What We're Looking For

Must-have

• 5+ years hands-on as a production SQL Server DBA, with at least 2 years on Azure SQL.
• Expert-level T-SQL: window functions, CTEs, dynamic SQL (sp_executesql), OUTER APPLY, correlated subquery identification, temp table vs table variable trade-offs.
• Execution plan fluency: you can identify a Key Lookup, recognize a Parallel Nested Loop that should be a Hash Join, and explain why the optimizer made the wrong choice.
• Index design beyond "create an index and see if it speeds things up." You understand included columns, fill factor, fragmentation costs, and when NOT to add an index.
• Experience with multi-tenant, multi-country production databases where a bad migration can affect thousands of companies simultaneously.
• Disciplined about prod changes. You don't run anything in production without a rollback plan, a pre-check, and a post-check.
• Able to work autonomously: you don't wait to be told there's a problem. You monitor, you notice patterns, and you raise them.

Strong preference

• Azure SQL HyperScale or Managed Instance experience.
• Azure Data Factory familiarity (pipelines, triggers, monitoring).
• Experience with payroll, HR, or financial data systems - not required, but you'll learn this domain faster if you have it.
• Zabbix or equivalent monitoring platform administration.
• Schema migration experience on a database with 500+ tables and active development traffic.
• Exposure to soft-delete patterns, audit triggers, and data retention compliance.

Nice to have

• PowerShell scripting for DBA automation (index maintenance, health checks, access provisioning).
• Experience reviewing ORM-generated queries and translating developer intent into an efficient SQL shape.
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