Senior Lead Database Administrator

Role Summary

Maintain the availability, performance, security, recoverability, and operational health of enterprise data platforms supporting Staples Digital Solutions. This role owns production and non-production database and data-platform operations, including backup and recovery, database refreshes, patching, upgrades, performance monitoring, production deployments, incident response, application troubleshooting, documentation, and operational automation.

This position represents a broad production data-platform operations role rather than a traditional SQL Server-only DBA position. The successful candidate should be comfortable owning multiple data technologies, supporting business-critical production systems, performing hands-on troubleshooting, participating in maintenance and release activities, and continuously improving operational processes through documentation and automation.

Duties & Responsibilities

- Perform daily operational health checks across database and data-platform environments, proactively identifying availability, capacity, performance, backup, replication, and infrastructure issues.

- Configure, monitor, validate, execute, and document database backup, recovery, and restore-testing processes according to established recovery requirements.

- Build, maintain, and execute non-production database refresh processes, including production-to-lower-environment refreshes, data sanitation, environment-specific data preservation, security restoration, validation, and troubleshooting.

- Plan, test, coordinate, and execute platform patching and upgrades for SQL Server, SSAS, MongoDB, and supporting third-party database tools; coordinate with infrastructure teams during Windows Server maintenance and upgrades.

- Monitor database and platform performance and capacity, recommending improvements involving indexing, query performance, memory, storage, configuration, and platform-specific tuning.

- Support development and application teams by reviewing and executing approved production database scripts and assisting with database-related implementation activities.

- Support application releases through pre-deployment backups, production script execution, validation, troubleshooting, and post-production monitoring.

- Participate in scheduled evening and after-hours maintenance, including Windows Server patching, database maintenance, platform upgrades, and application releases.

- Provide production incident support for database and data-platform issues, including P1/P2 incidents, and troubleshoot connectivity, performance, capacity, authentication, backup/recovery, and application integration problems.

- Maintain operational procedures, inventories, recovery processes, monitoring standards, troubleshooting guides, and platform configuration information.

- Develop and maintain PowerShell and T-SQL automation for refreshes, validation, monitoring, reporting, backup verification, and other repeatable operational workflows.

- Work across application, infrastructure, security, networking, cloud, storage, authentication, and vendor teams to resolve complex cross-technology issues.

Requirements

Years of Experience

12+ years of relevant database and data-platform operations experience

12+ years of relevant database operations experience, ideally comprising 8–10 years in core SQL Server DBA responsibilities, 3–5 years in production support/release/incident operations, and 2+ years of exposure to broader data-platform technologies such as SSAS, Azure SQL Database, MongoDB, Cosmos DB, Windows Server, and T-SQL/PowerShell automation.

Basic Qualifications

- Advanced hands-on administration and troubleshooting experience with Microsoft SQL Server in production and non-production environments.

- Experience with backup/recovery, restore testing, database refreshes, security, performance tuning, patching/upgrades, and high-availability environments.

- Experience supporting SSAS, Azure SQL Database, MongoDB, Azure Cosmos DB operations.

- Strong T-SQL and working PowerShell knowledge for database administration and operational automation.

- Strong Windows Server troubleshooting skills related to database and data-platform services.

- Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex connectivity, authentication, performance, capacity, backup/recovery, and application-integration issues.

- Ability to support scheduled after-hours maintenance, application releases, and priority production incidents.

- Strong cross-team collaboration and technical documentation skills.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience with Redgate SQL Backup or equivalent database backup and recovery products.

- Experience building repeatable automation for database refreshes, validation, monitoring, reporting, and backup verification.

- Experience supporting broad data-platform operations across multiple database and integration technologies rather than a SQL Server-only environment.