Lead Associate - Database

We are seeking a Lead Associate - Database to join our IT department. As a Lead Associate - Database, you will be responsible for enhancing the reliability, performance, security, and operational maturity of our database platforms across both on-premises and cloud environments.

Key Responsibilities:

Database Platform Reliability & Service Optimisation:

• Leverage database observability, performance analytics, and platform telemetry to enhance the availability, resilience, security, and operational health of enterprise database services.
• Lead technical investigations into complex database service challenges, applying structured diagnostic methodologies, root cause analysis, and remediation strategies to improve long-term platform stability and reliability.
• Contribute to database lifecycle management initiatives through the implementation of platform enhancements, environment standardisation, technology refresh activities, migrations, upgrades, and service optimisation programmes aligned with engineering standards.
• Support the effectiveness of database governance frameworks by administering access models, role structures, privileged permissions, and service identities in alignment with security, compliance, and least-privilege principles.
• Strengthen service recoverability and resilience through recovery assurance activities, validation of data protection capabilities, continuous improvement of recovery procedures, and support for business continuity objectives.
• Drive database performance optimisation through the analysis of query behaviour, resource utilisation patterns, workload characteristics, indexing strategies, and platform performance trends, delivering improvements that enhance efficiency and scalability.
• Contribute to the reliability and operational maturity of high-availability and replication architectures through proactive health assessment, resilience validation, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Security, Risk & Governance:

• Enhance database security posture by implementing approved hardening standards, remediation initiatives, platform currency programmes, and security-control improvements in collaboration with Cyber Security and risk stakeholders.
• Maintain the integrity of database governance and service-management practices by ensuring accurate configuration, lifecycle, dependency, and ownership information is reflected across relevant service-management platforms and repositories.

Knowledge Management & Continuous Improvement:

• Develop and enhance technical knowledge assets, operational standards, recovery frameworks, engineering procedures, and service documentation that improve supportability, consistency, and organisational capability.
• Drive automation and operational efficiency initiatives through the use of approved scripting, tooling, and orchestration capabilities that improve consistency, strengthen controls, and reduce operational complexity.
• Provide database subject matter expertise during service recovery, technical investigations, and root-cause analysis activities, contributing actionable insights that improve service resilience and reduce recurring operational risk.

Cross-Functional Engineering & Capability Development:

• Collaborate with hosting, cloud, application, network, security, architecture, and technology partners to deliver integrated infrastructure outcomes and resolve complex cross-platform challenges.
• Contribute to operational maturity and capability development by sharing technical expertise, improving knowledge transfer, supporting engineering best practices, and escalating systemic risks, design constraints, and platform improvement opportunities.

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• 5–9 years in database administration, infrastructure support or IT operations, including hands-on Level 2 support in a complex enterprise environment.
• Strong hands-on administration and troubleshooting capability across Microsoft SQL Server and working knowledge of one or more additional enterprise database technologies such as Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL or Oracle.
• Practical knowledge of database backup, restore, recovery models, high availability, replication, clustering, patching, upgrades, indexing, query analysis, capacity management and performance monitoring.
• Working knowledge of Windows and/or Linux server administration, storage, networking, DNS, certificates, Active Directory or Entra ID integration, and cloud database services.
• Ability to use SQL, PowerShell and approved automation or monitoring tools for administration, validation, reporting and repeatable remediation.
• Sound understanding of database security, least privilege, privileged access, encryption, auditing, data protection, vulnerability remediation and evidence requirements.