Database Administrator - Police - Technology - HQ

Salary: The starting salary is £55,662, which includes allowances totalling £3,009.

The salary is broken down as £52,653 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £57,417 Plus, a location allowance of £2,009 and a non‑pensionable allowance of £1,000.

Location: Birmingham

Behind the scenes in Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP), you’ll find our national Customer Service Centre (CSC). It has a vital role, supporting officers using business-critical systems. As a Database Administrator, you’ll be part of our dedicated team, keeping these essential systems running smoothly. Join us and play your part in protecting the UK.

As an experienced Database Administrator, you’ll join a talented team working in an ITIL‑aligned environment. Your task will be to provide full lifecycle production assistance for development, infrastructure, testing and production. This involves managing and maintaining database environments across various platforms according to best practice.

With your proven database skills, you’ll be a Subject Matter Expert. You’ll therefore be comfortable tackling all things database, from installation and troubleshooting to optimising server availability and maintaining back‑up procedures. Ideally, you’ll be familiar with high availability set‑ups such as Always on High‑Availability, Mirroring, Log Shipping and Microsoft Clustering solutions. Either way, you can expect excellent training and the opportunity to learn and build your skills.

Occasionally, your talents may be needed at other sites or outside office hours. Flexible and prepared to travel, you’ll be part of on‑call rota, performing critical maintenance work to keep CTP systems functional.

The benefits? Besides the rewarding nature of the job itself, a competitive salary, and a Civil Service pension, you’ll also enjoy excellent career and professional development.

The post holder will be required to do the following:

• Working within a service team monitoring MS‑SQL Databases, Postgres Databases, applications servers, log files and disk space
• The SME and point of escalation for all database related issues
• Managing the database layer across the estate supporting multiple high priority instances of SQL Server in some cases hosting multiple databases
• Resolving issues with databases, working with third party suppliers to alter schemas, update indexes and plan updates
• Performing daily checks and maintenance duties
• Facilitating changes to the data layer and managing daily duties such as SQL queries and bulk data imports
• Ensuring that all database instances are patched up to date in line with Microsoft patch release scheduling work with minimum supervision
• Strong customer focus – understanding the needs of the internal and external customer and keeping them in mind when taking actions or making decisions
• Working constructively with the Platform Services Team to ensure suitable platforms are in place for all database stacks
• Working in a supportive, positive manner within an established team
• Maintaining a high standard of accuracy in recorded and written work
• Consistently seeking to improve database layer monitoring and maintenance

The post holder must have:

• Excellent communication with strong listening, written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills to provide root cause analysis of problems and viable solutions, including appropriate mitigations.
• Ability to read and analyse application logs to identify issues and upscale as necessary.
• Understanding of application design & development, including agile methodologies, application and database design, infrastructure technologies.
• Credibility:
  The post holder must be assertive, attentive and credible with staff, management and stakeholders.
• Excellent inter‑personal skills. The post holder must be adept at assessing and discussing business options with senior management, discussing the implications of those issues and of alternative solutions. The post holder must therefore have a high level of interpersonal skills, communication skills, business and technical acumen in order to gain credibility with colleagues at…