Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Job Type: Full Time
Employment Type: Permanent
Experience Level: Senior
Senior Database Administrator
We are seeking an experienced Senior Database Administrator to manage, optimize, secure, and support enterprise database environments that underpin critical applications, reporting platforms, and business operations. This role will take ownership of database availability, performance, capacity, security, backup, recovery, and operational resilience across production and non-production environments. The Senior Database Administrator will collaborate with software engineers, data engineers, infrastructure specialists, cybersecurity teams, application owners, and technology leadership to ensure database services meet performance, reliability, and service-level requirements. The successful candidate will contribute to database modernization, cloud adoption, disaster recovery, automation, performance engineering, and continuous improvement initiatives. The position requires strong hands-on expertise across enterprise database platforms and the ability to troubleshoot complex production issues in highly available environments. The ideal candidate will provide technical leadership, establish operational standards, improve database reliability, and support strategic technology initiatives while maintaining a strong focus on security, scalability, data integrity, and operational excellence.
Key Responsibilities
- Administer, maintain, monitor, and optimize enterprise database environments across production, development, testing, and disaster recovery platforms.
- Manage Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL, MySQL, or comparable relational database technologies within complex enterprise environments.
- Configure and maintain high-availability database solutions, including clustering, replication, failover, Always On Availability Groups, and comparable technologies.
- Monitor database health, performance, capacity, availability, resource utilization, and service-level objectives using enterprise monitoring platforms.
- Diagnose and resolve complex database performance issues involving SQL queries, indexing, locking, blocking, deadlocks, memory, CPU, storage, and I/O.
- Develop, test, and maintain comprehensive database backup, restoration, replication, and disaster recovery procedures aligned with business continuity requirements.
- Plan and execute database upgrades, migrations, patching, configuration changes, and platform maintenance while minimizing service disruption.
- Review and optimize SQL queries, stored procedures, execution plans, indexes, database configurations, and application data access patterns.
- Implement database security controls covering authentication, authorization, encryption, auditing, privileged access, vulnerability remediation, and security hardening.
- Collaborate with application developers, data engineers, architects, and infrastructure teams on database design, application releases, schema changes, and performance requirements.
- Automate recurring database administration activities using PowerShell, Python, Bash, SQL scripting, or comparable automation technologies.
- Establish database monitoring, alerting, performance baselines, capacity plans, technical documentation, operational procedures, and recovery runbooks.
- Lead technical investigations during major database incidents, root-cause analysis, service degradation, and complex production problems.
- Provide technical guidance and mentoring to database administrators and engineering teams while contributing to database architecture and modernization initiatives.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline; equivalent professional experience may be considered.
- 7 or more years of professional experience in database administration, database engineering, infrastructure operations, or a closely related technical role.
- Advanced hands-on experience administering Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL, MySQL, or multiple enterprise relational database platforms.
- Strong SQL expertise covering complex queries, joins, common table expressions, stored procedures, functions, indexing, execution plans, and query optimization.
- Demonstrated experience designing and supporting high-availability and disaster recovery solutions using clustering, replication, failover, Always On Availability Groups, log shipping, or comparable technologies.
- Strong knowledge of database backup, recovery, disaster recovery testing, capacity planning, performance management, monitoring, and business continuity principles.
- Experience with cloud database platforms and services across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, or comparable enterprise environments.
- Practical experience with Azure SQL Database, Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Oracle Cloud, or comparable managed database services.
- Proficiency with database administration and monitoring tools such as SQL Server Management Studio, Oracle Enterprise Manager, pgAdmin, Redgate, SolarWinds, or equivalent platforms.
- Strong scripting and automation capabilities using PowerShell, Python, Bash, SQL, or comparable technologies for administration and operational support.
- Knowledge of database security practices including encryption, identity and access management, auditing, privileged access, vulnerability management, and data protection.
- Experience working with IT service management processes including incident management, problem management, change management, service requests, and root-cause analysis.
- Familiarity with Windows Server, Linux, Git, CI/CD pipelines, virtualization, storage technologies, networking concepts, and infrastructure automation.
- Excellent analytical, troubleshooting, communication, documentation, and technical leadership skills; preferred certifications include Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate, AWS Certified Database – Specialty, Oracle Database certifications, PostgreSQL certifications, ITIL, or comparable credentials. Candidates must have the legal right to work in the United Kingdom.
Equal Opportunity Employer
We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. Qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.
Job Type: Full Time, Permanent
Pay: £70,000.00-£75,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Financial planning services
- Free parking
- Gym membership
- Life insurance
- On-site gym
- On-site parking
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person
