Senior Database Administrator

Satellit; Brussel Hoofdstad; On-site; EUR 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Satellit is seeking a Senior Database Administrator to own the Microsoft SQL Server estate and oversee migrations to Azure. You will design HA/DR, implement security controls, and drive on‑premises to cloud transitions while maintaining peak performance and data integrity.

The ideal candidate has 7+ years of hands‑on DBA experience, strong T‑SQL skills, and proficiency with Azure SQL offerings, with English fluency and Dutch or French language skills advantageous.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Vendor or industry certifications (e.g., Microsoft Azure Database Administrator Associate or ITIL) are a plus.
• Fluent written and spoken English, plus proficiency in French or Dutch.

Responsibilities

• Deploy, configure, upgrade, administer and monitor database platforms (primarily MS SQL Server, with some PostgreSQL), on‑premises and in Azure.
• Define, enforce and document configuration, security and data‑integrity standards and ensure procedures remain current.
• Architect, implement and operate backup, HA/DR strategies, and lead DR validation exercises.
• Plan and execute migrations to Azure database offerings in collaboration with the internal cloud team.
• Implement security controls such as least‑privilege access, encryption and auditing.
• Respond to and resolve database incidents and service requests, minimising downtime.
• Perform root‑cause investigations and implement fixes to prevent recurrence.
• Review and advise on database schema and design changes with applications teams.
• Continuously monitor workload, tune performance, and forecast capacity and cost.

Skills

Independent work

Quick learning

Communication

Customer focus

Teamwork

Problem solving

Curiosity

Professionalism

Transparency

Education

Bachelor's in CS

Azure DB certs

ITIL

Tools

SQL Server

Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Managed Instance

SQL Server on Azure VMs

PostgreSQL

PowerShell

Python

CI/CD

Job description

Satellit operates a large portfolio of parking facilities across multiple European markets and handles a very high annual customer volume. The organisation is shifting to a more digitally driven operating model and requires a senior database administrator to take responsibility for the current database estate, keep systems performant, secure and resilient, and drive the migration of databases from on-premises data centres to Microsoft Azure.

Who are you?

Skills & Competences:

• Motivation and positive mindset
• Ability to work independently
• Quick learning and strong organisational skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication
• Customer-centric approach
• Teamwork
• Willingness to ask difficult questions
• Professionalism
• Transparency and solution orientation

Preferred Qualifications:

• At least seven years of hands‑on database administration experience in production, with Microsoft SQL Server as a primary focus.
• Proven ability to design and operate high‑availability and disaster‑recovery solutions such as Always On availability groups and failover clustering.
• Strong T‑SQL skills, with experience in query performance tuning and execution‑plan analysis.
• Practical experience deploying and managing databases on Microsoft Azure (Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance or SQL Server on Azure VMs).
• Experience migrating databases from on‑premises infrastructure to Azure is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL administration is an advantage.
• Ability to automate operational tasks using PowerShell or Python; exposure to infrastructure‑as‑code or CI/CD for database changes is beneficial.
• Track record of leading database projects such as version upgrades, consolidation initiatives or security hardening efforts.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience; vendor or industry certifications (for example Microsoft Azure Database Administrator Associate or ITIL) are a plus.
• Fluent written and spoken English, plus proficiency in either French or Dutch.

What will you do?

• Deploy, configure, upgrade, administer and monitor database platforms (primarily Microsoft SQL Server, with some PostgreSQL), both on‑premises and in Azure.
• Define, enforce and document configuration, security and data‑integrity standards and ensure operational procedures remain current.
• Architect, implement and operate backup, restore and high‑availability / disaster‑recovery strategies, and lead periodic DR validation exercises.
• Plan and execute migration activities to Azure database offerings (Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance or SQL Server on Azure VMs) in collaboration with the internal cloud team.
• Implement security controls such as least‑privilege access, encryption in transit and at rest, auditing and patch‑management processes.
• Respond to and resolve database incidents and service requests, minimising downtime and acting as the escalation point for complex issues.
• Perform root‑cause investigations into database faults and put in place fixes to avoid repeat occurrences.
• Review and advise on database schema and design changes with application and development teams.
• Continuously monitor workload behaviour, tune performance, and forecast capacity and cost to support future growth.