Site Reliability Engineer

Barclays UK; Knutsford; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a talented Site Reliability Engineer to lead the evolution of their digital landscape. This role involves driving innovation in database administration, ensuring the reliability and scalability of systems, and implementing best practices in incident response. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to enhance system performance and security, while also contributing to high-impact projects. If you are passionate about technology and eager to tackle complex challenges in a dynamic environment, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Qualifications

• Experience with MS SQL versions 2016—2022, handling complex issues.
• Expertise in database automation and estate standardization.

Responsibilities

• Ensure availability and performance of systems through proactive monitoring.
• Develop tools and scripts to automate operational processes.

Skills

MS SQL

Database Automation

Scripting (PowerShell)

System Configuration Management (Chef, Ansible)

Risk Management

Change Management

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Chef

Ansible

Job description

Join us as a Site Reliability Engineer where you'll lead the evolution of our digital landscape, driving innovation and excellence.

As a Microsoft SQL Database Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) at Barclays, you will play a key technical role. You will help shape our database administration strategies, ensuring our technological approaches are innovative and aligned with the Bank’s business goals. You will contribute to high-impact projects, collaborate with management, and implement SRE practices using software engineering and database administration to tackle infrastructure and operational challenges at scale.

As part of the Database SRE team, you will be data-driven, working to eliminate TOIL through simplification, automation, and observability, thereby improving the reliability of our platforms. Focusing on database scalability, availability, security, and performance, you will work closely with the Engineering team, product managers, and other stakeholders. Your goal will be to ensure seamless data flow and robust security, even under high traffic and operational demands.

To succeed as a Site Reliability Engineer, you should have experience with:

• Technical expertise with MS SQL, especially versions SQL 2016—2022, handling complex issues related to availability, tuning, and architecture on an enterprise scale.
• Contributing to shaping and designing SRE practices for MSSQL offerings.
• Serving as the technical escalation point for complex database issues, providing expert solutions.
• Helping establish and evolve the SRE function, implementing advanced SLIs and SLOs.

Additional valued skills include:

• Experience with database automation and estate standardization.
• Expertise with system configuration management tools like Chef and Ansible for database server configurations.
• Proficiency with scripting languages such as PowerShell for automation and migration tasks.

You may be assessed on critical skills relevant for success, including risk management, controls, change management, transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking, digital and technological expertise, and job-specific technical skills.

This role is based at our Knutsford campus.

Purpose of the role

To apply software engineering techniques, automation, and best practices in incident response to ensure system reliability, availability, and scalability.

Accountabilities

• Ensure availability, performance, and scalability of systems through proactive monitoring, maintenance, and capacity planning.
• Respond to system outages and disruptions, analyze issues, and implement measures to prevent recurrence.
• Develop tools and scripts to automate operational processes, reducing manual effort and enhancing system resilience.
• Monitor and optimize system performance and resource usage, addressing bottlenecks and applying best practices for tuning.
• Collaborate with development teams to embed reliability, scalability, and performance practices into the software development lifecycle.
• Stay informed on industry trends and contribute to technological communities to foster excellence and growth.

Assistant Vice President Expectations

• Advise on decision-making, contribute to policy development, and collaborate across functions.
• Lead a team performing complex tasks, setting objectives, coaching, and appraising performance.
• If in a leadership role, demonstrate leadership behaviors: Listen, Energize, Align, and Develop.
• For individual contributors, lead collaborative projects, guide team members, and identify new directions for assignments.
• Consult on complex issues, support policy development, and manage risks effectively.
• Work closely with other areas to align with business strategies and activities.
• Analyze data from multiple sources to solve problems creatively.
• Communicate complex or sensitive information effectively and influence stakeholders to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues are expected to embody the Barclays Values—Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence, and Stewardship—and the Barclays Mindset—Empower, Challenge, Drive—to uphold our moral compass and operational ethos.