Position: Senior Database Administrator
Position Type: Full-time, Permanent, Excluded
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Classification: Pay Group V
Salary Range: $81,567.00 to $120,020.00
Closing Date: Open until suitable candidate is found
APS is searching for a
Senior Database Administrator who sees database reliability, performance, security, automation,and operational excellence as more than technical tasks - they're a commitment to reliability.
What you're passionate about
You're the calm, methodical problem-solver who is at your best when business-critical systems need to be reliable, secure, performant, and recoverable. You combine deep SQL Server expertise with practical operational judgment, and you know that strong monitoring, documentation, disciplined change practices, and continuous improvement are what keep services resilient. You enjoy working with application teams, infrastructure colleagues, and vendors to troubleshoot complex issues, improve database performance, reduce recurring effort, and strengthen service continuity. When incidents happen, you bring composure, accountability, and a risk-aware mindset to get to the right outcome.
A typical day for the Senior Database Administrator
- Administer APS SQL Server platforms across production and non-production environments, including installation, configuration, monitoring, maintenance, patching, upgrades, refreshes, security administration, and capacity planning.
- Monitor database health, availability, performance, and capacity; identify emerging issues and implement practical remediation before service is affected.
- Analyze and tune SQL workloads using execution plans, wait statistics, indexing strategies, statistics maintenance, and configuration changes.
- Design, support, and test high-availability and disaster-recovery solutions, including SQL Server Availability Groups, failover procedures, and database recovery objectives.
- Manage database security through role-based access, least-privilege administration, service accounts, encryption, auditing, and periodic access reviews.
- Own SQL Server backup, restore, and recovery processes, including backup validation, point-in-time recovery, and regular restore testing in coordination with the enterprise backup platform.
- Support database deployments, migrations, upgrades, and application changes by reviewing technical designs, assessing risk, and coordinating implementation and rollback plans.
- Develop and maintain automation, monitoring, standards, procedures, and runbooks using T-SQL, PowerShell, and centralized administration tools to reduce risk and recurring manual effort.
- Participate in on-call support rotations, troubleshoot incidents, lead database-focused root cause analysis, and implement corrective actions that prevent recurrence.
What you bring
- A degree or diploma with 5-6 years of directly related experience; or a certificate with 7-9 years of directly related experience.
- In-depth knowledge of enterprise database administration using MS SQL Server, including database design, installation, configuration, maintenance, performance optimization, security, and lifecycle management.
- Advanced knowledge of relational database concepts, data modelling, indexing, query execution plans, and support for high-availability, high-reliability business applications.
- Strong experience with database performance monitoring and tuning, capacity planning, fault isolation, data integrity checks, and evidence-based remediation.
- Hands-on experience implementing and supporting SQL Server high-availability and disaster-recovery technologies, such as Availability Groups, clustering, replication, log shipping, or equivalent solutions.
- Strong knowledge of SQL Server backup, restore and recovery practices, including recovery models, point-in-time recovery, restore validation, and alignment with defined recovery objectives.
- Experience with T-SQL and PowerShell scripting, and automation of repeatable administrative tasks. Experience with tools such as the Brent Ozar First Responder Kit and the Ola Hallengren Maintenance Solution is an asset.
- Experience supporting database migrations, application releases, and production changes within structured incident, problem, and change management practices.
- Clear communication skills, strong documentation habits and the ability to collaborate effectively with application teams, infrastructure staff, security teams, stakeholders, leadership, and vendors.
- Professional resilience, accountability, and adaptability in a hands-on operational and on-call environment.
- Experience integrating SQL Server backups with an enterprise backup platform such as Commvault is an asset.
- Defined benefit pension plan
- Community-minded workplace with a friendly team environment
- Vacation starting at 15 days per year, 13 statutory holidays, personal days, plus office closure between Christmas and New Year's Day
- Competitive benefit package featuring extended health and dental benefits and a 100% employer-paid flexible spending account
- In-house training programs, extensive career development and coaching program, access to external education opportunities and wellness programs
- Discount programs through various partner agencies
