Database Administrator (MS SQL Server) Contract Columbia, SC

Senior Database Administrator (MS SQL Server)
Location: Columbia SC Onsite

Interview Process: One round of Virtual Interviews

Duration: 12 Months
Employment Type: Contract
Experience Required: 07 Years

Project Scope:

Seeking an experienced Senior Database Administrator to support and manage enterprise database environments in a highly secure compliance-driven infrastructure. The consultant will lead database administration initiatives involving Microsoft SQL Server environments database architecture security compliance disaster recovery automation and performance optimization.

The role will be responsible for planning implementing monitoring and maintaining mission-critical database systems while ensuring compliance with security standards such as STIG PCI NIST and Pub1075. The consultant will collaborate with application infrastructure and security teams to design scalable database solutions support database modernization efforts improve operational processes and provide strategic recommendations for database enhancements.

This position requires strong expertise in SQL Server clustering database security change management automation backup and recovery and high-availability architectures within enterprise environments.

Key Responsibilities:

Administer maintain and optimize Microsoft SQL Serverand 2025 environments.

Design and support highly available database solutions using clustering technologies.

Monitor database performance integrity availability and security compliance.

Lead database infrastructure projects from planning through implementation and support.

Implement and maintain disaster recovery and failover solutions.

Develop and automate administrative processes using PowerShell JSON and scripting tools.

Ensure compliance with STIG PCI NIST Pub1075 and other regulatory standards.

Manage database backups recovery procedures upgrades and patching activities.

Perform database architecture reviews capacity planning and performance tuning.

Create technical documentation deployment guides operational procedures and support runbooks.

Collaborate with infrastructure security and application teams to support enterprise initiatives.

Provide technical leadership mentoring and guidance to junior administrators and support staff.

Participate in 24x7 on-call support rotations for critical database environments.

Coordinate with vendors for software support troubleshooting and issue resolution.

Required Skills & Experience:

6 years of Microsoft SQL Server Administration () with clustering experience.

6 years of experience supporting projects involving STIG PCI and NIST compliance requirements.

6 years of Change Management experience.

Strong database performance tuning and optimization skills.

Experience with backup recovery high availability and disaster recovery solutions.

PowerShell scripting and automation experience.

Strong knowledge of database security and access management.

Experience managing enterprise-scale database environments.

Preferred Skills:

Experience with Pub1075 compliance implementations and audits.

Quest Spotlight administration and monitoring.

Quest LiteSpeed administration.

Hybrid Cloud Architecture experience.

Hyperconverged Infrastructure experience.

Shell Scripting and JSON.

Active Directory user access and role-based access control management.

Windows Server 2019 / 2022 / 2025 administration.

VMware virtualization environments.

LAN and VLAN networking knowledge.

Education
Bachelors Degree in Information Technology Computer Science or related field OR equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

Preferred Certifications

• Microsoft SQL Server Certifications
  
• Microsoft Server Certifications
  
• Additional industry certifications related to database administration infrastructure or cybersecurity.