Senior MS SQL Server Database Administrator (Remote Available)
• *Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center** : Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.
- *Organization:**
HealthIT Per-Proc. PG
- *Job Summary:**
We are seeking an experienced Senior MS SQL Server Database Administrator with solid experience to lead the design, implementation, maintenance, and optimization of our enterprise database environments. The ideal candidate brings deep technical knowledge, automation skills, strong performance tuning capabilities, and the ability to partner effectively with development, infrastructure, and security teams. This role will be responsible for ensuring high availability, scalability, and security of mission critical data systems.
- *Key Responsibilities
- *Database Administration & Operations
- Administer, configure, and maintain Microsoft SQL Server environments (2019+), including standalone, clustered, and AlwaysOn Availability Group architectures.
- Perform database installations, upgrades, patches, backups, and disaster recovery tasks.
- Monitor database performance proactively and troubleshoot issues using native and third‑party tools.
- Implement and maintain automated processes for database health checks, alerts, and maintenance tasks.
- *Performance Tuning & Optimization
- Conduct deep‑dive query tuning, index optimization, and storage performance analysis.
- Analyze execution plans and work closely with developers to improve SQL code efficiency.
- Optimize database schema, data partitioning, and resource utilization for maximum throughput.
- *Security, Compliance & Governance
- Enforce database security best practices, including encryption, role-based access control, and auditing.
- Ensure compliance with corporate governance, regulatory, and data protection standards.
- Participate in ongoing security assessments and vulnerability remediation.
- *Architecture & Design
- Design scalable and resilient database architectures supporting high‑volume transactional systems.
- Support data modeling, capacity planning, and environment standardization.
- *Collaboration & Technical Leadership
- Serve as a SME for SQL Server technologies.
- Mentor junior DBAs and engineering staff.
- Partner with development teams on schema design, stored procedure optimization, and release readiness.
- Create and maintain technical documentation, runbooks, and architecture diagrams.
- *Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of hands‑on experience as a SQL Server DBA.
- Bachelor's degree (required)
- Strong proficiency with:
- SQL Server installation, configuration, clustering, AlwaysOn AGs.
- Backup/restore strategies (native, maintenance plans, third‑party tools).
- Query performance tuning and optimization.
- SQL Server internals (indexes, statistics, locking, tempdb, I/O).
- Proficiency in T‑SQL, PL/pgSQL, and writing performant stored procedures.
- Solid understanding of Windows Server environments.
- Experience with PowerShell, or other scripting languages for automation.
- Familiarity with monitoring tools (e.g., Foglight, SolarWinds DPA, SentryOne, Redgate).
- *Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with:
- Experience administering and tuning PostgreSQL
- Replication, partitioning, and sharding strategies.
- ETL tools and SSIS.
- Replication, partitioning, and sharding strategies.
- Linux environment.
- Background supporting databases in cloud platforms (Azure SQL, AWS RDS, EC2‑hosted DBs).
- Relevant certifications (MCSE, PostgreSQL certs).
- *Soft Skills
- Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills.
- Excellent communication and cross‑team collaboration abilities.
- Ability to work independently in complex, high‑availability environments.
- Leadership and mentoring capabilities.
- *Technical Capabilities
- Server Installation and Upgrade (Intermediate): Has the ability to install software using vendor-su
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