Senior DBA- Techno Functional

Job Title

Senior DBA
- Techno Functional Role

Remote [Continental USA]

This role is not able to offer visa transfer or sponsorship now or in the future.

We are seeking an experienced and technically strong DBA Lead to provide strategic and operational leadership to the Database Administration team  ideal candidate brings deep hands‑on expertise in Microsoft SQL Server administration, combined with proven people management, stakeholder engagement, and service delivery capabilities. This is a Techno Functional role that requires an individual who can operate confidently at both a technical and leadership level — driving best practices, managing vendor and contractor performance, and ensuring high‑quality DBA services across a complex enterprise environment.

The annual salary for this position is between $99,000 to $113,000 depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate. This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.

• Provide day‑to‑day leadership for the DBA team, identifying work priorities, managing workloads, and ensuring timely task execution.
• Foster a healthy, collaborative, and team‑oriented work environment built on trust, accountability, and mutual respect.
• Clarify performance expectations and help team members achieve success through coaching, mentoring, and timely feedback.
• Recognize accomplishments and apply appropriate disciplinary action when required, in line with applicable HR policies.
• Ensure team adherence to standard DBA practices, policies, and Cognizant delivery frameworks.
• Facilitate timely communication of organizational messages, issues, and decisions to all team members.

• Develop and maintain cordial, effective partnerships with business area stakeholders and other IS employee‑partners.
• Ensure business area satisfaction through regular interaction, proactive communication, and expectation management.
• Develop a shared understanding of service level expectations with business areas; regularly review service delivery performance and work collaboratively to close any gaps.
• Collaborate effectively with other IS teams and resources to deliver integrated, end‑to‑end solutions.

• Supervise vendor and contractor performance, ensuring delivery is competent and aligned with contractual terms and conditions.
• Monitor contractor service billings for accuracy; review statements of work regularly and elevate discrepancies as needed.
• Ensure appropriate internal and external resources are in place to meet delivery expectations at all times.
• Oversee timely implementation of vendor‑supplied patches and new releases in line with change management processes.

• Ensure Cognizant best practices are followed for the delivery, implementation, and maintenance of all DBA infrastructure and services.
• Apply critical thinking and project management discipline in day‑to‑day execution and resource and workload planning.
• Ensure timely correction of bugs, vendor‑supplied patches, and new releases related to DBA infrastructure.
• Ensure appropriate training and knowledge transfer takes place within the team to maintain and grow delivery capability.
• Monitor team performance against SLAs and work cross‑functionally to address service gaps in a cost‑effective and timely manner.

• Approximately 10 years of related experience, including management and operation of enterprise DBA services and DBA infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience managing, coaching, and mentoring a team of database administrators.
• Proven track record managing vendor relationships, contractor performance, and service billings.
• Experience working in complex enterprise environments with strict SLA and change management requirements.
• Good working knowledge of ITSM processes, specifically Incident Management and Change Management.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills,…