Sr. SQL DBA

Location: Riverside, CA (Hybrid Onsite)
Employment Type: Contract-to-Hire Compensation: Up to $144,000/year (conversion salary)
Work Authorization: W2 ONLY. No C2C, 1099, or sponsorship available.

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced SQL Server Database Administrator (DBA) to join a large enterprise technology team in Riverside, California. This role is responsible for the administration, maintenance, monitoring, performance tuning, backup/recovery, and high availability of a complex Microsoft SQL Server environment supporting critical business applications and data warehouse systems.

This is a contract-to-hire opportunity and an excellent fit for a senior-level DBA who has worked within large enterprise environments and is comfortable managing sophisticated SQL Server infrastructure while partnering closely with application support teams to troubleshoot production issues.

Key Responsibilities

• Administer and maintain enterprise Microsoft SQL Server environments, including both clustered and standalone SQL Server instances.
• Manage daily database administration activities, including monitoring, maintenance, performance optimization, and troubleshooting.
• Support and maintain SQL Server clustering and high availability solutions across mission-critical systems.
• Perform database backups, restoration testing, disaster recovery planning, and recovery operations.
• Execute SQL Server patching, upgrades, and maintenance activities while minimizing operational impact.
• Monitor database health, performance, storage utilization, and system availability across a large SQL Server footprint.
• Troubleshoot application-related database issues and collaborate with infrastructure, networking, and application teams to resolve complex production incidents.
• Write and optimize SQL queries to support troubleshooting, reporting, and data validation activities.
• Support enterprise data warehouse environments and assist with database performance tuning initiatives.
• Develop and maintain documentation for database configurations, operational procedures, and disaster recovery processes.
• Participate in scheduled after-hours maintenance windows and provide on-call support as needed.

Technical Environment

Current SQL Server Infrastructure Includes:

• 6 SQL Server clusters
• 27 standalone SQL Server instances
• Approximately 300 databases
• Enterprise Microsoft Windows Server environment
• SQL Server clustering and high availability architecture
• SQL Server data warehouse platforms

Required Qualifications

• 5-10+ years of SQL Server Database Administration experience within a large enterprise environment.
• Expert-level experience administering Microsoft SQL Server databases.
• Strong experience with SQL Server clustering and high availability solutions.
• Hands-on experience with SQL Server monitoring, maintenance, and performance tuning.
• Extensive knowledge of backup, recovery, and disaster recovery processes.
• Experience performing SQL Server patching, upgrades, and lifecycle management.
• Strong understanding of Windows Server environments supporting SQL Server.
• Experience supporting complex enterprise network and infrastructure architectures.
• Advanced SQL query writing and troubleshooting skills.
• Experience supporting SQL data warehouse environments.
• Ability to diagnose and resolve complex database and application performance issues.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting highly available, mission-critical production environments.
• Experience managing large-scale environments with hundreds of databases.
• Familiarity with enterprise monitoring and database management tools.
• Experience working closely with application development and support teams.
• Strong documentation, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science,…