IT Database​/Application Administrator Manager

Are you a people-first leader who still loves staying close to technology? We are seeking an IT Database & Application Administration Manager to lead, coach, and inspire a talented team of administrators. This is a Contract-to-Hire opportunity operating on a hybrid schedule (onsite 3 days a week, Tuesday through Thursday).

In this role, you will strike the perfect balance between technical credibility and strategic leadership-ensuring the stability, performance, and security of our business-critical production environments. As a champion for operational excellence, you will steer daily operations across incident and change management, disaster recovery, and capacity planning. More than just a supervisor, you will be a collaborative partner to cross-functional teams, executives, and vendors, translating complex technical challenges into clear, business-driven solutions.

• Leading, coaching, and developing database and application administration teams with clear expectations and accountability.
• Ensuring stability, availability, security, and performance of production database and application environments.
• Managing daily operations such as incident, problem, and change management, capacity planning, backup and recovery, and disaster recovery preparedness.
• Collaborating with infrastructure, security, project management, business teams, executives, and vendors to align technology services with business needs and risk expectations.
• Utilizing operational metrics like service availability, Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR), root cause analysis, and change success rates to enhance service quality and team performance.
• Communicating technical issues clearly in business terms, including impact, urgency, ownership, and next steps.
• Supporting vendor coordination, budget management, audit readiness, and continuous improvement.
• Promoting a culture of ownership, collaboration, documentation, and reliable service delivery.

Education & Experience:

You hold a Bachelor's degree (or equivalent professional experience) backed by 7+ years in infrastructure, IT operations, database administration, or systems management.

People Leadership:
You have at least 3 years of experience leading technical teams. You excel at coaching, managing performance, hiring talent, delegating priorities, and fostering professional growth.

Operational Excellence:
You are comfortable supporting mission-critical production environments and leading teams through complex operational hurdles by assessing technical risks and asking the right diagnostic questions.

Communication & Influence:
You possess exceptional communication skills, with a proven ability to translate complex technical challenges into clear, actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders.

Compliance & Process

Structured Environments:
You have a strong track record of working within structured operational frameworks.

Governance:
You hold a deep commitment to strict Change Management procedures, particularly within SOX and SOC II compliance structures.

Technical Expertise

This role leverages a diverse technical toolkit, with roughly a quarter of your time focused on SQL database administration alongside daily server and software lifecycle management.

Primary Technical Requirements

Database Management (5+ Years):
Deep expertise in Microsoft SQL Server (versions 2016 through 2022), including SSIS, SSRS, and SSAS.

Windows Ecosystem (5+ Years):
Strong command of Microsoft Windows Operating Systems (2016 and newer) across both client and server environments.

Virtualization (2+ Years):
Hands-on experience managing VMware or similar virtual server infrastructures.

Automation & Scripting (2+ Years):
Proficiency with Microsoft Power Shell for automation and administrative tasks.

Linux Environment (1+ Year):
Practical familiarity with Linux OS and server administration (Ubuntu or similar distributions).

Systems Administration:
Core competence in Active Directory tools, server OS operations, and routine patching protocols.

Tooling & Diagnostics:
Highly proficient…