At PwC, our people in information technology operations focus on managing and maintaining the technology infrastructure and systems to provide smooth operations and efficient delivery of IT services. This includes monitoring network performance, troubleshooting issues, and implementing security measures. In IT systems administration at PwC, you will work through the implementation, management, administration and advanced troubleshooting of IT solutions. You will be responsible for maintaining the seamless operation of an organisation's IT infrastructure, which includes maintaining servers, managing network configurations, and providing critical support to prevent and resolve technical issues. Focused on relationships, you are building meaningful client connections, and learning how to manage and inspire others. Navigating increasingly complex situations, you are growing your personal brand, deepening technical expertise and awareness of your strengths. You are expected to anticipate the needs of your teams and clients, and to deliver quality. Embracing increased ambiguity, you are comfortable when the path forward isn’t clear, you ask questions, and you use these moments as opportunities to grow. Skills Examples of the skills, knowledge, and experiences you need to lead and deliver value at this level include but are not limited to: Respond effectively to the diverse perspectives, needs, and feelings of others. Use a broad range of tools, methodologies and techniques to generate new ideas and solve problems. Use critical thinking to break down complex concepts. Understand the broader objectives of your project or role and how your work fits into the overall strategy. Develop a deeper understanding of the business context and how it is changing. Use reflection to develop self awareness, enhance strengths and address development areas. Interpret data to inform insights and recommendations. Uphold and reinforce professional and technical standards (e.g. refer to specific PwC tax and audit guidance), the Firm's code of conduct, and independence requirements. The Opportunity When you join PwC Acceleration Centers (ACs), you step into a pivotal role focused on actively supporting various Acceleration Center services, from Advisory to Assurance, Tax and Business Services. In our innovative hubs, you’ll engage in challenging projects and provide distinctive services to support client engagements through enhanced quality and innovation. You’ll also participate in dynamic and digitally enabled training that is designed to grow your technical and professional skills. As part of the Application Support team you will provide critical technical support for cloud-based Tax applications, securing reliability and performance. As a Senior Associate, you will analyze complex issues, mentor junior team members, and build meaningful client connections while navigating the intricacies of application support in a dynamic environment. Responsibilities Provide essential technical support for cloud-based Tax applications Analyze complex issues and propose viable solutions Mentor junior team members to enhance their skills Build and maintain positive client relationships Navigate the complexities of application support in a dynamic setting Maintain the reliability and performance of applications Collaborate with cross-functional teams to address challenges Uphold service delivery standards What You Must Have Bachelor's Degree 3 years of experience in application support Oral and written proficiency in English required What Sets You Apart 3 years of experience in application support Experience with Microsoft Azure PaaS Skilled in SQL for issue analysis Familiarity with Kusto Query Language (KQL) Experience with Microsoft DevOps and CI/CD pipelines Scripting experience in Bash, PowerShell, Python Understanding of ITIL processes Experience with monitoring tools like DataDog Ability to manage competing priorities Skills Needed For The Role Senior Associate – SQL Database Administrator (4–7 Years) A senior-level SQL Server engineer responsible for owning the reliability, performance, security, and availability of enterprise SQL databases. This role manages complex multi-node clusters, performance engineering, mission‑critical tuning, security enforcement, and DR orchestration. The Senior Associate leads high‑impact database changes, RCAs, and modernization initiatives. Infrastructure-as-Code & Provisioning: Terraform/Ansible CI/CD pipelines, audit logging, environment setup (dev/test/prod) Backup & Recovery: Schedule and validate daily/weekly/monthly backups, quarterly DR tests, maintain runbooks Patch Management & Upgrades: Plan and apply vendor patches, validate post-upgrade functionality Performance & Capacity Planning: Monitor CPU/memory/storage, tune queries and indexes, forecast 12–24 month growth High Availability & Replication: Configure clustering, Always On, log shipping, replication; conduct failover drills Security & Compliance: Implement encryption, masking, RBAC; audit user activity; generate compliance reports Incident Management & RCA: Detect deadlocks, corruption, failed logins; troubleshoot with app teams; document root causes Reporting & Dashboarding: Weekly performance and uptime dashboards; recommend optimization opportunities Scripting & Automation: Develop Shell, PowerShell, PL/SQL, T-SQL scripts; automate patching, backups, and user provisioning Minimum Degree Required Bachelor’s Degree Degree Preferred Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field. Minimum Years of Experience 4-7 year(s) Certifications Required None Certifications Preferred Microsoft SQL Server Certifications (MCSA/MCSE), Azure SQL-related certifications Required / Mandatory Knowledge/Skills Advanced SQL Server Administration Manage complex environments with AlwaysOn AGs, multi-subnet clusters, multiple replicas, automatic failover, and geo-distributed DR. Tune cluster quorum settings, failover policies, listener configurations, and read routing. Implement encryption-at-rest, TDE, SSL enforcement, and security baselines. Advanced Performance Engineering Perform deep-dive performance tuning using: DMVs/DMFs, Execution plan analysis (actual & estimated), Stats & index maintenance frameworks, Extended Events, Query Store insights, Wait statistics, blocking chains, and resource semaphore analysis. Identify long-term performance trends and build proactive tuning strategies. Database Development Support Support schema design reviews, indexing strategies, partitioning, and stored procedure optimizations. Collaborate with dev teams to optimize data models and improve transactional efficiency. Backup/Restore & Disaster Recovery Design and maintain enterprise backup strategies (full, diff, log, copy-only, encrypted backups). Execute PIT recovery, AG replica rebuilds, DR failovers, cluster migrations, and cross-site replication checks. Document and lead DR drills. Security, Auditing, and Compliance Implement role/security policies, least-privilege models, data masking, and auditing. Remediate vulnerabilities, manage secrets, and enforce encryption policies. ITSM Responsibilities (Strengthened) Lead major database changes, patch cycles, upgrades, and migrations through CAB. Own SQL-related incident triages, RCAs, and stability engineering. Maintain SQL SLAs/KPIs: Backup success rate, Query performance thresholds, AG health, Job reliability, DR readiness metrics. Modernization & Automation Build automation frameworks for indexing, stats updates, health checks, and DR validation. Assist with modernization: PaaS migrations, SQL Managed Instance planning, DMS migrations. Preferred Knowledge/Skills SQL Server MySQL MariaDB MongoDB PostgreSQL PowerShell AWS RDS, Aurora, NoSQL Terraform Solarwinds SQL Diagnostics Ansible #J-18808-Ljbffr