Senior SQL/Oracle DBA Lead

U.S. Citizenship required (Legislative Branch agency)

Public Trust Required

Please read the job description before applying

Please note: Salary range are estimates and have yet to be approved by the GPO client

GSSI Solutions

is seeking a Senior SQL/Oracle DBA Lead with 8+ years' experience to join our team supporting our client the Government Publishing Office (GPO) . Work will be performed remotely per the GPO’s IT Security policy and regulations.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Senior SQL/Oracle DBA Lead serves as the principal technical point of contact and Subject Matter Expert (SME) for all database administration activities performed under GPO Solicitation No. 040ADV-26-Q-0051. This senior-level position provides technical leadership and day-to-day oversight to a team of junior and mid-level DBAs supporting both Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database platforms. The incumbent interfaces directly with the GPO Contracting Officer's Representative (COR), government system owners, the Information System Security Officer (ISSO), and contractor program management to ensure that all database services meet defined SLAs, federal security mandates (FISMA, NIST SP 800-53), and GPO mission objectives. This role requires broad and deep expertise across both the SQL Server and Oracle technology stacks, as well as demonstrated experience leading database teams in large-scale federal IT contracts.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

● Serve as the primary DBA technical point of contact for GPO government stakeholders, the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR), GPO ISSO, and contractor program management; represent the DBA team in all formal program reviews, technical working groups, and government meetings.

● Provide technical leadership, day-to-day task assignment, workload management, and quality oversight to a team of junior and mid-level SQL Server and Oracle DBAs; ensure team deliverables meet GPO quality standards and SLA requirements.

● Establish, document, and enforce database standards: naming conventions, configuration baselines (CIS Benchmarks and DISA STIGs), object design patterns, backup retention policies, and operational procedures across all SQL Server and Oracle environments.

● Lead database architecture design efforts for GPO systems: develop high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) architectures, hybrid cloud database strategies integrating on-premises and Azure Government or OCI environments, and data architecture recommendations aligned with GPO's IT strategic roadmap.

● Conduct thorough technical reviews of proposed database designs, logical and physical data models, SQL and PL/SQL code, index strategies, and schema change requests prior to promotion to production; provide written technical review findings to development teams and GPO stakeholders.

● Develop and maintain the comprehensive database capacity management plan across all platforms; analyze growth trends and resource utilization data; present quarterly capacity reports with actionable recommendations to GPO leadership.

● Lead root cause analysis (RCA) investigations for all major (Severity 1/2) database incidents; coordinate cross-functional response teams; author and deliver formal After-Action Reports (AARs) to GPO stakeholders within defined timelines following incident resolution.

● Drive the implementation and continuous improvement of NIST SP 800-53 database security controls across all platforms; coordinate with the GPO ISSO on Assessment and Authorization (A&A) activities, System Security Plan (SSP) updates, and Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) remediation for database-related findings.

● Evaluate emerging database technologies, tools, cloud services, and modernization approaches; prepare technology evaluation white papers and recommendations aligned to GPO's mission requirements and IT modernization strategy.

● Manage and track database patching compliance posture across all SQL Server (Microsoft CUs) and Oracle (CPU/RU) environments; maintain a patch compliance matrix; report patch posture and remediation status to GPO on a monthly basis.

● Develop and maintain all program-level database documentation: architecture diagrams, data flow diagrams, system interface diagrams, SOPs, runbooks, configuration records, and disaster recovery plans; ensure all documentation is version-controlled and current.

● Conduct database performance baselining and long-term trend analysis across all platforms; proactively identify emerging performance bottlenecks and implement preventive optimizations before they impact production services.

● Serve as the Tier 3 escalation point for all database incidents that cannot be resolved by junior or mid-level DBAs; coordinate directly with Microsoft Premier Support and Oracle Advanced Customer Support (ACS) on complex platform-level support cases.

● Mentor, coach, and develop junior and mid-level DBA staff; design and deliver internal knowledge transfer sessions; contribute to individual development plans and DBA team training programs.

● Support contractor proposal and business development activities as needed, including staffing plan development, technical approach narrative writing, and preparation of sample deliverables and past performance documentation relevant to database services.

● Prepare and present monthly program status reports, database KPI dashboards (availability, performance, SLA compliance, patch posture, incident metrics), and executive briefings for GPO program reviews.

● Coordinate with the GPO cybersecurity team on continuous monitoring program activities: review Tenable/Nessus vulnerability scanning results for database systems; develop and track remediation plans; report remediation status within POA&M timelines.

● Plan, risk-assess, and oversee database migration, consolidation, and decommission projects; develop detailed migration runbooks with rollback procedures; obtain GPO COR approval for all major database changes prior to execution.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

● Minimum eight (8) years of progressive database administration experience in production enterprise environments, with at least four (4) years in a formally designated senior, lead, or principal DBA role with team oversight responsibilities.

