Senior Azure Cloud DBA Engineer - Freelance

CONTEXT

• Our client, a leading player in the Belgian insurance market, continues its technology transformation and is industrializing its cloud database platform.

• The assignment is part of a transformation program that has migrated core business applications from mainframe to Microsoft SQL Server, with the goal of modernizing the cloud database platform.

• The need concerns the Database Administration & Engineering (DAE) team, which is responsible for the full lifecycle of operational database platforms, both on-premises and in the cloud.

MISSIONS

• Engineering & Build Activities (about 65%)

  • Database Platform Engineering

  • Cloud Architecture Design

  • Terraform Development

  • DevOps Automation

  • Database Service Industrialization

  • Governance Framework Design

  • Cloud Adoption Roadmaps

  • Technical Studies and Proofs of Concept

• Operational Excellence & Coaching (about 35%)

  • Tier-3 Support

  • Root Cause Analysis

  • Performance Troubleshooting

  • Security Reviews

  • Knowledge Sharing

  • Coaching of Junior DBA Profiles

• Azure Database Platform Engineering

  • Design, deploy and operate enterprise-grade database services in Azure Landing Zones

  • Network integration, security, identity management, private connectivity, backup, high availability and disaster recovery

  • Contribute to architecture discussions and define secure, scalable and cost-effective platform patterns across several Azure environments

• CosmosDB Engineering & NoSQL Governance

  • Design and operate CosmosDB environments

  • Define data modeling standards for NoSQL databases

  • Put governance practices in place for NoSQL databases

  • Contribute to performance, security, capacity and cost optimization strategies

  • Documentation, metadata management and governance of NoSQL assets

• Non-production Data Management, Refresh & Scrambling

  • Design and industrialize refresh, masking and scrambling solutions for non-production environments

  • Implement automated, consistent anonymization processes on SQL Server, Azure SQL Database and CosmosDB

  • Preserve business and referential integrity across applications

  • GDPR compliance

• Infrastructure as Code & DevOps

  • Develop and maintain reusable deployment frameworks

  • Apply Infrastructure as Code and DevOps best practices

  • Develop and maintain Terraform modules

  • Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines

  • Develop automation solutions for consistent, secure and repeatable deployments

• SQL Server, Azure SQL Database & Performance Engineering

  • Senior reference for SQL Server and Azure SQL services

  • Performance analysis, troubleshooting, capacity planning and security reviews

  • Platform optimization and continuous improvement

  • Use of monitoring and diagnostic tools to ensure operational excellence

ORGANIZATION & DAY-TO-DAY

• The Database Administration & Engineering team is made up of System DBAs (SQL Server), Developer DBAs, Database Support Specialists and Domain Architects.

• Close collaboration with Cloud Architects, Cloud Platform Engineers, Infrastructure Architects, Cyber Security teams, Application Development teams, Data Governance teams and Operational Support teams.

• The role contributes to the evolution from a traditional DBA model to a cloud database engineering model.

• Time split of about 65% Engineering & Build and 35% Operational Excellence & Coaching, which may vary depending on project phases and go-lives.

CONDITIONS

• Expected start: 1st of January 2027

• Duration: 12 months, with possible extension depending on how the project evolves

EXPERIENCE LEVEL

• Senior (5 to 8 years) of SQL Server DBA experience