Senior SQL Server Architect

Overview

We are looking for a highly experienced Senior SQL Server Database Specialist to support a critical Database Performance & Stability Assessment / Continuous Expert Review project.

The role will focus on assessing, monitoring and improving the performance, stability and resilience of critical SQL Server environments. The consultant will conduct an in-depth technical assessment, monitor the platform over an extended period, identify root causes and risks, and define a structured remediation roadmap.

What will you do?

• Perform a comprehensive assessment of the SQL Server infrastructure, including:
  
  
  
  • SQL clusters and high availability configurations.
  
  
  • Storage, network and operating system.
  
  
  • SQL Server instance configuration and overall health.
  
  
  • Resource utilization, memory pressure and I/O bottlenecks.
  
  
  • Wait Statistics, blocking and deadlocks.
  
  
  • TempDB, fragmentation and statistics.
  
  
  • Database growth, capacity, logical architecture and indexes.
  
  
  • Critical queries, Stored Procedures and Jobs.
  
  
  
  


• Monitor the platform for a period of 4 to 8 weeks to identify performance trends and progressive degradation.


• Investigate potential issues such as:
  
  
  
  • Memory leaks.
  
  
  • Cache pollution.
  
  
  • Parameter sniffing.
  
  
  • Growth of temporary objects.
  
  
  • Fragmentation and other cumulative performance problems.
  
  
  
  


• Shadow operational activities, including hourly monitoring, recovery procedures, cluster failovers and incident/alert analysis.


• Identify technical risks, constraints, root causes and supported technical hypotheses.


• Define a remediation plan covering:
  
  
  
  • Quick Wins – actions to be implemented within 2 weeks.
  
  
  • Medium Term – improvements to be implemented within approximately 2 months.
  
  
  • Long Term – architectural evolution and strategic improvements.
  
  
  
  


• Deliver knowledge transfer sessions to APS, DBA and Application teams.

What are we looking for?

• Minimum of 10 years of experience working with critical database platforms.


• Proven experience with SQL Server Enterprise.


• Strong expertise in Always On Availability Groups.


• Strong knowledge of Windows Failover Clustering.


• Extensive experience in Performance Tuning and troubleshooting.


• Deep understanding of SQL Server Internals.


• Strong knowledge of Memory Management and memory-related performance issues.


• Extensive experience with TempDB optimization.


• Strong knowledge of Wait Statistics analysis.


• Experience with Query Store.


• Experience with Extended Events.


• Strong knowledge of Capacity Planning.


• Ability to perform complex root cause analysis and translate findings into clear technical recommendations.


• Experience working with highly available, business-critical SQL Server environments.