SQL Server DBA/Engineer in City of London, London

SQL Server DBA/Engineer
4 Months
£541-563 per day (Inside IR35)
London/Hybrid - 1-2 days per week on site

Job Summary
The SQL DBA Engineer is responsible for designing, managing, and optimizing SQL database environments to ensure performance, availability, scalability, and security across business-critical systems. The role combines database architecture, administration, performance tuning, governance, backup and recovery planning, and support for application and infrastructure teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and maintain SQL database architecture aligned to business and application requirements
• Administer, monitor, and optimize SQL database environments for performance, reliability, and scalability
• Lead database installation, configuration, patching, upgrades, and migration activities
• Define and implement backup, recovery, disaster recovery, and high-availability strategies
• Troubleshoot database issues, performance bottlenecks, and system failures
• Support capacity planning, database health checks, and performance tuning initiatives
• Ensure database security, access controls, compliance, and audit readiness
• Work closely with application, infrastructure, and development teams on database-related requirements
• Develop and maintain database standards, policies, and technical documentation
• Provide technical guidance on SQL best practices, architecture decisions, and database optimization

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field
• Strong experience in SQL database administration and architecture roles
• Deep understanding of database design, performance tuning, backup and recovery, and high-availability solutions
• Experience with database monitoring, troubleshooting, and capacity planning
• Knowledge of security, compliance, and operational controls for database environments
• Ability to support complex database environments across production and non-production systems
• Strong analytical, documentation, and problem-solving skills
• Good communication and stakeholder coordination abilities

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with SQL Server clustering, replication, Always On, or similar high-availability solutions
• Exposure to cloud database platforms and migration projects
• Familiarity with automation, scripting, and database deployment tools
• Experience supporting large-scale enterprise or customer-facing environments
• Relevant certifications in SQL Server, database administration, or cloud platforms

Key Competencies

• Database architecture
• Performance optimization
• Problem-solving
• Risk awareness
• Accountability
• Technical leadership