Database Administrator

About the Role 

We're looking for an experienced Database Administrator to join our team and bring depth to our cloud database operations. You'll own the administration and maintenance of production and pre-production database environments running on Azure SQL Managed Instance, with real opportunities to expand your skill set into DevOps pipelines, release management, and infrastructure automation. 

About the Project
Our client operates community and specialty hospitals, a managed care organization, a physician network, community health centers, and home care and other health-related entities in the United States. The Research Portal — one of the internal products — is a web-based application with over 10,000 current users developed for the entire research community to review, monitor, and manage research portfolio. The main goal is to unite distributed and complex organizational processes into one application and help alleviate administrative burdens. 

Responsibilities:  

• Serve as the go-to expert for Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure Data Factory across all production and pre-production environments, keeping things running smoothly and jumping in when they don't. 
• Provide Tier 2/3 troubleshooting support, diagnosing and resolving database and application issues in real time so the team and end users aren't left waiting. 
• Own query optimization and index tuning/maintenance to keep database performance tight, including proactive analysis to catch problems before they become incidents. 
• Manage and maintain high-availability configurations including Log Shipping, Always-On Availability Groups, and Backup/Restore with Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR). 
• Design and maintain ADF pipelines for ETL data integration, working toward modern, cloud-first patterns and phasing out legacy SSIS where possible. 
• Grow into adjacent areas like Azure DevOps pipeline management, release management, and repo management — this role has room to expand well beyond traditional DBA work. 
• Research and evaluate new technologies and approaches for building highly available data persistence systems, and bring those ideas back to the team. 

Skills & Experience: 

• Azure SQL Managed Instance Expertise: Strong understanding of the specifics, advantages, and operational differences between Azure SQL Managed Instance and standard SQL Server, including provisioning, management, and securing SQL MI environments. 
• Azure Data Factory Proficiency: Advanced experience designing and implementing ETL processes with Azure Data Factory, prioritizing ADF over traditional SSIS for data integration tasks. 
• In-Depth Knowledge of SQL and Database Concepts: Demonstrated excellence in MS SQL Server, relational database concepts, and expert-level proficiency in T-SQL. Experience with SQL Server 2016 and 2019 is mandatory; knowledge of SQL Server 2022 is preferred. This includes a strong foundation in database design, development, and maintenance. 
• SSIS Expertise: Hands-on experience with SQL Server Integration Services, including a deep understanding of its capabilities and practical application in ETL processes within data integration workflows. 
• Familiarity with Azure DevOps Tools: Working knowledge of Azure Pipelines and Azure DevOps Releases, including how builds and deployments are orchestrated across environments. You don't need to be building pipelines from scratch here, but you should be comfortable navigating and understanding them. 
• General Azure Application Resources Knowledge: Understanding of provisioning, managing, and securing Azure application resources, with a focus on best practices for cloud-based applications. 
• Problem-Solving and Troubleshooting Skills: Strong ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex problems across database and application layers, with a methodical approach to issue resolution. 
• Experience in day-to-day communication with English speaking customers. 
• Readiness to work in the PST time zone (EET: 07:00 AM – 04:00 PM). 

Nice to have: 

• Git and Code Management: Knowledge of Git for version control and experience with code management practices to ensure clean and maintainable codebases. 
• Additional Database Optimization: Experience with Query Store, Extended Events, and in-depth understanding of query optimization, procedure tuning, and index management for performance improvements. 
• Azure DevOps Pipeline and Release Creation: Hands-on experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps, including application builds, pipeline security, and deployment strategies. Bonus points for experience with infrastructure as code using ARM templates or Terraform for Azure resource deployment. This goes beyond general familiarity — we're talking about actually creating and owning pipelines end to end. 
• Scripting and Automation Skills: Familiarity with PowerShell and JSON for scripting and automation tasks within Azure environments.