Senior Database Administrator

Republic Airways; Town of Carmel (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Republic Airways is seeking a Senior SQL Server DBA to own core database responsibilities and drive modernization initiatives across the enterprise data platform. You will design for scale, implement AlwaysOn/DR, and collaborate with data engineering, BI, and IT teams to keep mission-critical systems stable and secure.

The role emphasizes hands-on T-SQL development, performance tuning, and automation, with exposure to Azure Synapse and Microsoft Fabric as part of modernization efforts.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field preferred; equivalent hands-on experience.
• 8+ years of experience as a SQL Server DBA in enterprise environments.
• Expert-level T-SQL skills for query development, optimization, and troubleshooting.
• Experience with monitoring tools and dashboards for observing database health and resource utilization.
• Upgrades and migrations from legacy SQL Server versions to current releases.
• HA/DR, security hardening, and performance tuning experience.
• Lifecycle management: patching, upgrades, and maintenance.
• Azure knowledge: Azure SQL and Azure Synapse Analytics.
• Incident tooling experience (PagerDuty, Opsgenie, or similar).
• Leadership: ability to lead cross-functional projects and communicate with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Deploy and configure SQL Server instances across clustered, standalone, and Azure environments.
• Monitor SQL Server health, analyze query execution plans, optimize indexes, and troubleshoot performance bottlenecks.
• Write and optimize T-SQL queries, stored procedures, and scripts.
• Design and maintain backup strategies; perform restore tests; ensure RPO/RTO compliance.
• Implement HA/DR solutions including AlwaysOn and failover clustering.
• Enforce database security standards and manage permissions.
• Develop automation using PowerShell and T-SQL.
• Monitor capacity, patches, upgrades, and coordinate version upgrades.
• Maintain runbooks, configuration docs, and standards.
• Provide 24/7 on-call coverage for production systems.
• Lead modernization efforts: cloud consolidation, Synapse and Fabric administration, alerting standardization, governance partnerships, CI/CD pipelines for schema changes, and knowledge transfer.

Skills

T-SQL

SQL Server

Azure Synapse

Microsoft Fabric

HA/DR

Security hardening

Leadership

PowerShell

Performance tuning

Monitoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Job description

Job Category:

Information Technology

POSITION PURPOSE

Thisis amixed operational andstrategic role that has evolved beyond the traditionalcore DBAresponsibilities. In addition to owning core DBA responsibilities, the Senior DBA will help drive modernization initiatives that improve reliability, security, performance, and governance across the enterprise data platform. You will be the senior technical authority on Microsoft SQL Server — designing for scale, hardening for production, and partnering across IT to keep mission-critical systems stable and performant. This is primarily a SQL Server role. Exposure to adjacent platforms (Azure Synapse, Microsoft Fabric, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB) is part of the broader modernization mission and is described below — deep, hands-on expertise in those platforms is preferred, not required, on day one.Works closely with data engineering, BI development, application teams, and IT infrastructure.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Core DBA Duties

• Database installation & configuration: Deploy and configure SQL Server instances across clustered, standalone, and Azure environments.

• Performance monitoring & tuning: Monitor SQL Server health, analyze query execution plans, optimize indexes, and troubleshoot performance bottlenecks across OLTP and analytical workloads.

• T-SQL development & optimization: Write, review, and optimize complex queries, stored procedures, and scripts for performance and scalability.

• Backup & recovery management: Design and maintain backup strategies (full, differential, transaction log), perform regular restore tests, and ensure compliance with RPO/RTO targets.

• High availability & disaster recovery: Implement and maintain HA/DR solutions including AlwaysOnAvailability Groups, replication, and failover clustering.

• Security & compliance: Enforce database security standards, manage roles and permissions, implement encryption (TDE, Always Encrypted), and maintain audit readiness.

• Job scheduling & automation: Manage SQL Agent jobs, resolve scheduling conflicts, and develop automation using PowerShell and T-SQL.

