Senior Database Administrator

Senior Database Administrator – SQL Server & Azure
London, City: Hybrid
Salary: £85,000 + Package

Overview
An excellent opportunity has arisen for an experienced Senior Database Administrator to join a global organisation with a complex hybrid technology environment. You will manage and improve a database estate across on-premises SQL Server, Azure SQL and Azure Cosmos DB. The role combines database administration with automation, engineering, security, high availability, disaster recovery and DevOps.

A key focus will be supporting the SQL Server 2025 upgrade programme, migrating remaining SQL Server 2019 and 2022 environments while ensuring robust testing, deployment and operational stability.

Role & Responsibilities

Administer and maintain SQL Server, Azure SQL and Azure Cosmos DB across production and non-production environments.
Plan and deliver SQL Server upgrades and migrations, including compatibility assessments, testing, deployment and rollback planning.
Install, configure, patch and upgrade SQL Server instances across complex environments.
Support Always On Availability Groups, clustering, SQL Server replication and other high-availability technologies.
Manage database performance, capacity, security, backups, restores and maintenance.
Troubleshoot database and application incidents, identifying root causes and implementing permanent fixes.
Develop and maintain T-SQL, PowerShell, Azure Automation Runbooks and database monitoring tools.
Support Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines, Git and DACPAC-based database deployment processes.
Support disaster recovery exercises, failover testing and database recovery validation.
Work closely with Data Engineering across SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, Azure Data Factory and Power BI.
Contribute to database standards, documentation, automation and continuous improvement.
Participate in an on-call rota and out-of-hours maintenance where required.Skills & Experience

Strong commercial experience administering production Microsoft SQL Server environments across on-premises and Azure.
Extensive experience with SQL Server installation, patching, upgrades, migrations and performance tuning.
Strong T-SQL skills and experience troubleshooting complex database and application issues.
Hands-on experience with Always On Availability Groups, replication, clustering, backup, recovery and disaster recovery.
Practical PowerShell and Azure Automation experience.
Experience supporting Azure SQL Database and Azure Cosmos DB within hybrid environments.
Experience with Azure DevOps, Git, CI/CD and DACPAC-based database deployments.
Experience supporting SSIS, SSRS and SSAS.
Experience using KQL for Azure resource inventory and operational reporting.
Proven experience delivering SQL Server upgrades or migrations, including testing, rollback and post-upgrade validation