● Expert-level, hands-on proficiency in both Microsoft SQL Server (versions 2016 through 2022) and Oracle Database (12c, 19c, and 21c) in large-scale, multi-instance production environments; ability to administer and architect solutions on both platforms independently.

● Demonstrated experience leading a team of DBAs in the context of a federal government or large enterprise IT services contract, including task assignment, performance management, and deliverable quality assurance.

● Deep, production-validated knowledge of high availability architectures across both platforms: SQL Server Always On Availability Groups, WSFC, Oracle RAC, Oracle Data Guard (Physical and Logical Standby), RMAN, and log shipping.

● Demonstrated experience designing, documenting, testing, and executing enterprise-scale database disaster recovery and business continuity plans (BCP/DRP), including tabletop exercises and live failover testing.

● Strong expertise in database security architecture and implementation: Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) on both SQL Server and Oracle, encryption in transit, comprehensive audit logging, role-based access control (RBAC), and NIST SP 800-53 applicable control implementation.

● Proven experience navigating FISMA compliance processes, including participation in Assessment and Authorization (A&A) activities, System Security Plan (SSP) authorship, and POA&M development for database system findings.

● Practical experience with hybrid cloud database environments, specifically Microsoft Azure Government (Azure SQL, SQL Managed Instance, SQL Server IaaS), AWS GovCloud, or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

● Proficiency in operational scripting and automation languages relevant to database environments: T-SQL, PL/SQL, PowerShell, Python, or bash; ability to develop automation solutions that reduce manual toil and improve operational consistency.

● Excellent technical writing skills; demonstrated ability to produce government-quality technical documentation including architecture documents, white papers, SOPs, AARs, and executive briefing materials that meet GPO documentation standards.

● Experience managing vendor support relationships: opening, tracking, and driving resolution of complex support cases with Oracle Advanced Customer Support (ACS) and/or Microsoft Premier/Unified Support.

● Ability to obtain and maintain a federal Secret (Tier 4) clearance or Public Trust (MBI) at minimum; active clearance strongly preferred; clearance at the Secret level may be required based on GPO system access requirements.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

● Active Secret or higher federal clearance adjudicated within the past five years, enabling immediate or expedited access to GPO classified and sensitive systems.

● Prior experience supporting GPO, Library of Congress, Congressional Budget Office, Government Accountability Office, or other Legislative Branch agency IT contracts, with knowledge of Legislative Branch-specific procurement and IT governance frameworks.

● Oracle Certified Master (OCM) in Oracle Database, or Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, demonstrating elite-level mastery of the respective database platform.

● Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent demonstrated program/project management experience in a federal IT services contract context.

● Experience integrating database administration within DevSecOps pipelines: use of Liquibase, Flyway, or equivalent database change automation tools within CI/CD workflows.

● Familiarity with containerized database deployments using Kubernetes operators (e.g., Oracle Database Operator for Kubernetes, SQL Server on Azure Kubernetes Service) and database-as-a-service (DBaaS) platform evaluation and adoption.

● Experience with DISA STIG compliance automation tooling (e.g., SCAP Compliance Checker, STIG Viewer) and integration of STIG findings into continuous monitoring and remediation workflows.

EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline is required. A Master's degree in a relevant technical field (e.g., Computer Science, Information Assurance, Systems Engineering) or business administration (MBA with technology focus) is preferred. Candidates with exceptional professional experience, senior-level certifications, and demonstrated subject matter expertise may be considered on a case-by-case basis, subject to GPO COR approval of the proposed key personnel resume.

Required Certifications

-Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) – Database 19c or later, OR Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate (DP-300), OR equivalent senior-level database certification

-CompTIA Security+ CE (or higher: CySA+, CASP+)

Preferred Certifications

-CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional)

-CISM (Certified Information Security Manager)

-Oracle Certified Master (OCM) – Oracle Database

-Project Management Professional (PMP)

-Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert

Pay: $138,549.84 - $156,855.73 per year

Benefits

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Retirement plan

Application Question(s)

* Are you a US Citizen? This government client requires US Citizenship

Experience

• progressive database administration : 8 years (Required)
• in a formally designated senior, lead, or principal DBA role: 4 years (Required)
• team oversight responsibilities: 4 years (Required)
• Microsoft SQL Server (versions 2016 through 2022) : 4 years (Required)
• Oracle Database (12c, 19c, and 21c) : 4 years (Required)
• federal government or large enterprise IT services contract: 4 years (Required)
• validated knowledge of high availability architectures : 4 years (Required)
• database disaster recovery and business continuity plans : 4 years (Required)
• database security architecture and implementation: 4 years (Required)
• navigating FISMA compliance processes: 4 years (Required)
• hybrid cloud database Microsoft Azure : 4 years (Required)

License/Certification

• Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) (Required)
• CompTIA Security+ CE (or higher: CySA+, CASP+) (Required)

Work Location: Remote