Team Lead MS SQL Engineer, Johannesburg

SUMMARY:
MS SQL Engineer

POSITION INFO:

Introduction

As Team Leader: Microsoft SQL, you will accomplish results through the management of experienced professionals and integrate subject matter and industry expertise within the areas of Server Software, MS SQL, and Cloud Infrastructure Management. We are seeking a technically strong individual with proven team management experience. Ideally, you will have mentored and managed a small Software and Cloud team in the past, with a passion for production support of technology.

This is a dynamic and diverse team that values positivity and collaboration. You will provide management and guidance to cloud engineering and operations staff, focusing on implementing new and enhanced services across multiple locations, while ensuring high availability and swift resolution of issues. The role is responsible for all support aspects of SQL Infrastructure, including integration with development teams, third-party providers, and managing the SQL team. Close collaboration with operational, project, development, vendor, and product teams will be key to ensuring services are consistently maintained to defined service levels. The environment operates 24/7.

Job description

• Manage the enterprise SQL engineering team, including recruitment, mentoring, and career growth.
• Provide technical oversight across systems and architectures, with emphasis on reliability, scalability, and automation.
• Drive the vision for the future of SQL infrastructure and ensure reliability of applications and services across cloud and on-premise environments.
• Offer a holistic view of the production environment for both technology and business management, partnering closely with development leaders.
• Perform controlled incident and problem resolution, including prioritisation, escalation, root cause analysis, and follow-through to resolution.
• Communicate status to development teams, ensuring outstanding issues are tracked to closure for both short-term and long-term solutions.
• Consult with stakeholders and technical leads to better understand objectives and align delivery.
• Ensure awareness and compliance with audit and regulatory requirements.
• Contribute to strategies for network growth, scalability, and stability.
• Champion high availability initiatives for Business-As-Usual, including monitoring, failover, and resiliency.
• Manage incidents, problems, and change at an enterprise level.
• Deliver results that directly impact business and development outcomes.

Servers (on-premise and cloud)

• Manage server infrastructure.
• Oversee database performance tuning, indexing strategies, and query optimisation across environments.
• Control and monitor SQL user access.
• Ensure server data backups are maintained as per business requirements.
• Monitor server performance and uptime.
• Architect and maintain scalable, secure, and high-performing relational databases (SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or equivalent).
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (DevOps, BI, Cloud, Security) to deliver data-driven solutions.
• Monitor and troubleshoot production database issues, ensuring 24/7 stability and availability.
• Ensure replication of critical business databases at disaster recovery sites.
• Manage software upgrades in line with licensing.

Security

• Enforce third-party access policies.
• Perform and address findings from regular risk assessments.
• Manage device and system logs.
• Maintain and update procedures for data encryption, external storage usage, and secure information exchange.
• Regularly review and update policies for user access, permitted operations, and monitoring.

Operating Systems

• Ensure all operating systems are licensed and patched to required levels.
• Enforce compliance with business standards and IT approvals.
• Ensure operating systems are monitored by the Network Operations team.
• Manage upgrades to newer versions when required.

Capacity Planning

• Develop and maintain capacity management processes and procedures.
• Regularly review monitoring results and implement actions to address findings.

Minimum requirements

• Bachelor’s degree, IT qualification, or diploma.
• Certifications in SQL Server, Azure Data Engineer, or equivalent.
• Mandatory Microsoft training and certifications:
• - Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate.
• - Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate.
• Relevant product-specific training and experience.
• ITIL and CobIT certifications.
• Minimum 5 years’ working experience.
• At least 2 years of people management in a technical environment.
• 2 years’ experience in on-call rotations, providing after-hours support in a 24/7 environment.
• 5 years’ experience as a System and Cloud Administrator (including Microsoft license management).