The role is seeking a Senior PostgreSQL Database Engineer / Application DBA with deep expertise in PostgreSQL administration, performance tuning, automation, and database engineering. Oracle knowledge remains important to support the existing estate and enable migration activities; however, PostgreSQL is the primary strategic focus. The successful candidate will have experience operating large-scale 24x7 production environments, leading Oracle-to-PostgreSQL modernisation programmes, embedding GitLab-based CI/CD and automation practices, and applying SRE principles to improve reliability, scalability, security, and operational efficiency across the database platform estate.
To be successful as a Senior PostgreSQL Database Engineer / Application DBA , you should have experience with:
Core Technical Skills
- Senior-level PostgreSQL Database Administration and Engineering expertise within large-scale enterprise environments.
- Strong PostgreSQL SQL development, query optimization, performance tuning, and troubleshooting of database and application performance issues.
- Experience designing and operating highly available, resilient, and scalable PostgreSQL platforms.
- Good working knowledge of Oracle Database Administration (Application DBA focus), including SQL, Import/Export utilities, and support of legacy Oracle estates.
- Experience resolving database contention and working closely with application development teams to optimise performance and reliability.
- Strong understanding of partitioning, indexing strategies, storage management, tablespaces, and physical data model design.
- Experience designing robust implementation, migration, rollback, and recovery strategies for database changes.
Platform & Operations Skills
- Managing large-scale, high-performance, highly available (24x7) database environments.
- Strong focus on reliability, scalability, resilience, and operational excellence.
- Incident management, monitoring, troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and reduction of mean time to resolution.
- Experience implementing secure database configurations and adhering to enterprise security and risk controls.
Knowledge of observability, monitoring, alerting, and proactive platform health management.
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Migration & Modernisation Skills
- Proven experience delivering Oracle to PostgreSQL migration and modernisation programmes at enterprise scale.
- Experience with database upgrade, migration, and decommissioning strategies.
- Strong understanding of data migration tools, schema conversion, data validation, and migration testing approaches.
- Knowledge of additional database technologies including MariaDB, MongoDB, SQL Server, and Oracle.
Experience supporting cloud and on-premises database platforms through technology transformation initiatives.
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Automation & SRE Skills
- Strong focus on Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles, operational excellence, and automation-first delivery.
- Experience implementing database changes through modern CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment processes.
- Hands-on experience with:
- GitLab CI/CD
- Liquibase
- PostgreSQL tooling (psql, pg_dump, pg_restore)
- Oracle SQLcl
- Shell/Bash scripting
- Linux/Unix administration and scripting
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code and configuration management practices.
- Understanding of platform reliability engineering, capacity management, and service availability management.
Some other highly valued skills may include:
- Strong awareness of risk, controls, compliance, and operational governance.
- Experience delivering large-scale change and transformation initiatives.
- Strategic thinking with the ability to balance business priorities and technical outcomes.
- Strong collaboration across architects, engineers, platform teams, product owners, and business stakeholders.
- Excellent stakeholder management, communication, influencing, and problem-solving skills.
Purpose of the role
To design, develop and improve software, utilising various engineering methodologies, that provides business, platform, and technology capabilities for our customers and colleagues.
Accountabilities
- Development and delivery of high-quality software solutions by using industry aligned programming languages, frameworks, and tools. Ensuring that code is scalable, maintainable, and optimized for performance.
- Cross-functional collaboration with product managers, designers, and other engineers to define software requirements, devise solution strategies, and ensure seamless integration and alignment with business objectives.
- Collaboration with peers, participate in code reviews, and promote a culture of code quality and knowledge sharing.
- Stay informed of industry technology trends and innovations and actively contribute to the organization’s technology communities to foster a culture of technical excellence and growth.
- Adherence to secure coding practices to mitigate vulnerabilities, protect sensitive data, and ensure secure software solutions.
- Implementation of effective unit testing practices to ensure proper code design, readability, and reliability.
Assistant Vice President Expectations
- To advise and influence decision making, contribute to policy development and take responsibility for operational effectiveness. Collaborate closely with other functions/ business divisions.
- Lead a team performing complex tasks, using well developed professional knowledge and skills to deliver on work that impacts the whole business function. Set objectives and coach employees in pursuit of those objectives, appraisal of performance relative to objectives and determination of reward outcomes
- If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.
- OR for an individual contributor, they will lead collaborative assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will identify new directions for assignments and/ or projects, identifying a combination of cross functional methodologies or practices to meet required outcomes.
- Consult on complex issues; providing advice to People Leaders to support the resolution of escalated issues.
- Identify ways to mitigate risk and developing new policies/procedures in support of the control and governance agenda.
- Take ownership for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work done.
- Perform work that is closely related to that of other areas, which requires understanding of how areas coordinate and contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the organisation sub-function.
- Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategy.
- Engage in complex analysis of data from multiple sources of information, internal and external sources such as procedures and practises (in other areas, teams, companies, etc).to solve problems creatively and effectively.
- Communicate complex information. 'Complex' information could include sensitive information or information that is difficult to communicate because of its content or its audience.
- Influence or convince stakeholders to achieve outcomes.
All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.
