Senior Database Administrator

N.P.A.; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

N.P.A. is seeking an experienced Senior Database Administrator to join our Infrastructure team in London. You will own the database estate, manage MySQL, PostgreSQL and QuestDB deployments, and drive reliability, performance, and security across a diverse stack.

Responsibilities include upgrades, backups, monitoring, schema reviews, and collaboration with engineering to optimize data access and observability using Grafana dashboards. Experience in financial services is a plus.

Qualifications

• Proven hands-on experience as a DBA in production environments.
• Strong MySQL experience including replication and performance tuning.
• PostgreSQL experience and ability to work with QuestDB via the PostgreSQL wire protocol.
• Backup/restore strategies across MySQL and PostgreSQL.
• Experience with Grafana or similar observability dashboards.
• Familiarity with Redis and Elasticsearch administration.
• Linux-based server administration and CLI proficiency.
• Able to translate DB concepts to non-technical colleagues.

Responsibilities

• Administer, monitor, and maintain the database estate for high availability and performance.
• Plan and execute upgrades, patching, and migrations with minimal production disruption.
• Design and test backup/restore procedures with documented RPO/RTO.
• Monitor health, capacity, and performance; preempt bottlenecks.
• Collaborate with developers on schema changes and indexing strategies.
• Support querying optimization and access patterns across systems.
• Lead database incident escalation and root cause analysis.
• Integrate database queries with Grafana dashboards for metrics.

Skills

MySQL administration

PostgreSQL

QuestDB

Linux/Unix

SQL query optimization

Grafana monitoring

Collaboration & communication

Tools

Grafana

Dolt

Redis

Elasticsearch

Job description

Senior Database Administrator

Job Overview

Database Administrator (DBA) required to join the Infrastructure team and take ownership of our database estate. This is a hands‑on technical role covering day‑to‑day administration, reliability, design and support across a varied stack that includes MySQL, Redis, QuestDB (a high‑performance time‑series database used for market data and operational metrics), Dolt (a version‑controlled, Git-for-data SQL database), and Elasticsearch. The successful candidate will be comfortable with mature relational database tooling and open to learning newer, specialist technologies.

The role provides critical support to our Engineering and Operations teams, who rely on performant, well‑managed databases to deliver and operate our exchange technology products.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Primary resource responsible to administer, monitor, and maintain the database estate, ensuring high availability, performance, and reliability.
• Plan and execute database upgrades, patch management, and version migrations with minimal disruption to production systems.
• Design, implement, and routinely test backup and restore procedures, ensuring recovery objectives (RPO/RTO) are documented and met.
• Monitor database health, capacity, and performance; identify and resolve bottlenecks proactively before they impact services.
• Review and advise on proposed schema changes, working with developers to ensure changes are safe, performant, and aligned with best practices before deployment.
• Support developers and operations staff with query optimisation, index design, and database access patterns.
• Act as the primary point of escalation for database-related issues raised by the Engineering and Operations teams.
• Collaborate with developers on integration between application code and database layers, assisting with connectivity, driver configuration, and troubleshooting.
• Write and optimise SQL queries for use in Grafana dashboards and reporting front-ends, surfacing operational and business metrics from QuestDB and MySQL.
• Work with the Engineering team to ensure database metrics and logs are integrated into monitoring and alerting infrastructure.
• Manage database user accounts, roles, and permissions in line with the principle of least privilege.
• Ensure database configurations comply with internal security policies

Required Skills and Experience

• Proven hands‑on experience as a DBA or in a database-focused infrastructure/engineering role, ideally in a fast‑paced, production environment.
• Strong working knowledge of MySQL, including installation, configuration, replication, performance tuning, and user management.
• Hands‑on experience with QuestDB is strongly preferred, however candidates with a solid PostgreSQL background and an interest in high‑performance time‑series workloads are encouraged to apply since QuestDB uses the PostgreSQL wire protocol for queries.
• Strong working knowledge of PostgreSQL, including query planning, indexing strategies, roles, and connection management.
• Practical experience with backup and restore strategies across both MySQL and PostgreSQL environments, including point‑in‑time recovery.
• Solid understanding of relational database concepts: normalisation, indexing, query execution plans, transactions, and locking.
• Ability to write complex SQL queries, both for operational and reporting purposes.
• Experience writing and integrating database queries with Grafana or similar observability and dashboarding tools is desirable.
• Experience with or interest in version‑controlled or branching database systems (eg Dolt).
• Familiarity with Redis and Elasticsearch administration is advantageous.
• Comfortable working in a Linux‑based server environment and with command‑line tooling.
• Experience in a regulated financial services or compliance‑driven environment is advantageous, with an understanding of audit and change control requirements.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills, with a methodical approach to diagnosing and resolving incidents.
• Excellent communication skills-able to translate database concepts clearly for non‑specialist colleagues in development and operations teams.
• Self‑motivated and capable of managing competing priorities in a dynamic, high‑throughput environment.