Database Administrator

Weightmans is a Top 45 law firm with offices throughout the UK. Having been recognised as the leading legal employer at the annual Britain's Top Employers awards and achieved record rankings in Chambers UK 2017, we are immensely proud of the work we carry out for our clients and the culture we provide to our people.

Our Information Systems team is made up of many teams that work together to support Weightmans' information systems and infrastructure. The teams include: development; operations; project services; and support.

Weightmans LLP is seeking a database administrator (DBA) to join our technical services team, with strong end-to-end SQL Server skills, who will be responsible for the performance, integrity and security of our SQL databases. They will also be involved in the planning and development of the databases, as well as troubleshooting any incidents on behalf of the users.

The role holder will ensure:

• data remains consistent across the database and is clearly defined;

• users access data concurrently, in a form that suits their needs;

• there is provision for data security and recovery control (all data is retrievable in an emergency).

Responsibilities

Your level of responsibility will include database development and ongoing maintenance.

Tasks may involve some or all of the following:

• establishing the needs of users and monitoring user access and security;

• monitoring performance and managing parameters to provide fast responses to front-end users;

• out of hours support, particularly with regards to software rollouts and user/data migration;

• mapping out the conceptual design for a planned database;

• considering both back-end organisation of data and front-end accessibility for end-users;

• refining the logical design so that it can be translated into a specific data model;

• further refining the physical design to meet system storage requirements;

• maintaining data standards, including adherence to the Data Protection Act;

• writing database documentation, including data standards, procedures and definitions for the data dictionary (metadata);

• controlling access permissions and privileges;

• installation and configure new SQL databases;

• maintain database performance by calculating optimum values for database parameters; implementing new releases; completing maintenance requirements;

• when performance issues arise, determine the most effective way to increase performance including hardware purchases, server configuration changes, or index/query changes;

• developing, managing and testing back-up and recovery plans;

• ensuring that storage and archiving procedures are functioning correctly;

• capacity planning;

• maintain availability of all business critical SQL Servers 24-7;

• working closely with project managers, technical analysts, technical managers, business intelligence teams and management information teams;

• communicating regularly with technical, applications and operational staff to ensure database integrity and security;

• commissioning and installing new applications and customising existing applications in order to make them fit for purpose.

Because of the increasing levels of hacking and the sensitive nature of data stored, security and disaster recovery have become increasingly important aspects of the work.

The role holder must be able to demonstrate the following

• good knowledge of and skills in using SQL Server 2008 - SQL Server 2014 end to end

  • SSAS;

  • SSIS;

  • SSRS;

• good T-SQL Scripting skills;

• experience of producing and maintaining appropriate documentation across the solution development lifecycle;

• ability to anticipate problems, identify risk, evaluate impact and produce appropriate solutions, or escalate as necessary;

• good time management skills;

• ability to communicate and present ideas across all areas of the organisation;

• ability to rollout solutions that are well tested and meet the needs of the end users;

• must have good understanding on Physical and Logical design of database;

• maintenance of Transactional Replication publications across multiple servers;

• finding DMV queries to answer questions about server-level performance;

• communication, teamwork and negotiation skills;

• problem-solving and good analytical skills;

• familiarity with the main data manipulation languages and the principles of database design;

• flexibility and adaptability;

• good organisational skills;

• the skill to work to tight deadlines under pressure;

• the ability to create and maintain strong working relationships with colleagues and customers;

• business awareness and understanding of business requirements of IT;

• a willingness to keep up to date with developments in new technology;

It would be an advantage if the candidate were able to demonstrate

skill & experience in sharing knowledge and expertise;

• tuning T-SQL queries to improve performance;

• ability to visually interpret execution plans and identify bottlenecks;

• previous experience of proactively monitoring 20-30 SQL servers;

• experience of using source control;

• experience of using and configuring sql server high availability solutions such as;

  • database mirroring;

  • log shipping;

Please note:

• Any reference to experience or PQE in our adverts or job descriptions is to be used as a guideline only. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and with different levels of experience who can demonstrate that they fulfil the requirements of the role.

• The successful candidate appointed to this role will be subject to our standard background checking process, and any offer of employment made is conditional upon successful completion of those checks. Further details can be obtained from the Recruitment team.