Database Administrator (DBA)

Database Administrator
Location: Remote and client site

About us

Methods is a 100M IT Services Consultancy who has partnered with a range of central government departments and agencies to transform the way the public sectoroperatesin the UK. Established over 30 years ago and UK-based we apply our skills in transformation delivery and collaboration from across the Methods Group to create end-to-end business and technical solutions that are people-centred safe and designed for the future.

Our human touch sets us apart from other consultancies system integrators and software houses - with people technology and data at the heart of who we are we believe in creating value and sustainability through everything we do for our clients staff communities and the planet.

We support our clients in the success of their projects while working collaboratively to share skill sets and solve Methods we have fun while working hard; we are not afraid of making mistakes and learning from them.

Methodswasacquiredby theAltenGroup in early 2022.

Role Purpose

We are seeking an experienced Database Administrator to support critical services ensuring the integrity availability performance and security of data across highly regulated justice systems.

This roleoperateswithin a live service environment where reliability auditability and data protection are paramount. You will work across BAU support (AMS/3rdLine) and change delivery (PET / Productteams) ensuring databases are resilient compliant andoptimisedto support operationalcase workingsystems.

You will play a key role in supporting PostgreSQL (Azure Flexible Server) estates contributing to performance tuning incident resolution data governance and the evolution of reporting and analytics capabilities (including Microsoft Fabric).

Database Operations & Live Service Support

• Manage andmaintainPostgreSQL databases (Azure Flexible Server)

• Provide BAU support (2nd/3rd line) for production incidents including performance degradation outages and data issues

• Ensurehigh levelsof availability resilience and operational stability across all environments (Dev SIT NFT Prod)

• Supportrelease activitiesvalidatingdatabase changes and ensuring safe deployment into live service

Performance Monitoring &Optimisation

• Monitor database performance using tools such asDynatrace and native Azure monitoring

• Diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks (queries indexing storage connection limits)

• Tune SQL queries andoptimiseschema design for high-volume transactional systems

• Support capacity planning and scaling for large datasets (includingJSONB-heavy workloads)

Security Compliance & Data Governance

• Implement and manageaccess controls roles and permissions aligning withGovernmentsecuritypolicies

• Ensure compliance with:

• UK GDPR / Data Protection Act 2018 (Law Enforcement Processing)

• Cross Governmentsecurity standards and retention policies

• Support audit and forensic analysis by ensuringdata traceability and integrity

• Work with security and architecture teams to reduceover-permissioningand role sprawl

Backup Recovery & High Availability

• Design andmaintainbackup and recovery strategies(PITR snapshots geo-redundancy)

• Support disaster recovery planning and testing

• Implement andmaintainhigh availability patterns(replication failover)

Cloud & Platform Engineering

• Manage andoptimisedatabases hosted inMicrosoft Azure Flexible Server

• Support infrastructure-as-code deployments usingTerraform

• Contribute to costoptimisationand efficient resourceutilisation

• Troubleshoot platform-level issues (extensions replication CDC permissions)

Data & Reporting Integration

• Support integration of operational data into analytics platforms such as **Microsoft Fabric

• Assistwith ingestion patterns (CDC event-based batch)

• Work with data engineers to structure data for reporting and audit use cases

• Address challenges with semi-structured data ( fields)

Development Support & Collaboration

• Collaborate with engineering teams on:

• Database design and schema evolution

• Queryoptimisation

• Data modelling for services and reporting

• Support CI/CD pipelines and automated database deployments

• Provide guidance on best practices for database usage within microservices

Essential Skills & Experience

Technical

• Strong experience withPostgreSQL including:

• Performance tuning

• Indexing strategies

• Queryoptimisation

• JSON/JSONB handling

• Experience withAzure PostgreSQL Flexible Server

• Proficiencyin SQL and database troubleshooting

• Experience withTerraformor similarIaCtooling

• Understanding of:

• Backup and recovery strategies

• High availability and replication

• Database security and access control

Operational & Analytical

• Experience working inlive service / production support environments

• Strong problem-solving androot cause analysisskills

• Ability to diagnose complex issues across application and database layers

Collaboration & Communication

• Ability to work across:

• Product teams

• Support teams (AMS/3rdline)

• Architecture and security functions

• Strong stakeholder communication including explaining technical issues to non-technical audiences

Desirable Skills

• Experience with Microsoft Fabric or modern data platforms

• Familiarity with observability tooling such as Dynatrace

• Experience working withinUK Government environments

Knowledge of:

• CDC / data streaming patterns

• Event-driven architectures

• Audit and forensic data analysis

Security & Clearance

Due to the nature of the work candidates must be eligible forSecurity Check (SC) clearance.

By joining us you can expect:

• Autonomy to develop and grow your skills and experience
• Be part of exciting project work that is making a difference in society
• Strong inspiring and thought-provoking leadership
• A supportive and collaborative environment.

As well as this we offer:

• Development access to LinkedIn Learning a management development programme and training
• Wellness 24/7 Confidential employee assistance programme
• Social Breakfast Tuesdays Thirsty Thursdays and Pizza on the last Thursday of each month as well as commitment to charitable causes
• Time off 25 days a year
• Pension Salary Exchange Scheme with 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution
• Discretionary Company Bonus based on company and individual performance
• Life Assurance of 4 times base salary
• Private Medical Insurance which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)
• Worldwide Travel Insurance which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)

Required Experience:

Unclear Seniority