AWS PostgreSQL Database Administrator (SC Cleared)

Montash; Greater London; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Montash is recruiting an AWS Aurora PostgreSQL DBA for a high-stakes public sector database programme. The role combines hands-on database leadership with security compliance in a regulated environment, spanning design, performance tuning, backup and DR planning.

You will act as technical authority across teams, driving resilience, schema design and high availability, while communicating complex concepts to senior stakeholders. Remote work with ad-hoc travel to London.

Qualifications

• Senior DBA with enterprise-scale AWS Aurora PostgreSQL expertise.
• Experience in performance tuning, schema design and indexing strategies.
• Security controls including encryption, access management and auditing for government standards.
• Ability to lead across multiple teams and communicate to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience in backup, recovery and disaster recovery planning in AWS environments.

Responsibilities

• Own database design and optimisation for performance and scalability.
• Implement robust security controls to meet compliance.
• Develop automated backup routines and DR plans.
• Monitor performance with PostgreSQL tools and resolve bottlenecks.
• Manage patching and upgrades for managed AWS PostgreSQL instances.
• Provide technical leadership across database workstreams.
• Engage stakeholders and communicate complex concepts clearly.
• Contribute to architecture discussions aligning with security standards.
• Deep hands-on expertise with AWS Aurora PostgreSQL at enterprise scale.
• Experience with AWS RDS and other managed DB services.

Skills

AWS Aurora PostgreSQL

Database performance tuning

Schema design

Resilience engineering

High availability

Backup and recovery planning

Disaster recovery

Security controls

Access management

Encryption

Auditing

Monitoring PostgreSQL tools

Patch management

Upgrades management

Technical leadership

Stakeholder communication

Architecture discussions

Public sector security environments

DevOps / IaC for databases

PostgreSQL observability tooling

AWS RDS

Enterprise-scale databases

Tools

AWS RDS

PostgreSQL monitoring tools

Job description

Location: Remote (with ad-hoc travel to London office)

Contract Length: 12 Months (with scope to extend)

Start Date: ASAP

IR35: Inside

Interview Process: 1 Stage, MS Teams

Clearance: SC (with eligibility for higher levels of clearance)

We are supporting a public sector client in hiring a highly experienced AWS Aurora PostgreSQL DBA to join a large-scale, business-critical database programme within a regulated government environment.

This is a senior technical leadership role requiring deep hands‑on expertise across AWS Aurora PostgreSQL, database performance tuning, schema design, resilience engineering, high availability, backup and recovery and disaster recovery planning. The successful candidate will operate as the technical authority for the database platform, working across multiple teams and stakeholders to provide strong technical direction, challenge assumptions constructively and resolve complex issues at pace.

This role suits a technically astute and confident DBA with proven enterprise-scale cloud database platform experience, comfortable working in a security‑conscious, compliance‑driven environment and able to lead and communicate effectively across both technical and non‑technical audiences.

Key Responsibilities

• Own database design and optimisation, ensuring efficient schema design, indexing strategies and query optimisation to support platform performance and scalability
• Implement and maintain robust security controls including access management, encryption and auditing to meet compliance and government security requirements
• Develop and maintain automated backup routines and disaster recovery plans to guarantee data integrity, availability and business continuity
• Proactively monitor database performance using PostgreSQL tools and monitoring solutions, identifying and resolving bottlenecks before they impact service
• Manage patch management and upgrades for managed AWS PostgreSQL instances, ensuring all instances are maintained at appropriate and supported versions
• Provide technical leadership and direction across database workstreams, working across multiple teams and challenging assumptions constructively
• Engage with technical and non-technical stakeholders, communicating complex database concepts clearly and supporting informed decision‑making
• Contribute to architecture and design discussions, ensuring database solutions align with programme objectives, security standards and operational requirements
• Deep hands‑on expertise with AWS Aurora PostgreSQL at enterprise scale
• Proven experience in database performance tuning, query optimisation and indexing strategies across large, complex database estates
• Strong understanding of schema design, data modelling and resilience engineering for high‑availability database platforms
• Experience designing and implementing backup and recovery strategies and disaster recovery planning in AWS environments
• Solid knowledge of database security including access controls, encryption, auditing and compliance requirements in regulated environments
• Experience managing patch management and version upgrades for managed AWS PostgreSQL instances
• Proven ability to operate as a technical leader across multiple teams and stakeholder groups in complex, business‑critical programmes
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to engage at both technical and senior leadership level
• Experience working within central government, public sector or similarly regulated and security‑conscious environments
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL monitoring and observability tooling
• Experience with AWS RDS and managed database services beyond Aurora PostgreSQL
• Knowledge of DevOps practices and Infrastructure as Code in the context of database management