Database Platform Engineer

Barlowe LLP; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Highly competitive compensation plus annual discretionary bonus

Lunch provided

35 days’ annual leave

9% company pension contributions

Comprehensive healthcare and life assurance

Cycle-to-work scheme

Job summary

Barlowe LLP in Greater London is seeking a skilled Database Platform Engineer to join their Data Services team. You will be responsible for designing, building, and operating critical database platforms to support complex research and business operations.

The ideal candidate should have strong experience with PostgreSQL, MSSQL Server, MySQL, CockroachDB, and must be proficient in automation using Python and Linux. Excellent benefits and a collaborative work environment await you.

Qualifications

• Strong experience with relational database platforms.
• Hands-on experience running databases at scale.
• Proficiency in Linux and Python for automation.

Responsibilities

• Building and operating distributed database services.
• Supporting large-scale deployments of various database technologies.
• Designing automation for database provisioning and monitoring.

Skills

PostgreSQL

MSSQL Server

MySQL

CockroachDB

Python

Terraform

Ansible

Linux

AWS

Kubernetes

Job description

We tackle the most complex problems in quantitative finance, by bringing scientific clarity to financial complexity. From our London HQ, we unite world-class researchers and engineers in an environment that values deep exploration and methodical execution - because the best ideas take time to evolve. Together we’re building a world-class platform to amplify our teams’ most powerful ideas.

As part of our engineering team, you’ll shape the platforms and tools that drive high-impact research - designing systems that scale, accelerate discovery and support innovation across the firm. Take the next step in your career. The role G-Research is a fast‑growing, software‑driven organisation where data is at the heart of everything we do.

We are looking for an experienced Database Platform Engineer to join our Data Services team. In this role, you will help design, build and operate the mission‑critical database platforms that underpin research, a global platform and business operations. This role focuses on providing highly available, performant and secure data services.

Our environment spans multiple database technologies – PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and CockroachDB – deployed across both on‑premises infrastructure and the cloud (AWS). The role is highly collaborative, working with research and engineering stakeholders to deliver performant, resilient and secure database services at scale.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

• Building, operating and scaling distributed database services across on‑premises and AWS environments
• Supporting large-scale deployments of PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and CockroachDB, ensuring high availability, disaster recovery and performance
• Contributing to the design and implementation of automation for database provisioning, upgrades, replication and monitoring using Python, Ansible and Terraform
• Driving improvements in performance tuning, query optimisation, indexing strategies and storage design
• Collaborating with application and research teams to design and deliver database solutions that meet demanding scalability and latency requirements
• Participating in the out-of-hours rota to provide support for critical systems
• Staying up to date with industry trends and emerging database technologies, helping evaluate their applicability
• Defining SLAs, KPIs and monitoring strategies to ensure platform reliability, security and service excellence
• Proactively identifying and resolving stability, security and capacity issues across the platform

Qualifications and experience

• Strong experience with relational database platforms such as PostgreSQL, MSSQL Server, MySQL, CockroachDB or similar
• Good understanding of database internals, including query execution, concurrency, replication, indexing and partitioning
• Hands‑on experience running databases at scale
• Proficiency with Linux and Python for automation
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code, including Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins, Dagger, ArgoCD or similar
• Experience deploying and running services in containerised or Kubernetes environments
• Understanding of AWS services relevant to data platforms such as RDS, Aurora, S3, EC2 or EKS
• Familiarity with modern observability stacks such as Prometheus, Grafana, Elk or OTel
• Desirable: experience with cloud‑native and distributed SQL databases such as Aurora, YugabyteDB or TiDB
• Desirable: knowledge of data streaming and integration tools such as Kafka, Debezium and CDC pipelines
• Desirable: experience with security and compliance in database environments, covering encryption, auditing and RBAC
• Desirable: familiarity with DataOps practices and collaboration with Data Engineering teams

Benefits

• Highly competitive compensation plus annual discretionary bonus
• Lunch provided (via Just Eat for Business) and dedicated barista bar
• 35 days’ annual leave
• 9% company pension contributions
• Informal dress code and excellent work/life balance
• Comprehensive healthcare and life assurance
• Cycle‑to‑work scheme
• Monthly company events

G-Research is committed to cultivating and preserving an inclusive work environment. We are an ideas‑driven business and we place great value on diversity of experience and opinions. We want to ensure that applicants receive a recruitment experience that enables them to perform at their best. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation please let us know in the relevant section. At G-Research, we are passionate about the intersection of finance, technology, and the future. We offer a dynamic, flexible and highly stimulating culture where world‑beating ideas are cultivated and rewarded. We are proud to employ some of the best people in their field and to nurture their talent in our collaborative working environment.