MS-SQL DBA Expert Optimization & Tuning

Location: Lahore/Islamabad/Karachi

Experience: 8 years

NorthBay is looking for a hands-on Microsoft SQL Server expert who can own the performance stability and availability of multiple clustered SQL Server environments running on AWS Windows-based EC2. The role is focused on assessment/discovery deep-dive/troubleshooting & performance optimization against high-volume production systems. You will be the go-to expert for identifying bottlenecks tuning SQL & TSQL (Including SPs/Functions) Stabilizing Cluster/DR failovers and designing/improving observability including proactive monitoring and alerting

Requirements:

• Overall 8 years of experience with at least 5 years of Core SQL Server hands-on experience as a SQL Server DBA / Engineer with a strong focus on performance and HA/DR in mission-critical environments
• Deep understanding of SQL Server internals (storage engine query optimizer plan cache buffer pool TempDB behavior etc.).
• Expert-level experience in diagnosing Wait stats DMVs Extended Events Profiler/Tracing Execution plan analysis query rewrites indexing strategy design
• Troubleshooting CPU spikes I/O bottlenecks memory pressure TempDB contention log bottlenecks (e.g. WRITELOG waits) etc.
• Expert in SQL & TSQL optimizations including SPs Triggers Views Functions etc. along with in depth understanding of locking blocking deadlocks and transaction-related performance issues
• Ability to identify & analyze resource-heavy queries/processes and systematically optimize them (indexing hints plan guides code refactoring re-architecture where needed)
• Hands-on expertise in designing deploying and troubleshooting Windows Failover Clustering (WSFC) Always On Availability Groups (AGs) Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) Log Shipping Mirroring & Replication
• Experience with AWS Cloud EC2 Instance Families/Sizes EBS Volumes IOPS Throughput Networking and MultiAZ Designs in relation to MSSQL Server Performance HA/DR & Monitoring & Observability
• Strong experience with database monitoring tools and enterprise level monitoring/observability expectations including SQL Server dashboards (performance waits blocking deadlocks availability) Focus on Implementing actionable Alerting to reduce the noise
• Experience with T-SQL PowerShell & SQL Server Agent etc.
• Having experience with Reporting Services (SSRS) performance and optimization will be preferred
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex database issues to non-DBA stakeholders and mentor developers on SQL best practices.

Responsibilities:

• Optimize database architecture configuration indexing strategy statistics TempDB log & data file layout in line with SQL Server best practices
• Review MS SQL Server Configurations Analyze and resolve performance bottlenecks across CPU memory I/O and network
• Conduct wait stats DMVs execution plans and XEvents analysis to identify root causes
• Review and refine MAXDOP cost threshold for parallelism memory settings TempDB configuration and disk layout to improve performance and stability
• Review tune and refactor complex SQL and TSQL stored procedures views and functions
• Identify and resolve locking blocking deadlocks transactional contentions and long-running queries by optimizing indexing and/or query tuning and rewrites
• Assess and document existing HA/DR implementations across clusters Troubleshoot and stabilize cluster switchovers/failovers including issues seen during planned and unplanned events
• Define and implement HA/DR designs to meet RPO/RTO targets & Develop/Test failover/runbooks
• Improve the Proactive & Reactive Monitoring / Observability with recommending/implementing comprehensive monitoring & alerting across SQL Server health and performance HADR/Cluster state sync latency etc.
• Recommend and implement best-fit monitoring tools (e.g. advanced Datadog usage plus tools such as SQL Sentry Redgate SQL Monitor SolarWinds DPA native SQL tools etc.).
• Incident Response & Root Cause Analysis as lead on critical incident investigations for production performance and availability issues
• Recommendations based on Architecture Design Best Practices by reviewing existing SQL Server architecture and configurations and bring them in line with current best practices
• Advise on capacity planning scaling strategies backup/restore strategy indexing & maintenance plans
• Automate repetitive tasks e.g. index maintenance stats updates log cleanups data archiving
• Contribute to documentation standards and knowledge sharing for DB usage across teams

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and benefits
• Fuel expense reimbursement
• Paid holidays and vacations
• Medical outpatient reimbursement & health insurance facility
• Career path to make a difference in a highly productive environment