9093 - SQL Data

Senior DBA/DBE Consultant SQL Server Performance & Scalability | Job Description Position Details Title:Senior DBA/DBE Consultant Client:A leading U.S. financial technology company and regulated bank Department:Technology – Database Engineering & Operations Location:Remote / Hybrid. Must be able to travel for 1–2 weeks to either Miami or Northern California Engagement Type:[Consultant / Contract-to-Hire] About the Client Financial technology company and bank holding company, operating under federal banking regulation Runs high-volume payments, banking, and money-processing platforms Operates mission-critical transactional systems at scale Treats reliability, data integrity, and security as non-negotiable Position Summary Serve as the technical authority on SQL Server internals, performance engineering, and scalability Hands-on, high-impact role supporting the client's highest-volume financial transaction databases Diagnose and fix hot spots, latch/lock contention, blocking, plan regressions, and I/O bottlenecks Design durable fixes: partitioning, indexing standards, query redesign, and HA/DR architecture Work with application engineering, SRE, architecture, and security teams Mentor the client's DBA team and serve as the escalation point Own outcomes end to end, from diagnosis to measurable improvements in latency, stability, and scalability, with clear accountability and follow-through Key Responsibilities Apply deep knowledge of SQL Server internals (storage engine, query optimizer, SQLOS, memory, transaction log, tempdb) to diagnose complex production issues Perform root-cause analysis using wait statistics, DMVs, Extended Events, Query Store, and PerfMon counters Design and optimize stored procedures; read existing code and give clear feedback to improve its performance Analyze execution plans at the operator level: cardinality estimation, memory grants, spills, parallelism, and row goals Advise on engine configuration: MAXDOP, cost threshold for parallelism, compatibility levels, database-scoped configurations, and trace flags Own end-to-end performance tuning for latency-sensitive OLTP workloads (authorization, ledger, payments, account services) Resolve parameter sniffing, plan regressions, implicit conversions, and non-SARGable predicates Use Query Store and Intelligent Query Processing features for baselining, plan forcing, and regression control Govern indexing and statistics strategy: clustered key design, covering and filtered indexes, columnstore, and maintenance Troubleshoot and resolve hot spots, including last-page insert contention (PAGELATCH_EX), tempdb contention, and spinlock contention Resolve blocking chains, deadlocks, lock escalation, and isolation-level issues, recommending RCSI or snapshot isolation where appropriate Write, refactor, and review complex high-performance T-SQL, including stored procedures, set-based logic, window functions, and dynamic SQL that is safe from SQL injection Review developer and ORM-generated (e.g., Entity Framework) SQL, and publish coding standards and anti-pattern guidance Design batched large-scale data changes (purges, backfills, archival) that can run safely online Design and operate table and index partitioning for multi-billion-row financial tables, including sliding-window patterns (SWITCH, SPLIT, MERGE) Support data lifecycle, archival, compression, and retention in line with regulatory requirements Design, implement, and troubleshoot Always On Availability Groups (sync/async commit, readable secondaries, distributed AGs, WSFC quorum) Diagnose AG redo lag, log send queue growth, HADR_SYNC_COMMIT waits, and failover issues Design, operate, and troubleshoot transactional and peer-to-peer replication, including latency and data consistency issues Validate HA/DR against RTO/RPO targets, and lead DR tests and failover drills with audit-ready documentation Enforce least-privilege access and data protection controls (TDE, Always Encrypted, TLS, SQL Server Audit) Support audit readiness for PCI-DSS, SOX, GLBA, and FFIEC-aligned controls, and follow CAB change management Design proactive monitoring and alerting for performance, blocking, AG health, replication, jobs, and capacity Build idempotent automation with PowerShell (dbatools), T-SQL, and CI/CD pipelines Identify opportunities for AI-assisted operations, anomaly detection, and self-healing remediation Lead or support P1/P2 incidents, and deliver RCA reports with corrective and preventive actions Establish performance baselines, SLOs, and capacity models, and quantify every change with before/after metrics Mentor DBAs and developers, and present findings to leadership in terms of risk, cost, and business impact Required Qualifications 10+ years of hands-on SQL Server DBA or database engineering experience 5+ years in a senior or principal-level, performance-focused role Expert knowledge of SQL Server 2016–2022 internals Proven tuning of large, high-concurrency OLTP systems (thousands of TPS, multi-TB databases) Experience in financial services, payments, or banking Demonstrated resolution of hot spot, latch, lock, and tempdb contention in production Advanced T-SQL development and execution plan analysis Hands-on design and operation of partitioning at scale Deep production experience with Always On AGs and SQL Server Replication Strong proficiency with Query Store, Extended Events, DMVs, and wait-stats methodology Working knowledge of Windows Server, WSFC, SAN/NVMe storage, and virtualization PowerShell scripting and automation (dbatools preferred) Experience working under PCI-DSS, SOX, or similar audit controls Strong written communication, including RCA reports and executive summaries Preferred Qualifications Cloud performance and cost optimization experience In-Memory OLTP and columnstore for hybrid workloads SQL Server on Linux and containers Database DevOps: SSDT, Flyway, or Liquibase, plus CI/CD and automated testing Additional platforms such as PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, or Snowflake Certifications such as DP-300 (Azure Database Administrator Associate) or MCSE/MCM Data Platform Community contributions (blogs, speaking, open-source tools) Analytical rigor:Diagnoses with evidence (waits, plans, XE), not guesswork Production ownership:Stays calm under P1 pressure; contains the impact first, then fixes it permanently Engineering judgment:Weighs reliability, performance, cost, and complexity trade-offs Communication:Explains technical findings in terms of business impact Knowledge transfer:Builds team capability and documents to audit-ready standards#J-18808-Ljbffr