Senior SQL DBA

Senior SQL Server DBA - Performance & AWS

Location: Birmingham - On-site
Salary: £60,000-£65,000
Job Type: Full-Time, Permanent

No Sponsorship available must be UK based

The Opportunity

We're working with an established organisation seeking an experienced Senior SQL Server Database Administrator (DBA) to take ownership of database performance, reliability and optimisation across its AWS environment.
This is an excellent opportunity for a hands-on SQL specialist to become the primary technical owner of database administration and performance, with responsibility for identifying issues, improving scalability and ensuring critical systems operate efficiently.
You'll work closely with software developers and technical stakeholders, investigating complex database challenges, optimising queries and implementing improvements that have a measurable impact on application performance.
This role offers significant autonomy and the opportunity to shape database standards, monitoring and long-term performance strategy.

Key Responsibilities

• Administer, maintain and optimise multiple Microsoft SQL Server instances.
• Monitor database performance and proactively identify potential issues.
• Investigate slow-running queries, blocking, deadlocks, indexing problems and execution plan regressions.
• Use Query Store, execution plans, Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) and Extended Events to diagnose performance issues.
• Optimise T-SQL queries, indexing strategies, database statistics and SQL Server configuration.
• Investigate SQL generated by Entity Framework, identifying N+1 queries, excessive data retrieval and inefficient application-to-database interactions.
• Collaborate with software developers to resolve application-level and database-level performance bottlenecks.
• Plan and implement database improvements to support increasing customer numbers and data volumes.
• Support SQL Server environments hosted on AWS, including EC2 and/or RDS.
• Evaluate database sizing, storage, infrastructure performance and cost efficiency.
• Maintain backup, recovery, high availability and disaster recovery processes.
• Support SQL Server Always On Availability Groups and relevant AWS resilience configurations.
• Lead technical investigations during database performance incidents and deliver permanent fixes.
• Develop monitoring, dashboards and alerts to identify performance issues before they affect users.
• Automate routine administration and maintenance tasks using PowerShell and related tools.
• Maintain documentation covering database configuration, performance, resilience and operational procedures.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Proven experience as a SQL Server DBA, Senior Database Administrator or Database Performance Engineer.
• Strong Microsoft SQL Server administration and troubleshooting skills.
• Advanced T-SQL, including query optimisation and understanding of the SQL Server query optimiser.
• Excellent knowledge of execution plans, indexing, statistics and performance tuning.
• Experience administering and optimising multiple SQL Server instances.
• Strong understanding of Entity Framework and how application code generates SQL queries.
• Experience proactively monitoring and diagnosing database performance issues.
• Commercial experience with SQL Server in AWS environments, ideally EC2 and/or RDS.
• Understanding of AWS infrastructure, storage and networking considerations affecting database performance.
• Experience with database backup and recovery, high availability and disaster recovery.
• Familiarity with Always On Availability Groups and/or AWS Multi-AZ configurations.
• Experience planning for database scalability and growing data volumes.
• Scripting skills using PowerShell, dbatools or similar tools.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work closely with software developers.
• A proactive approach, with the ability to work independently, prioritise issues and drive improvements through to completion.

Desirable Experience

Experience with any of the following would be beneficial:

• Redgate SQL Monitor.
• SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer (DPA).
• Datadog and AWS CloudWatch.
• Application Insights.
• Entity Framework Core logging and MiniProfiler.
• Load testing and performance benchmarking.
• Database partitioning and data archiving.
• Managing large tables and high-volume databases.
• DACPACs, Flyway or Redgate deployment tools.
• Microsoft SQL Server or AWS database certifications.

About You

You'll be a methodical, analytical and self-motivated database specialist who enjoys investigating complex technical problems.
Rather than simply responding to reported issues, you'll proactively monitor database health, identify performance bottlenecks and use evidence to recommend and implement improvements.
You'll be comfortable working directly with developers, challenging inefficient queries or application designs where necessary, and explaining technical findings clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
You'll enjoy having ownership, taking the initiative and making a tangible difference to the reliability and performance of business-critical systems.

What's on Offer?

• £60,000-£65,000 salary, depending on experience.
• Full-time, permanent employment.
• Birmingham-based, on-site working.
• Significant technical ownership and autonomy.
• Opportunity to become the primary specialist responsible for database performance.
• Direct influence over database scalability, reliability and resilience.
• Exposure to SQL Server, AWS and modern application architecture.

Interested?

If you're an experienced SQL Server DBA who enjoys hands-on database administration, performance tuning and solving complex technical challenges, we'd be keen to hear from you.