• Capacity, patch & upgrade management: Monitor disk and compute utilization, forecast growth, apply cumulative updates and service packs, coordinate version upgrades, and validate changes in lower environments.

• Documentation & standards: Maintain runbooks, configuration documentation, and operational standards.

• On-call support: Provide 24/7 coverage for critical production systems, responding promptly to alerts and incidents.

Strategic Modernization Leadership

• Cloud and platform modernization: Lead consolidation of legacy SQL Server instances, evaluate workloads for cloud migration (Azure SQL, Managed Instance, Synapse), and optimize licensing posture.

• Synapse and Fabric administration: Maintain Azure Synapse IAM, implement row-level security in Microsoft Fabric workspaces, and tune MPP workloads (distribution, partitioning, statistics, workload management).

• Alerting and DR standardization: Standardize alerting and paging coverage across critical pipelines, own the enterprise backup strategy, and validate DR plans through scheduled exercises.

• Governance partnership: Partner with the data governance team on Microsoft Purview cataloging, lineage, sensitivity labeling, and data dictionary initiatives.

• Standards and automation: Drive connection naming standards, infrastructure-as-code adoption for database deployments, and CI/CD pipelines for schema changes.

• Knowledge transfer and mentorship: Author DBA runbooks, enforce best practices, and lead structured knowledge-sharing sessions with data engineers and BI developers.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability necessary to perform this job.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field preferred; equivalent hands-on experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.

• Experience: 8 years of experience as a SQL Server DBA in enterprise environments.

• T-SQL: Expert-level T-SQL skills for query development, optimization, and troubleshooting.

• Monitoring: Experience with monitoring tools and dashboards for observing database health, query performance, and resource utilization.

• Upgrades & migrations: Proven ability to upgrade and migrate legacy SQL Server versions (2012/2016) to currently supported releases.

• HA/DR and security: Hands-on expertise in HA/DR, performance tuning, and security hardening.

• Lifecycle management: Strong knowledge of patching, upgrades, and lifecycle management.

• Azure: Working knowledge of Azure SQL and Azure Synapse Analytics.

• Incident tooling: Experience with incident and alerting platforms (PagerDuty,Opsgenie, or similar).

• Leadership: Proven ability to lead cross-functional projects and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

PREFERRED EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• Multi-engine exposure: Hands-on experience with Amazon DynamoDB (data modeling, capacity/throughput management, application integration) and/or PostgreSQL or other relational/NoSQL platforms in production. Valuable for the platform’s future direction, not required on day one.

• Automation and DevOps: Experience with infrastructure-as-code and configuration management using Ansible and Terraform (PowerShell, SSIS,dbatools, CI/CD for databases).

• Synapse MPP: Experience including distribution strategy, partitioning, and workload management.

• Microsoft Fabric: Administration and row-level security implementation.

• Monitoring platforms: Datadog alerting and dashboarding familiarity.

• Governance: Microsoft Purview or comparable data governance experience.

• Compliance: Knowledge of compliance frameworks and audit-readiness practices.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, and governmental regulations. Ability to write clear reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Strong written and verbal communicator, able to explain technical database decisions — performance tradeoffs, risk, cost — in terms that resonate with both engineers and business leadership, and to present confidently to groups of managers, clients, and stakeholders.

REASONING/PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITY

Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

DECISION MAKING

Exercises independent judgment on database architecture, performance tuning, and DR strategy. Has authority to approve emergency changes and failover decisions during incidents; budget-impacting decisions (e.g., licensing, hardware) are made in partnership with IT leadership.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Mobility: Able to move about the work environment.

• Presence: Frequently required to stand, walk, sit, talk and hear.

• Vision: Able to focus with clear vision at 20 inches or less (computer screen).

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Typicallynot exposed to extreme environmental conditions.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

Travel up to5% of the time, primarily foroffsite visits.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER, DISABILITY, AND VETERAN ACCOMMODATIONS

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Equal Opportunity Employer, Disability and Veteran Accommodations

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.