Database Administrator

Database Administrator

At-a-Glance

• Senior SQL Server DBA role with ownership of a large-scale estate spanning 170+ servers across live, test and dev environments
• Deep technical focus across high availability, disaster recovery, performance tuning and Azure cloud
• On-site position
• Salary: £50,000 - £60,000
• Excellent opportunity to take expert ownership of a complex, business-critical SQL environment within an established, large-scale organisation

About the Company

Our client is a large, operationally driven organisation with a well-established IT Operations function and a clear infrastructure roadmap. Their SQL estate is extensive, spanning on-premise and Azure environments, and plays a critical role in the day-to-day running of the business. They invest seriously in their technology landscape and are actively modernising, giving the incoming DBA genuine scope to influence how things are done.

The Role

Reporting to the Infrastructure Manager, you will be the subject matter expert for all things SQL Server across a substantial estate of 170+ servers. This is a hands-on technical role with real breadth: from cluster management and replication to performance tuning, capacity planning and Azure migration. You will work closely with application, infrastructure and business teams, acting as the escalation point for high-priority incidents and providing guidance to colleagues across the department. If you thrive in a complex, high-stakes environment and want genuine ownership of a critical technology domain, this role is for you.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and proactively manage the full SQL Server estate, including installation, upgrade, patching and migration across clustered and standalone environments
• Configure and maintain Always On high availability, SQL Server clustering and replication environments
• Lead incident and problem management for all SQL-related issues, performing root cause analysis and delivering right-first-time resolution
• Drive performance tuning, query optimisation, index and statistics management across the estate
• Manage backup, restore and disaster recovery processes, including regular DR testing
• Maintain the in-house data warehouse running on SQL Server 2019 and oversee ETL processes
• Build and maintain job automation to track and record activity across SQL servers for diagnostics and historical analysis
• Enforce DBA team standards including security strategies, login management and database integrity policies
• Represent the SQL estate in the change control process, advising on upgrades, new services and retirements
• Conduct capacity planning and produce health check reports with recommendations for risk mitigation
• Support Azure PaaS databases including Azure SQL and Managed Instance, including data migration from on-prem SQL Server
• Provide out-of-hours and on-call support for SQL-related incidents

What You'll Need

Essential:

• 5+ years in an MS SQL Server DBA role within a medium to large organisation
• Expert-level knowledge of SQL Server and 2019 across Enterprise, Standard and Express editions
• Hands-on experience with Always On high availability, SQL Server clustering and replication
• Strong background in performance tuning, query optimisation and index and statistics management
• Solid experience with backup, restore and disaster recovery planning and testing
• Proficiency in PowerShell scripting and SQL command scripting
• Experience with SSIS and ETL processes
• Working knowledge of Azure SQL and Managed Instance, including data migration tooling
• Right to work in the UK

Desirable / Nice to Have:

• Experience with SSRS and SSAS
• ITIL Foundation certification (v3 or above)
• Microsoft SQL Server certification

Why Apply?

• Salary of £50,000 - £60,000
• A large, complex SQL estate that will genuinely stretch and develop your technical skills
• Real ownership and autonomy as the SQL subject matter expert for the business
• Opportunity to input into the technology strategy and shape the future SQL roadmap
• Stable, established employer with a serious commitment to infrastructure investment
• Collaborative team culture with structured change control and ITIL-aligned ways of working

Next Steps

Interested? Connect with Luke on LinkedIn or send your CV directly to . We'd love to hear from you.

Skills:
Microsoft Sql Server SQL MS SQL Database Administration database infrastructure

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