Senior Database Administrator

We are seeking a highly accomplished and multi-faceted Senior Database Administrator for an enterprise-level contract opportunity based out of Toronto or Kingston. In this role, you will take on a premier technical capacity within the database engineering and data operations streams, specializing in the design, implementation, administration, and performance optimization of enterprise-scale data infrastructure.

As a principal data guardian, you will bridge the gap between legacy data systems and modern cloud-native architectures. Operating entirely onsite, you will evaluate system capacity, manage complex cloud services, construct robust physical database designs, and establish automated data distribution pathways. This role is ideal for a senior technical leader who can independently engineer secure, scalable, and high-performance relational, transactional, and data warehouse structures.

Location:

Toronto or Kingston, ON

Assignment Type:
Onsite (5 days/week, 7.25 hours/day)

Contract Duration: 15 months (with potential for extension)

Advantages
Modern Stack Depth:
Direct, hands-on administration of leading Azure cloud database services, virtual machines, and modern Data Lakehouse platforms.

Diverse Database Exposure:
Elevate your portfolio by combining classic enterprise relational engines with distributed systems, large data warehouses, and automated Data Ops tools.

Strategic Architectural Control:
Drive the design of high-availability (HA), disaster recovery (DR), and multi-tenant database infrastructures.

Predictable Long-Term Runway:
Secure an impactful 15-month foundational framework with a strong extension pipeline.

Responsibilities
Enterprise DBMS Administration:
Formulate physical database designs, install, configure, migrate, and administer enterprise-tier database management systems (DBMS).

Cloud Platform Management:
Oversee cloud data repositories, virtual machines, disks, key vaults, and multi-cloud database environments, ensuring high reliability across infrastructures.

Pipeline Engineering & Optimization:
Design, construct, and fine-tune secure, automated data pipelines extending from primary source environments down to end-user presentation tiers.

Performance Tuning & Diagnostics:
Conduct advanced database troubleshooting, analyze system wait statistics, execute input/output (IO) analyses, and deploy query optimization and indexing strategies.

Data Warehouse & Mart Blueprinting:
Act as a central subject matter expert on data warehouse architectures, executing upgrades, multi-node configurations, cloning, and tech-stack expansions.

Capacity & Lifecycle Planning:
Direct long-term storage growth forecasting, capacity planning, resource sizing, and platform life-cycle management for mission-critical setups.

Data Protection & Encryption:
Enforce cloud authorization models, configure role-based access controls (RBAC), manage key systems, and apply transparent data encryption (TDE) alongside data masking protocols.

Incident & Change Governance:
Manage environment patches, maintenance packs, and system releases following strict Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) aligned configuration management procedures.

Security & Vulnerability Remediation:
Research, isolate, and implement active cybersecurity remediations, checking firewall rules and network security boundaries to mitigate platform threats.

Cross-Functional Mentorship:
Function as a premier senior technical authority, providing architectural alignment, technical blueprints, and operational mentorship to cross-functional engineering teams.

Qualifications
Core Technical & Database Requirements
Professional Tenure: 7 to 10+ years of progressive experience in Database Administration, with a track record spanning the design, implementation, and optimization of enterprise-scale database systems.

Azure Cloud Platform Expertise:
Deep technical mastery administering cloud database environments, with an explicit focus on Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines.

Cloud Infrastructure Savvy:
Hands-on experience provisioning and managing cloud-native data services, including virtual networks, private endpoints, cloud storage, Databricks Lakehouses, and Azure Data Factory.

Advanced Performance Engineering:
Expert knowledge of performance tuning tools, including Azure SQL Query Store analysis, Intelligent Performance features, TempDB optimization, and mitigating cloud throttling thresholds.

Multi-Engine & OS Capability:
Strong background in Unix and Linux operating systems, shell scripting, database query languages, and distributed architectures (such as multi-node Oracle RAC configurations, Oracle EBS R12.2, Data Guard, or Web Logic setups).

Methodologies & Compliance Skills
Data Governance & Security:
Solid understanding of enterprise information management principles, data classification frameworks, and database auditing routines.

Regulatory Compliance:
Proven experience ensuring full database system alignment with…