SQL Architect

SQL Architect

Work Site: Toronto, Canada (Remote)

Employment Type: Contract with a possible 3-month Contract-to-Hire (CTH) opportunity

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced SQL Architect to lead the design, optimization, governance, and evolution of enterprise data platforms. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Microsoft SQL Server architecture, database design, performance tuning, data integration, and cloud-based data solutions.

The role involves collaborating with business stakeholders, data engineers, BI developers, application teams, and enterprise architects to deliver scalable, secure, and high-performing data platforms that support business operations and analytics.

Key Responsibilities

• Data Architecture & Design: Design and maintain enterprise-wide database architectures and data models aligned with business and technology strategies. Establish database standards, naming conventions, and data governance practices. Lead architecture reviews, recommend improvements to existing database environments, and design high-availability and disaster recovery solutions.

• Performance & Optimization: Analyze and optimize complex SQL queries, stored procedures, and ETL processes. Monitor database performance, implement tuning strategies, resolve performance bottlenecks across transactional and analytical workloads, and develop capacity planning and database growth strategies.

• Data Engineering & Integration: Design and oversee ETL/ELT frameworks and data integration processes. Collaborate with data engineering teams on data lake, data warehouse, and analytics initiatives. Architect solutions for ingesting, transforming, and serving large-scale datasets, and support migrations between on-premises and cloud environments.

• Governance & Security: Define and enforce database security, compliance, and access control standards. Ensure data platforms meet regulatory and organizational requirements. Establish backup, recovery, auditing, and monitoring procedures, and implement data quality and master data management practices.

• Technical Leadership: Provide technical leadership and mentorship to DBAs, developers, data engineers, and BI teams. Review database designs, code, and deployment plans. Lead root-cause analysis and remediation for critical incidents, and evaluate emerging database technologies to recommend appropriate adoption strategies.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.

• 10+ years of experience in database development, administration, or data architecture.

• 5+ years of experience in database architecture or a technical leadership role.

• Expert-level knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server.

• Extensive experience designing enterprise-scale OLTP and data warehouse solutions.

• Strong understanding of database internals, indexing strategies, partitioning, and query optimization.

• Experience with data modeling methodologies, including Kimball, Data Vault, and dimensional modeling.

• Strong understanding of data governance, security, and compliance principles.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Azure SQL, Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, or Databricks.

• Experience leading cloud migration initiatives.

• Knowledge of modern data architecture concepts, including Data Lakehouse and Data Mesh.

• Experience supporting AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics data platforms.

• Microsoft Azure Data Engineer or Database Administrator certifications.

• Experience working in Agile delivery environments.