment. Provide remote and on-site support as part of the on-call support roster. Work closely with other support teams to ensure that the database environments are fully supported and maintained in order to meet the needs of the business. Oversee team resourcing, assign project work, and provide technical leadership.

Essential Functions :

Strategic

• Ensure CLS internal database systems are managed to the highest standard by following industry best practice.
• Demonstrate leadership, inspire team members, create a positive and collaborative work environment, and demonstrate leadership by example.
• Identify database best practices to meet internal customer requirements that maximise the performance and reliability of the database management systems.
• Recommends performance and efficiency improvements for database systems across the organisation
• Assists in the research and review of new database feature functionality, supports proof-of-concept evaluations, and enhancements to existing solutions.
• Demonstrate good problem management, ownership, and prevention of SLA breach under Incident / Problem Management processes.
• Actively contribute to the development of existing and new IT processes and procedures to enhance service transition and service operation lifecycle stages.
• Demonstrate self-starter capabilities, identifying areas of improvement and taking action to address.

Operational

• Provides Senior Operational Support for the Windows / SQL Server and Postgres database environment. Responsibilities include - Database monitoring, backup / restores, developing and maintaining daily automated checks / maintenance tasks, performance, and capacity management, creating optimisation plans, building new database instances, applying service packs, and planning / performing database migrations. Manage and escalate as appropriate.
• Provides lead support for the database team, managing team assignments, mentoring, and developing database administrators. Provides technical leadership and represents the team at design and solutioning meetings.
• Investigate and progress Incident, Service Request, and Problem tickets. Manage and escalate as appropriate.
• Monitoring, supporting, and deploying ETL jobs and SSIS packages.
• Configuring and managing RDS instances (AWS)
• Work with internal CLS teams (including ETL team and Quantitative Analysis Group) and external vendors to identify / propose solutions and support any fixes that are required as part of service improvement.
• Implements and maintains security policies and auditing compliance at the database level to ensure the protection of the firm's sensitive data. Develops and adheres to patch management and upgrade strategies.
• Follow the CLS Change Management procedure and other standard practices in installing, configuring, and supporting databases and related items in Test and Production environments.
• Ensure that the BAU Service is prioritised and all faults, incidents, and problems are responded to efficiently without negatively impacting SLAs and reporting metrics in place.
• Upgrade or maintain software at a time when the impact on the business is minimised.
• Execute the failover for the database and application services as required. Maintain failover scripts and propose performance and efficiency improvements. Participate in regular on-site Disaster Recovery testing activities (up to 4 tests per year).
• Create, maintain, and review operational processes and support documentation.
• Provide 24 / 7 on-call cover on a rotational shift basis. Participate in planned weekend work as required.
• As required, provide representation for the DBA team's Changes at the daily stand-up and weekly CAB meetings. Ensure the other team's Changes do not have an impact on the delivery of the database services.

Required Experience :

• Must have strong Operational Support experience of Microsoft SQL Server in an Enterprise Windows environment.
• Must have a solid understanding of database disaster recovery technologies, including SAN / Mirroring / Always-On / SQL replication.
• Knowledge of database structure languages, such as SQL
• Experience working in the AWS platform and utilizing RDS, SQL Server, and Postgres.
• Operational DBA support experience on PostgreSQL.
• Must have proven leadership experience.
• Experience in signing BAU and project work to the team, ensuring deadlines are met.
• Ability to plan and implement technical changes without unexpected disruption to the service and with minimal oversight.
• Experience in providing production support activities for business-critical databases / applications.
• Strong documentation and technical writing skills.
• Must have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience in working with ticket systems such as ServiceNow and a solid understanding of service priorities and SLA's.
• Strong experience in providing cross-training on technologies and operational processes to colleagues
• Ability to collaborate effectively with other technical and business teams to support the service.
• Have excellent time management and organisational skills
• Knowledge of the ITIL framework (good understanding of Incident, Problem, Change processes)

Desired

• Knowledge of Banking systems and related industry standard practices
• Experience in working with and configuring monitoring systems such as Dynatrace.
• PowerShell scripting experience
• Experience with Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)
• Knowledge of EMC Networker / Rubrik

Qualifications / certifications

Essential

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent
• Prior IT Operational Support experience across business-critical Production infrastructure, applications, and database services.

Desired

• Microsoft SQL 2016, 2019, 2022 certification
• AWS Certified Database Specialty
• ITIL certification

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, as well as opportunities for professional development and growth within our organization. If you are a highly skilled and motivated individual with a passion for database management, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity.

Join our team at [Company Name] and be a part of a dynamic and innovative organization that is committed to delivering exceptional services to our clients. Apply now and take the first step towards a rewarding career as a Lead SQL, DBA.