Azure DBA and Platform Engineer

Azure SQL DBA / Data Platform Engineer | Belfast | Hybrid | Permanent

We are working with a growing UK software company in the insurance space to hire an Azure SQL DBA / Data Platform Engineer into a brand new role. They build and run the platforms their clients rely on to sell and manage policies across multiple channels, serving everyone from small brokers to large blue chip organisations, and they are sitting on a wealth of valuable real-time policy and quote data across a large client base.

This is first and foremost an ownership role. The business has a multi-year strategy to consolidate how it delivers reporting to clients, moving away from one-off bespoke reports towards modern, repeatable Azure tooling, and they need someone to come in, understand the landscape and define the roadmap for how it gets done. You will not be inheriting a finished playbook. You will be writing it. The day-to-day SQL DBA work sits alongside this as the smaller part of the role.

What you will be doing:

• Taking ownership of the reporting and data platform strategy, a multi-year programme to consolidate bespoke client reporting into modern, repeatable Azure solutions
• Assessing the current data landscape across a large and varied client base and defining the approach and delivery roadmap yourself
• Designing and building ETL and data delivery pipelines using Azure Data Factory or Microsoft Fabric, delivering data to clients in a range of formats and mechanisms
• Working with the head of data on report requirements and alongside a dedicated Azure platform engineer who provisions the underlying resources
• Exploring modern and AI-assisted ways to transform and deliver data, with Azure AI Foundry already in use across the business
• Looking after the day-to-day health of the Azure SQL estate, around 20% of the role, covering performance, capacity, housekeeping, backups and security
• Identifying poorly performing queries using Azure SQL's performance tooling and working with the development team to resolve them

What we are looking for:

• Experience in a SQL DBA and/or Azure data platform role, ideally with exposure to both
• Strong SQL Server and Azure SQL administration with solid T-SQL, this is critical
• Hands-on ETL experience with Azure Data Factory or Microsoft Fabric, this is essential
• A genuine self-starter who can take an open-ended problem, understand the landscape and come back with a clear plan
• Confident engaging stakeholders across the business and comfortable owning the function on your own initially
• The appetite to build and lead a team around this as it grows

Useful but not essential:

• Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse, Azure Data Lake or Power BI, whichever side you have not already covered
• Experience consolidating data from multiple sources into a single platform or data lake
• AI tooling such as Azure AI Foundry
• CI/CD for databases, Azure cost optimisation, PowerShell or Azure CLI
• Data governance and master data management

The details:

• Location: Belfast, hybrid, three days in the office Tuesday to Thursday and two from home
• No out-of-hours or on-call requirement
• A genuinely greenfield role with full scope to shape it and grow a team over time
• One-stage interview process
• Continuous professional development, salary sacrifice company pension, enhanced holiday entitlement and a holiday trading scheme
• Private healthcare and wellbeing membership, eyecare and flu vaccination scheme
• Paid lunch hour and regular social and team events

If this sounds like your next move, apply now or get in touch with us directly for a chat.