Senior Database Specialist

Skipton Building Society; South Yorkshire; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual discretionary bonus

25 days annual leave

Pension up to 10%

Private medical insurance

Flexible working

Home and Tech voucher

Job summary

Skipton Building Society is seeking a Senior Database Engineer to design, deploy and evolve secure, highly available database platforms across the technology estate. You will mentor engineers, drive automation and platform engineering practices to improve reliability and cost-effectiveness.

You'll work in a hybrid model, three days in the Skipton office and two days from home, shaping governance, backup, DR capabilities and performance monitoring while partnering with delivery teams to ensure

Qualifications

• Extensive experience administering enterprise databases.
• Expertise with Microsoft SQL Server and Azure SQL.
• Automation using PowerShell, Python or SQL scripting.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code and deployment automation.
• Knowledge of backup, restore and disaster recovery strategies.

Responsibilities

• Designing, deploying and evolving highly available, secure and scalable database platforms.
• Shaping database architecture, standards and engineering practices.
• Leading automation, IaC, deployment pipelines and tooling.
• Driving platform reliability via monitoring, capacity management and resilience testing.
• Mentoring Database Engineers and collaborating with delivery teams.
• Participating in on-call rotations and incident response.

Skills

Microsoft SQL Server

Azure SQL

Database automation

Python

PowerShell

Infrastructure as Code

CI/CD

Performance tuning

Disaster recovery

Tools

Terraform

Azure DevOps

ARM templates

Job description

Hours:Full time Hybrid WorkingClosing Date:Fri, 9 Oct 2026As we continue to modernise and transform our digital services, we have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Database Engineer with a proven track record of designing, administering and evolving business-critical database platforms.As a Senior Database Engineer, you will be part of a supportive and highly skilled platform team responsible for delivering secure, resilient and automated database services across our technology estate. You will bring deep technical expertise across database technologies, operational excellence, automation and platform engineering practices, helping to ensure our data services remain reliable, scalable, secure and cost-effective.Using your experience and knowledge from both internal and external sources, you will support and mentor other engineers, establish best practices, and drive continuous improvement across our database platforms. You will play a key role in shaping the future direction of our database and data platform capabilities, ensuring they meet the evolving needs of the organisation while maintaining high standards of governance, performance and operational resilience.At Skipton, we're founded on fairness. We exist to do right by our members - and we believe that starts with doing right by our people. So who
ever you are andwhatever you bring, there's a place for you here and a genuine plan for where you go next.What You’ll DoEvery day at Skipton is innovation day. Join our Technology team and you’ll discover that we’re constantly focused on real challenges as we build the tools that get things done for our members - quicker than you imagine.Your key responsibilities will include:Designing, deploying and evolving highly available, secure and scalable database platforms.Shaping database architecture, standards and engineering practices to support current and future business needs.Leading improvements in database automation, infrastructure as code, deployment pipelines and operational tooling.Driving platform reliability through proactive monitoring, performance optimisation, capacity management and resilience testing.Investigating and resolving complex database incidents, conducting root cause analysis and implementing preventative measures.Establishing and maintaining database governance, security controls, backup, recovery and disaster recovery capabilities.Working closely with engineering, architecture and delivery teams to ensure data platforms are easy to consume, operate and support.Mentoring Database Engineers and other technical colleagues, sharing knowledge and coaching best practices.Participation in a rotating on-call schedule, acting as an escalation point for critical platform incidents and contributing to the operational excellence and resilience of our cloud services.Contributing to communities of practice and helping raise engineering maturity across the organisation.Identifying opportunities to reduce operational overhead through automation, standardisation and continuous improvement initiatives.We work in a hybrid way, balancing flexibility with collaboration. For this role, you'll typ
ically spend three days a week in our Skipton office, with the remaining two days working from home.What You’ll NeedExtensive experience administering enterprise database platforms such as Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL, Managed Instance or similar technologies.Strong understanding of database architecture, performance tuning, high availability and disaster recovery.Experience designing and implementing backup, restore and business continuity solutions.Proven ability to automate database administration tasks using PowerShell, Python, SQL scripting or similar technologies.Experience implementing Infrastructure as Code and database deployment automation.Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills with the ability to manage complex technical incidents.Knowledge of database security principles, governance controls and regulatory requirements.Ability to balance technical excellence with pragmatic business outcomes.Experience mentoring and supporting engineers and technical teams.Ideally experience with Azure data services, including Azure SQL, Managed Instance, Cosmos DB or Azure PostgreSQL, or other cloud environmentsFamiliarity with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines and modern engineering methodologies.Experience with monitoring and observability platforms.Knowledge of data platform technologies, analytics services or data engineering practices.What’s In It For YouYour work matters.And the way we reward you matters, too.At Skipton, we offer pay and benefits that really do make life better, together with a genuine thank you for making a difference.Annual discretionary bonus scheme25 days standard annual leave + bank holidays + rising 1 day per year of service to a max of 30 daysMatching employer pension contribution (up to 10% per annum)Colleague Mortgages and access to Skipton products and services at discounted ratesFlexible working to help balance your commitmentsPrivate medical insurance, health and wellbeing app, volunteering opportunities, cycle-to-work scheme, discounted gym membershipsLifestyle perks such as a Home and Tech voucher, which can be used at John Lewis, Currys, and IKEAWe’re here to make life better for our members.About Skipton.Our story began in 1853 in Skipton, North Yorkshire. Today, you’ll find us across England and Scotland, from Aberdeen to Plymouth.We help over a million members put down roots, save for what matters, and feel good about their money. As a mutual, they own us, so everything we do is for them.You'll feel that same fairness and purpose in how all 2,500 of our colleagues work together, tooIt all means that life at Skipton is more exciting than you imagine.What it's like to work hereLife at SkiptonWe talk and we listen to each other. And we make decisions as a team. That way, you get all the support you need to do work that works for everyone.For most of our roles there's the option of blended working, which means we mix working from home and meeting in person. The right balance depends on your role, and what works best for you, your manager, and your team.We also value what everyone brings to Skipton. And we create a fair place where you can be yourself. Our colleague networks play a big role in this. They connect people with similar life experiences and make our workplace warm, friendly, inclusive and welcoming.It’s not just our members who are important to us.You are, too.Lots of organisations talk about wellbeing, but they don’t always back it up. As a mutual, we put peo
ple first. And that includes the people who work here. So, when we say we care about your wellbeing, we mean it.Wellbeing isn't just one thing. It’s about feeling good, having energy, and being able to be yourself and perform at your best. That’s why we offer help for your mental and physical health across five key areas.What’s more, it you can actually use too - not just read about.You don't need to tick every box - we look for people who care about our members and who want to grow at the same time. The rest can follow.