Senior Database Administrator

N P Associates; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Hybrid work (London/Paris)

Job summary

N P Associates is seeking a Senior Database Administrator to own and optimize a high-performance, open-source database estate spanning MySQL, PostgreSQL, and time-series workloads. Based in London or Paris with a hybrid model, you will partner with Engineering and Operations to ensure high availability, implement robust observability with Grafana, and guide upgrades and disaster recovery planning.

This role also involves working with Dolt, Redis, Elasticsearch, and Linux-based tooling to support

Qualifications

• Production-scale MySQL environments experience.
• Solid PostgreSQL knowledge and tuning.
• Linux-based server administration and tooling.

Responsibilities

• Estate Ownership: Administer, monitor, and scale the database ecosystem for high availability.
• Collaborate with Engineering on schema design, query optimization, and access patterns.
• Build Observability: surface metrics on Grafana dashboards via complex SQL.
• Plan upgrades, patch management, and test recovery (RPO/RTO).

Skills

Open-Source DBA

MySQL

PostgreSQL

Linux

Query optimization

High-throughput experience

Tools

Dolt

Redis

Elasticsearch

Grafana

Linux tooling

Job description

Senior Database Administrator (Open-Source / FinTech Stack)

About the Company

We are partnering with a highly successful, high-growth financial technology firm and regulated European market operator. Known for their disruptive approach and cutting-edge trading technology, they handle massive volumes of real-time market data at microsecond speeds.

Instead of traditional, restrictive corporate database structures, they have built a decentralized open-source data architecture engineered purely for extreme performance and scalability.

The Opportunity

We are seeking a Senior Database Administrator to join a talented Infrastructure team and take true ownership of a varied, modern database estate.

This is a hands-on technical role where you can step away from legacy monolithic systems. You will manage a highly specialized ecosystem built for speed, data version-control, and deep observability. Working closely with Engineering and Operations teams, you will ensure high availability, advise on schema design, and guarantee that core data engines run flawlessly.

The Tech Stack

• Core Relational: MySQL & PostgreSQL
• High-Performance Time-Series: QuestDB (Used for massive market data ingestion & operational metrics)
• Version-Controlled SQL: Dolt (Git-for-data branching technology)
• Caching & Search: Redis & Elasticsearch
• Observability: Grafana & Linux-based monitoring tools

Key Responsibilities

• Estate Ownership: Administer, monitor, and scale the database ecosystem to ensure continuous high availability and reliability.
• Developer Collaboration: Partner closely with engineering teams on schema design, query optimization, and database access patterns.
• Build Observability: Write complex SQL queries to surface vital business and operational metrics onto Grafana dashboards.
• Infrastructure Resilience: Plan and execute seamless upgrades, patch management, and routinely test point-in-time recovery (RPO/RTO) strategies.

What We Are Looking For

• Strong Open-Source DBA Background: Proven experience as a DBA or Database Engineer managing production-scale MySQL environments.
• PostgreSQL Expertise: Solid knowledge of Postgres query planning, indexing, and connection management. (This is highly transferable for their time-series tech, which utilizes the Postgres wire protocol).
• Linux Native: You are entirely comfortable working in Linux-based server environments using command-line tooling.
• Tech Curiosity: A genuine interest in learning and managing specialized, modern data tools (such as time-series engines or branching database systems).
• FinTech or High-Throughput Experience: Background working in a regulated financial services, trading, or high-throughput environment is highly advantageous.

The Culture

The team operates on a culture of trust, collaboration, and continuous improvement. It is a fast-paced but supportive environment where new ideas are actively encouraged, and engineers are empowered to make a direct impact on the core technology products.

Location: London or Paris (Hybrid - 3 days in office)

Employment Type: Full-time, Permanent

• Salary: £80/95k + Bonus + Benefits