SQL DBA - Security Cleared

SQL DBA - High Level Clearance

Location: Basingstoke - Onsite
Clearance: Active UK DV Clearance - Essential
Contract: Contract
IR35: Outside IR35

Rate: £550 to £600 per day

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced DV Cleared SQL Database Administrator (DBA) to provide operational support and administration across a secure and business-critical SQL Server environment.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the availability, performance, security, backup and recovery of SQL Server databases, working within a highly secure Defence environment.

This is a hands‑on role requiring strong technical SQL Server expertise, together with experience supporting complex enterprise environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide day‑to‑day SQL Server DBA and operational support across production and non‑production environments.
• Perform database administration, configuration, maintenance and troubleshooting.
• Manage backup and recovery, including backup strategies, restores and recovery testing.
• Monitor and optimise SQL Server performance, identifying bottlenecks and implementing tuning improvements.
• Support and maintain High Availability (HA) solutions and database resilience.
• Contribute to Disaster Recovery (DR) planning, testing and implementation.
• Implement and maintain database security controls, access management and security automation.
• Develop and maintain monitoring, alerting and health‑check processes.
• Troubleshoot database incidents and provide technical resolution within agreed SLAs.
• Develop and maintain T-SQL scripts for administration, automation, reporting and troubleshooting.
• Use PowerShell to automate database administration and operational tasks.
• Support patching, upgrades, configuration changes and database maintenance activities.
• Produce and maintain technical documentation, procedures and operational runbooks.
• Work closely with infrastructure, application and security teams to ensure reliable and secure database services.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Active UK DV Clearance - essential.
• Strong commercial experience as a SQL Server DBA.
• Extensive experience administering Microsoft SQL Server in enterprise environments.
• Strong knowledge of backup and recovery strategies and processes.
• Proven experience in SQL Server performance tuning and optimisation.
• Experience with High Availability and Disaster Recovery technologies and methodologies.
• Strong T-SQL development and scripting skills.
• Good PowerShell scripting and automation experience.
• Experience with database monitoring, alerting and troubleshooting.
• Strong understanding of database security, permissions and access controls.
• Experience providing operational/production support in a complex IT environment.
• Ability to diagnose and resolve complex database incidents and performance issues.

Desirable

• Experience working within Defence, Government or other highly secure environments.
• Experience automating DBA and security processes.
• Experience supporting highly available, mission‑critical SQL Server environments.
• Knowledge of infrastructure, networking and application dependencies within enterprise environments.
• Experience with SQL Server clustering, Always On Availability Groups or similar HA technologies.
• Familiarity with ITIL‑based operational support and change management processes.