BigQuery Database Administrator (DBA)

Job Summary

Required Qualifications

• •U.S. Citizen or Green Card holder
• •no visa sponsorship
• •6-Month Contract-to-Hire
• •Location: Chicago preferred
• •remote within the U.S. considered
• •ownership of the performance, reliability, security, and operational effectiveness of enterprise data environments built on Google BigQuery and Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• •administer and optimize BigQuery workloads
• •troubleshoot performance issues
• •strengthen monitoring and access controls
• •ensure enterprise data remains available, secure, scalable, and cost-efficient
• •support migrations from legacy database environments into modern cloud-based architectures
• •validate data throughout the transition
• •support integrations using Talend or comparable ETL technologies
• •recommend practical cloud data best practices
• •move beyond reactive database support to proactively identify risks
• •optimize the environment
• •build a more scalable and reliable cloud data platform
• •Take ownership of a strategically important BigQuery environment
• •help transform enterprise data infrastructure into a secure, scalable, high-performing cloud platform
• •influence the reliability, performance, cost efficiency, and modernization of data used across the business
• •Expand beyond traditional database administration into modern cloud data architecture
• •BigQuery optimization
• •GCP services
• •enterprise data integration
• •governance
• •large-scale modernization
• •exposure to complex migration and transformation initiatives
• •working closely with engineering and architecture teams
• •enjoys solving difficult database and performance problems
• •improving complex environments
• •seeing measurable results from technical decisions
• •have meaningful ownership
• •opportunities to establish best practices
• •the ability to influence how the organization operates and scales its cloud data platform
• •Stabilize and Establish Operational Control of the BigQuery Environment
• •assess the existing BigQuery and supporting GCP environment
• •establish a clear baseline for performance, reliability, security, access, workload behavior, and operational risks
• •Identify critical issues involving queries, capacity, data structures, permissions, monitoring, availability, or support processes
• •implement prioritized improvements
• •Establish proactive monitoring and repeatable troubleshooting practices
• •improved environment stability
• •visibility into critical workloads
• •timely resolution of priority issues
• •documented operating practices
• •reduced recurring incidents
• •Improve BigQuery Performance, Scalability, and Cost Efficiency
• •analyze high-impact BigQuery workloads
• •SQL queries
• •data structures
• •usage patterns
• •resource consumption
• •identify opportunities for measurable optimization
• •Implement appropriate improvements involving query design
• •partitioning
• •clustering
• •data organization
• •workload management
• •other BigQuery optimization techniques
• •Partner with engineering teams to prevent inefficient patterns from being repeatedly introduced
• •Support Successful Data Modernization and Cloud Migration
• •migration of legacy database workloads and data into BigQuery and related GCP services
• •Assess source environments
• •support migration planning and transformation activities
• •identify compatibility and data-quality risks
• •validate migrated data for completeness, accuracy, and expected performance
• •Work with Talend or comparable ETL/data integration technologies to support reliable ingestion, transformation, and integration processes
• •accurate migrations
• •timely resolution of data or performance issues
• •validated source-to-target results
• •minimal disruption to dependent systems
• •successful transition of workloads into supportable cloud environments
• •Establish a Secure, Scalable BigQuery Operating Model
• •help establish repeatable standards and best practices for BigQuery administration
• •security
• •IAM
• •monitoring
• •performance management
• •data integration
• •troubleshooting
• •change management
• •Collaborate with architects and data engineers to ensure new solutions are designed for scalability, maintainability, governance, and operational support
• •Document reusable practices and recommendations that improve consistency across the data platform
• •stronger operational standards
• •improved security and governance controls
• •reduced recurring issues
• •better maintainability
• •increased confidence in the platform's ability to support future growth
• •Assess the BigQuery and GCP Environment
• •review the current BigQuery architecture
• •workloads
• •data structures
• •SQL patterns
• •integrations
• •IAM configuration
• •monitoring
• •security controls
• •operational processes
• •Identify immediate risks, performance bottlenecks, recurring incidents, and modernization dependencies
• •produce a prioritized improvement plan
• •Establish Proactive Monitoring and Troubleshooting
• •strengthen monitoring of BigQuery workloads
• •query performance
• •failures
• •resource usage
• •integrations
• •other critical indicators
• •Develop repeatable troubleshooting and root-cause practices
• •document recurring issues and resolutions
• •faster issue identification and resolution
• •improved operational visibility
• •fewer repeated problems
• •increased platform reliability
• •Optimize SQL, Queries, and Data Structures
• •identify high-impact performance and cost issues
• •optimize SQL
• •query patterns
• •schemas
• •partitioning
• •clustering
• •related BigQuery structures
• •Work with developers and data engineers to improve inefficient designs
• •establish practical optimization guidelines
• •documented improvements in priority query performance
• •reliability
• •scalability
• •resource efficiency
• •Strengthen Security, IAM, and Data Governance Controls
• •evaluate and improve access management
• •permissions
• •security controls
• •relevant governance practices across BigQuery and supporting GCP services
• •Identify excessive or inappropriate access
• •support remediation
• •ensure controls align with organizational security and compliance requirements
• •stronger access controls
• •documented governance practices
• •timely remediation of identified risks
• •successful compliance with applicable standards
• •Execute Data Integration and Modernization Activities
• •support ingestion, transformation, migration, and integration workflows using Talend or comparable ETL tools
• •relevant GCP services
• •Collaborate with engineers and architects to move legacy data and workloads into scalable cloud architectures
• •validate data accuracy
• •resolving transformation issues
• •reliable pipelines
• •accurate migrated data
• •successful cutovers
• •minimal disruption to dependent applications and users
• •Establish DBA Best Practices and Cross-Team Collaboration
• •document and promote standards for BigQuery administration
• •monitoring
• •SQL optimization
• •troubleshooting
• •security
• •migration
• •operational support
• •Participate in architecture and technical discussions
• •provide practical recommendations to data engineers, architects, and application teams
• •adoption of repeatable practices
• •reduced avoidable technical issues
• •improved cross-team execution
• •a more maintainable enterprise data platform
• •Continuously Evaluate and Integrate AI to Improve Performance
• •identify how AI and automation can improve BigQuery administration
• •SQL optimization
• •monitoring
• •anomaly detection
• •troubleshooting
• •migration validation
• •documentation
• •operational support
• •Evaluate approved AI-enabled tools
• •lead practical pilots where automation can reduce manual effort
• •accelerate root-cause analysis
• •improve platform performance and reliability
• •Validate all AI-generated recommendations, scripts, SQL, and configurations before production use
• •maintain required security and governance controls
• •demonstrated improvements in DBA productivity
• •issue resolution
• •optimization effectiveness
• •platform reliability
• •embedding responsible AI-assisted practices into ongoing operations