Lead DBA

ION; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global financial technology firm is seeking an experienced DBA Lead to manage a team and optimize database environments. This role requires expertise in PostgreSQL and MS SQL Server, with a focus on technical leadership and innovation in database strategy. The ideal candidate will have strong leadership and communication skills, along with a passion for continuous improvement in a dynamic environment. It offers a unique career opportunity in a diverse, global organization.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Database Administrator and Team Lead in a global or distributed environment.
• Hands-on experience with database development, including schema design and query optimization.
• Solid understanding of high availability and performance tuning strategies.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a small global team of DBAs.
• Oversee administration of SQL and NoSQL database platforms.
• Work closely with development teams for schema design and automation.

Skills

PostgreSQL (AWS RDS Aurora)

MS SQL Server (Azure VMs)

Team leadership

Disaster recovery

CI/CD practices

Communication

Stakeholder management

Tools

Datadog

MongoDB

MySQL

Oracle

Job description

The Role:

We are seeking an experienced DBA Lead to manage a small global team responsible for supporting and optimizing our database environments. You will play a critical role in shaping the future of our database strategy and driving continuous improvement across our global platforms. This role combines leadership, hands‑on database administration, and development expertise. You will oversee operations for PostgreSQL on AWS RDS Aurora and Microsoft SQL Server on Azure VMs, ensuring high availability, performance, and security across our platforms.

As part of a software organization serving predominantly financial services clients, you will play a critical role in maintaining compliance, scalability, security and reliability of our data infrastructure. The ideal candidate will have strong technical expertise, proven leadership experience, and a passion for continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities:

• Technical Leadership & Team Management:
• Lead and mentor a small global team of DBAs, fostering collaboration and professional growth.
• Coordinate workload distribution, set priorities, and ensure timely delivery of database-related tasks.
• Vendor and license management, including a partner company providing 24x7 Database Monitoring and Support.

• Database & Server lifecycle management:
• Oversee the administration of SQL and NoSQL database platforms, including PostgreSQL (AWS RDS Aurora), Microsoft SQL Server, and MongoDB.
• Ensure high availability, performance optimization, backup/recovery processes, and disaster recovery planning.
• Implement and maintain robust security and compliance standards.
• Planning and execution of database migration projects.

• Platform Engineering & Automation:
• Work closely with development teams to design efficient schemas, optimize queries and stored procedures, and champion automation across deployments, monitoring, and operational workflows.
• Improve and refine CI/CD practices to streamline database change automation and integration with end‑to‑end application delivery.

• Strategic & Operational Excellence:
• Define and enforce best practices for database architecture, performance, and scalability across teams.
• Evaluate and implement new database technologies and tools to improve efficiency.
• Act as a point of escalation for complex database issues and provide expert guidance.

Required Skills, Experience and Qualifications:

• Proven experience as a Database Administrator and Team Lead in a global or distributed environment.
• Strong expertise in PostgreSQL (AWS RDS Aurora) and MS SQL Server (Azure VMs) including Clustering and Always On.
• Hands‑on experience with database development, including schema design, query optimization, and stored procedures.
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices and integration of database changes into automated pipelines.
• Solid understanding of high availability, disaster recovery, and performance tuning strategies.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience in financial services or other regulated industries.
• Knowledge of additional database technologies (e.g., MySQL, Oracle, NoSQL).
• Exposure to cloud‑native architectures, DevOps practices, and Infrastructure as Code.
• Exposure to Datadog for Database Monitoring.

About us

We’re a diverse group of visionary innovators who provide trading and workflow automation software, high‑value analytics, and strategic consulting to corporations, central banks, financial institutions, and governments. Founded in 1999, we’ve achieved tremendous growth by bringing together some of the best and most successful financial technology companies in the world.

• Over 2,000 of the world’s leading corporations, including 50% of the Fortune 500 and 30% of the world’s central banks, trust ION solutions to manage their cash, in‑house banking, commodity supply chain, trading and risk.

• Over 800 of the world’s leading banks and broker‑dealers use our electronic trading platforms to operate the world’s financial market infrastructure.

ION is a rapidly expanding and dynamic group with 13,000 employees and offices in more than 40 cities around the globe. Our ever‑expanding global footprint, cutting edge products, and over 40,000 customers worldwide provide an unparalleled career experience for those who share our vision.

ION is committed to maintaining a supportive and inclusive environment for people with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We respect the varied identities, abilities, cultures, and traditions of the individuals who comprise our organization and recognize the value that different backgrounds and points of view bring to our business.

ION adheres to an equal employment opportunity policy that prohibits discriminatory practices or harassment against applicants or employees based on any legally impermissible factor.