An Inclusive, Impactful Place to Work
At INSTANDA, we are passionate about transforming how insurance is experienced by everyone, everywhere. We believe in making insurance more accessible, consumable, and frictionless for all. Insurance Carriers and MGAs around the world count on our platform and people to help them achieve this, and more.
INSTANDA was created by looking at the insurance world through a different lens and our inclusive culture is reflective of this. Our growing team of 250+ people are encouraged to excel and push themselves in a supportive environment.
At INSTANDA, you're not just part of a team; you’re part of a global community where shared success means shared rewards.
If you’re ready to join a pioneering global business at the forefront of insurance technology innovation, we’re ready to hear from you.
Follow us to learn more: Instanda.com | LinkedIn | YouTube
The Role
We are looking for a highly skilled Database Administrator / DataOps Engineer to join our dynamic technology team. This hybrid role focuses on the management, optimisation, and maintenance of Azure SQL Databases while incorporating DevOps principles to automate cloud infrastructure creation and deployment. If you are passionate about database performance tuning, cloud automation, and bridging traditional DBA responsibilities with modern DevOps practices, we want to hear from you!
This role is based in the UK and is primarily remote, with occasional travel to our London office for team collaboration meetings.
Requirements
What you will do
Cloud Database Administration
- Manage and maintain Azure SQL Databases, ensuring high availability, reliability, and performance.
- Optimize SQL queries and execution plans to enhance database performance.
- Perform database health checks, troubleshooting, and capacity planning.
- Design and implement robust backup, restore, and disaster recovery strategies.
- Monitor database activity, resolve issues proactively, and ensure compliance with security and privacy regulations.
- Collaborate with the architect team to create and review data models.
- Collaborate with developers to review and optimize database schema, indexes, and stored procedures.
DataOps Engineering
- Develop and implement automated solutions for database provisioning, configuration, and scaling in Azure.
- Build CI/CD pipelines for database updates, schema migrations, and deployments using tools like Azure DevOps, Terraform, or Ansible.
- Integrate database workflows with broader infrastructure-as-code (IaC) practices.
- Drive automation for monitoring and alerting on database and infrastructure health.
- Leverage scripting and programming languages (e.g., PowerShell, Python) to support automation and process improvement initiatives.
- Take part in business continuity and disaster recovery tests, which can occur out of hours.
Collaboration & Innovation
- Work closely with development, DevOps, and IT teams to design and optimize data architecture that supports scalable, cloud-native applications.
- Provide technical guidance on database best practices and cloud infrastructure design.
- Stay updated on the latest Azure SQL and DevOps tools, technologies, and methodologies to continually improve processes.
- Extract data and generate reports as and when needed.
Information Security
- Adhere to INSTANDA’s information security policies, guidelines and best practices to protect our company and our clients.
- Contribute to a culture of security awareness within the company.
What we’re looking for
Essential Skills and Experience:
- Proven experience as a Database Administrator managing Azure SQL Databases or similar SQL database platforms.
- Strong expertise in SQL query optimization, execution plans, and database performance tuning.
- Proficiency in Azure cloud services, including Azure SQL, Azure Monitor, and Azure Resource Manager (ARM).
- Solid understanding of database security, encryption, and compliance best practices.
Desirable Skills:
- Hands-on experience with DevOps tools for automation, such as Terraform, Azure DevOps, or similar.
- Familiarity with scripting languages like PowerShell, Python, or Bash.
- Experience designing and managing CI/CD pipelines for database and infrastructure changes.
- Knowledge of NoSQL or distributed databases (e.g., CosmosDB, MongoDB).
- Certifications such as Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate or Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert.
Benefits
- Generous 28 days holiday allowance, in addition to public holidays.
- For every year of service you complete, we’ll give you an additional days holiday (max. 5 days)
- One Dynamic Day per month on top of your holiday allowance to spend time doing the things you want to do or simply catching up with life admin.
- Freedom Pass work up to 4 weeks of the year from anywhere.
- FlexiBank you decide when to use your public holiday allocation.
- Hybrid Working approach varying with the nature of your role.
- Life cover; income protection and participation in the company pension scheme
- All employees are included in the company discretionary bonus scheme
- £100 per month to put towards wellness activities.
- Annual learning & development allowance of £1,250
- Free access to LinkedIn learning and Microsoft ESI learning platform
