Database Administrator

Position description

The Ninth Judicial Circuit Court is accepting applications for the position of Database Administrator, a technical role within Court Administration under the supervision of the IT Infrastructure Manager. This position administers and supports the court's enterprise database platforms at the Orange County Courthouse. The Database Administrator helps ensure that data services are reliable, secure, recoverable, and aligned with the operational needs of judges, court staff, and justice partners.

This role is responsible for the availability, performance, integrity, and security of Microsoft SQL Server databases, including Always On Availability Groups and standalone SQL Server instances. The position also performs supporting systems administration for the Windows, virtualization, storage, and network services on which these mission-critical databases depend.

Primary Responsibilities

• Administer Always On Availability Groups and standalone SQL Server instances, including installation, configuration, patching, maintenance, backup, recovery, and lifecycle management.

• Monitor Availability Group replicas, listeners, synchronization, failover readiness, and Windows Server Failover Clustering; investigate and resolve health or connectivity issues.

• Monitor database performance and capacity; tune queries, indexes, execution plans, storage, and server configurations to maintain dependable service.

• Plan and test database upgrades, migrations, backup and restore procedures, disaster recovery, and controlled failovers with minimal operational disruption.

• Manage database access, service accounts, encryption, auditing, and security configurations in accordance with court policies and cybersecurity standards.

• Administer supporting Windows servers, Active Directory integrations, PowerShell automation, virtualization, enterprise storage, and related network services.

• Troubleshoot database and infrastructure incidents; perform root-cause analysis; and coordinate with application, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and vendor teams.

• Maintain database and server inventories, architecture diagrams, procedures, recovery plans, and change records; support lifecycle, risk, and budget planning.

Qualifications

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Database Management, or a related field.
• Minimum five (5) years of progressively responsible SQL Server database administration and supporting systems administration experience in enterprise production environments.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity principles, data protection, secure database design, and change-management practices.

Technical Skills:

• Strong proficiency administering SQL Server standalone instances and multi-node Always On Availability Groups using SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Server Agent, and Transact-SQL.
• Hands-on experience with Windows Server Failover Clustering, quorum, listeners, synchronous and asynchronous replicas, planned failover, and Availability Group monitoring.
• Experience with query and index tuning, execution-plan analysis, database integrity checks, capacity planning, and performance troubleshooting.
• Demonstrated knowledge of backup, restore, recovery validation, disaster recovery, and business-continuity practices for clustered and standalone databases.
• Experience managing SQL Server security, authentication, authorization, service accounts, auditing, encryption, and least-privilege access.

• Proficiency with Windows Server, Active Directory, Group Policy, PowerShell, DNS, and automation of database and system administration tasks.

• Experience with VMware or Hyper-V, enterprise storage, server and network troubleshooting, patching, monitoring, and application dependencies.

• Ability to document technical standards and apply structured incident, problem, change, and configuration-management processes.

Certifications (Preferred):

• Microsoft certification in Azure or SQL database administration
• Vendor-recognized certification in an enterprise database platform
• CompTIA Security+ or an equivalent cybersecurity certification
• ITIL Foundation Certification
• Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP)

Working Conditions:

• May require occasional after-hours, holiday, and weekend support for database maintenance, upgrades, incident response, and recovery activities.

• Ability to lift, carry, and install technical equipment up to 40 pounds.

This is an Orange County funded position with full benefits.