Lead Database SRE

Role Overview

The Lead Database SRE is responsible for the reliability, scalability, security, and automation of enterprise database platforms supporting critical business applications. This role blends deep database engineering expertise with SRE and DevOps principles to ensure highly available, performant, and resilient database services.

The role provides both production and development support for database platforms, with strong ownership of operational excellence, automation, incident response, performance engineering, and cloud database operations. The Lead Database SRE acts as a technical authority, customer concern point, and catalyst in modernising database operations through Infrastructure-as-Code and CI/CD practices.

This position has a proven focus on Oracle and SQL databases hosted on Microsoft Azure, including the migration of on prem workloads to cloud-native and hybrid architectures.

Key Responsibilities

Reliability, Operations & Support

Ensure high availability, performance, and reliability of database platforms supporting business critical applications.

Act as a point of escalation for sophisticated database production incidents and service disruptions.

Participate in on-call rotations and shift cover, including non-standard tasks when required.

Investigate and resolve incidents using SRE practices such as root cause analysis, error budgets, and post-incident reviews.

Monitor database health, capacity, and performance, ensuring proactive issue prevention.

Database Engineering & Administration

Develop, implement, and maintain database build standards, including security, patching, backup, and HA/DR.

Perform database performance tuning, diagnostics, and optimization using tools such as AWR, ASH, ADDM, and execution plan analysis.

Define and document backup, restore, upgrade, and disaster recovery procedures.

Support database connectivity using ODBC, JDBC, and vendor-specific drivers.

Provide database build and advisory support to development and application teams.

Review database application code, collaborate on improvements, and maintain artefacts using standard source control tools.

SRE, DevOps & Automation

Develop and implement automation for database provisioning, configuration, and lifecycle management.

Build and maintain Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) using tools such as Terraform and Ansible.

Develop and support CI/CD pipelines for database deployments and schema changes.

Define and maintain a database observability and alerting strategy, combining automated alerts with targeted manual checks.

Promote and implement self-healing, standardisation, and automation-first approaches across database services.

Cloud & Migration

Lead solution design and implementation of Oracle and SQL databases on Microsoft Azure.

Implement and support database migrations from on premise to Azure, ensuring security, resilience, and performance.

Work closely with application, cloud, and architecture teams to build scalable and secure database environments.

Ensure alignment with enterprise database standards and cloud security controls.

Security & Compliance

Partner with IT Security teams to maintain and implement database security policies.

Apply industry-standard security and compliance controls for database access, encryption, auditing, and identity management.

Evaluate applications and database usage to ensure policy alignment.

Required Technical Skills & Experience

Core SRE / DevOps Skills

Demonstrable experience with SRE and DevOps practices for stateful systems.

Automation and scripting using Python, Bash/KornShell, PowerShell.

Experience with Terraform, Ansible, CI/CD tooling (Jenkins, GitHub/GitLab, Bitbucket, Rundeck).

Familiarity with secrets management (HashiCorp Vault).

Exposure to containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, Helm).

Database Technologies

Extensive hands-on experience with:

Oracle Databases (11g, 12c, 19c, up to 23ai)

RAC, Grid Infrastructure, ASM/ACFS, Data Guard

Exadata, RMAN, OEM

PL/SQL, APEX

Experience with SQL Server (2008–2022) and/or PostgreSQL.

Solid understanding of HA/DR architectures and replication technologies.

Cloud & Platforms

Good experience with Microsoft Azure database platforms.

Exposure to AWS (RDS) and hybrid cloud database deployments.

Linux administration experience (Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Solaris X86/Sparc).

Additional Requirements

Experience supporting critical platforms in multi datacentre or multi region environments.

Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to operate calmly under pressure.

Understanding of ITIL service management frameworks.

Familiarity with enterprise monitoring and observability tools.

Experience in the finance or banking sector is helpful.

Optional / Nice-to-Have Skills

Experience with Delphix.

Exposure to ServiceNow, Control M, Citrix, or web development platforms.

Knowledge of MySQL, MongoDB, Perl scripting.

Experience with database migration tools, distributed transactions, and data warehousing platforms.

Behavioural & Leadership Skills

Strong influencing and partner management skills.

Excellent written and verbal communication at technical and business levels.

Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.

Collaborative demeanor with a proven sense of ownership.

Proactive, self motivated, and committed to continuous improvement.

Willingness to share knowledge and mentor others.

Pragmatic and outcome-focused approach to problem solving.

Career Stage:

Senior Associate

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) Information:

Join us and be part of a team that values innovation, quality, and continuous improvement. If you're ready to take your career to the next level and make a significant impact, we'd love to hear from you.

LSEG is a leading global financial markets infrastructure and data provider. Our purpose is driving financial stability, empowering economies and enabling customers to create sustainable growth.

Our purpose is the foundation on which our culture is built. Our values of Integrity, Partnership, Excellence and Change underpin our purpose and set the standard for everything we do, every day. They go to the heart of who we are and guide our decision making and everyday actions.

Working with us means that you will be part of a dynamic organisation of 25,000 people across 65 countries. However, we will value your individuality and enable you to bring your true self to work so you can help enrich our diverse workforce.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. This means that we do not discriminate on the basis of anyone’s race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. Conforming with applicable law, we can reasonably accommodate applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as mental health or physical disability needs.

You will be part of a collaborative and creative culture where we encourage new ideas. We are committed to sustainability across our global business and we are proud to partner with our customers to help them meet their sustainability objectives. Our charity, the LSEG Foundation provides charitable grants to community groups that help people access economic opportunities and build a secure future with financial independence. Colleagues can get involved through fundraising and volunteering.

LSEG offers a range of tailored benefits and support, including healthcare, retirement planning, paid volunteering days and wellbeing initiatives.

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