Senior Database Reliability Engineer

Perch Group; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 72,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Manchester or Blackpool office

Professional development support

Job summary

Perch Group is seeking a Senior Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE) to enhance reliability, performance, security, and operational excellence across our enterprise data estate. The role blends deep SQL Server DBA expertise with modern reliability engineering practices to support critical business systems.

The ideal candidate will automate, monitor proactively, implement disaster recovery, and drive platform optimisation to scale with the organisation.

Qualifications

• 5+ years advanced T-SQL development with performance tuning.
• 5+ years SQL Server DBA administration experience.
• 3+ years Azure database management experience.
• Experience with Always On Availability Groups.
• Familiarity with Azure monitoring and observability tooling.
• PowerShell scripting and automation experience.
• Experience with Azure DevOps and CI/CD practices.
• Understanding of data warehousing and large-scale analytics.

Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain SQL Server environments, ensuring high availability, performance, and reliability.
• Implement proactive monitoring, alerting, and health checks across database platforms.
• Lead root‑cause analysis and resolution of database incidents and performance issues.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on platform stability, resilience, and operational efficiency.
• Establish and maintain database reliability standards, runbooks, and support procedures.
• Collaborate with Data Engineers, Architects, and Infrastructure teams to improve platform reliability.

Skills

Advanced T-SQL development

SQL Server DBA administration

Azure database management

PowerShell scripting

Azure DevOps & CI/CD

Data warehousing knowledge

Regulated industry experience

Infrastructure-as-Code

Tools

Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Managed Instance

Azure VM-hosted SQL Server

Always On Availability Groups

Azure monitoring tools

Automation tooling

Job description

Perch are recruiting for a Senior Database Reliability Engineer.

At Perch Group, our vision is clear: to lead the UK debt purchase and collection industry by harnessing cutting-edge technology to drive ethical, efficient, and data-driven debt resolution.

Our annual mission is to empower hundreds of thousands of customers to positively engage with and resolve their outstanding debts. We do this through an empathetic and customer‑centric approach that is at the heart of our success.

Could this be the next step in your career?

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Database Reliability Engineer (DBRE) to help drive the reliability, performance, security, and operational excellence of our enterprise data estate.

This role combines deep SQL Server DBA expertise with modern reliability engineering practices. You will be responsible for ensuring our database platforms remain resilient, scalable, performant, and secure while supporting critical business systems and data services.

We're looking for someone who goes beyond traditional database administration. You should be passionate about automation, proactive monitoring, disaster recovery, platform optimisation, and building highly reliable database services that can scale with the needs of the organisation.

So, what will your day‑to‑day look like?

Database Reliability & Operations

• Manage and maintain SQL Server environments, ensuring high availability, performance, and reliability.
• Implement proactive monitoring, alerting, and health checks across database platforms.
• Lead root‑cause analysis and resolution of database incidents and performance issues.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on platform stability, resilience, and operational efficiency.
• Establish and maintain database reliability standards, operational runbooks, and support procedures.

SQL Server Administration

• Administer SQL Server environments including installation, configuration, patching, upgrades, and maintenance.
• Manage backup, recovery, high‑availability, and disaster recovery solutions.
• Monitor and optimise database performance, storage, indexing strategies, and resource utilisation.
• Manage security, permissions, encryption, and compliance requirements.
• Support capacity planning and future platform growth.
• Administer and optimise Azure‑based database services.
• Monitor Azure SQL environments, performance metrics, costs, and utilisation.
• Support cloud migration, modernisation, and optimisation initiatives.
• Implement best practices for security, resilience, monitoring, and operational support across Azure database services.
• Develop automation solutions using T‑SQL, scripting, and tooling to reduce operational overhead.
• Improve deployment, monitoring, patching, and maintenance processes through automation.
• Collaborate with Data Engineers, Architects, and Infrastructure teams to improve platform reliability.
• Support DevOps and Infrastructure‑as‑Code initiatives where appropriate.

Does this sound like you?

• 5+ years advanced T‑SQL development experience, including performance tuning, query optimisation, indexing strategies, stored procedure development, troubleshooting complex database workloads, dynamic SQL patterns.
• 5+ years SQL Server DBA administration experience, including installation and configuration, backup and recovery, high availability / disaster recovery, performance monitoring and tuning, security and permissions management, capacity planning and maintenance.
• 3+ years Azure database management experience, including one or more of Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure VM‑hosted SQL Server, Azure monitoring and performance management.
• Experience with Always On Availability Groups.
• Exposure to Azure monitoring and observability tooling.
• PowerShell scripting and automation.
• Experience with Azure DevOps and CI/CD practices.
• Understanding of data warehousing platforms and large‑scale analytical workloads.
• Experience working in regulated industries such as financial services, debt recovery, insurance, or utilities.
• Familiarity with infrastructure‑as‑code and cloud platform engineering principles.

Why you should be EXCITED to apply

• £60,000, + up to 20% of your annual salary, paid as a bonus.
• This role is hybrid can be based at our Blackpool or Manchester office.
• 37.5 hours per week. We offer flexible and hybrid working between our core hours of 8am- 6pm, Monday to Friday.
• The opportunity to complete formal qualifications and learn on the job in a successful, growing organisation.
• And many more benefits to support your wellbeing and professional development.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, or veteran, neurodiversity or disability status.

If you have any questions or suggestions of how we can assist you in your application due to disability or personal reasons, please email [e-mail].

PLEASE NOTE - All new employees must undergo a full DBS and Credit Check upon acceptance of a job offer with Perch Group.