MS SQL Architect

Job Title: Senior SQL Server Database Architect / Performance & Scalability Consultant (Onsite)

Location

Onsite (Client Location)

Experience

12+ years

Job Type

Contract / Consulting (Senior Individual Contributor)

Role Overview

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior SQL Server Database Architect to lead the redesign of a large-scale, mission-critical SQL Server environment. This is a high-impact role requiring deep expertise in SQL Server architecture, performance tuning, and large-scale database modernization.

The current environment consists of a 14TB SQL Server database stored as a single table/partition, which is being accessed concurrently by 157 business-critical applications. The existing architecture has become a significant performance bottleneck, and the client is looking for a proven expert who can assess, redesign, and implement a scalable, high-performance data architecture.

This role requires someone who has successfully solved similar enterprise-scale database challenges and can provide architectural leadership from assessment through implementation.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess the current SQL Server architecture, data model, and workload.
• Analyze performance bottlenecks affecting a 14TB production database.
• Design and implement a scalable database architecture capable of supporting high-concurrency workloads.
• Redesign partitioning, indexing, storage, and data access strategies.
• Recommend and implement best practices for SQL Server performance optimization.
• Optimize query performance, execution plans, indexing strategies, and resource utilization.
• Develop strategies for data archiving, partition management, and lifecycle management.
• Evaluate options such as horizontal partitioning, database sharding, read replicas, or other scalability solutions where appropriate.
• Work closely with application teams to minimize the impact of architectural changes across 157 integrated applications.
• Lead migration planning and execution with minimal downtime.
• Establish long-term database governance, monitoring, and performance standards.
• Mentor internal database and engineering teams on architectural best practices.

Required Skills & Experience

• 12+ years of hands-on experience with Microsoft SQL Server.
• Proven experience managing and optimizing multi-terabyte (10TB+) SQL Server environments.
• Strong expertise in SQL Server architecture and database design.
• Deep knowledge of:
• SQL Server partitioning
• Index optimization
• Query tuning
• Execution plan analysis
• High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR)
• Database scalability patterns
• Experience redesigning legacy database architectures into modern, scalable solutions.
• Strong understanding of concurrency, locking, blocking, deadlocks, and transaction management.
• Expertise in SQL Server performance monitoring tools and diagnostics.
• Experience with enterprise migration and modernization initiatives.
• Ability to communicate architectural recommendations to both technical and executive stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting environments with hundreds of interconnected applications.
• Experience with SQL Server Always On Availability Groups, replication, and distributed databases.
• Familiarity with cloud-based SQL platforms (Azure SQL, AWS RDS for SQL Server) is a plus.
• Experience with data warehousing, large-scale ETL, and enterprise data architecture is desirable.
• Microsoft SQL Server certifications are a plus.

Ideal Candidate

We are looking for a true database performance expert someone who has successfully transformed large-scale SQL Server environments from monolithic, performance-constrained architectures into highly scalable, resilient, and efficient platforms. The ideal candidate should possess exceptional troubleshooting skills, strong architectural vision, and the ability to lead complex modernization initiatives in enterprise environments.