Senior Database Architect (5–6 Month Contract)

About the role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Database Architect on a 5‑6‑month contract to lead the redesign, optimisation and modernisation of our database environment. The role will involve assessing the current architecture, defining best‑practice standards and delivering a secure, high‑performance, scalable platform in close partnership with development, infrastructure and security teams.

Key responsibilities

• Assess and optimise the existing database architecture.
• Design scalable, secure and high‑performance database solutions.
• Create logical and physical data models.
• Improve database performance through indexing and query optimisation.
• Define high‑availability, backup, disaster‑recovery and replication strategies.
• Lead migration and modernisation initiatives, including large‑scale data migrations.
• Design and implement ETL pipelines.
• Establish database standards, governance and best practices.
• Collaborate with software development, infrastructure and security teams.
• Document architecture, technical designs and provide knowledge transfer before contract end.

Required profile

• 7+ years of experience in database administration, engineering or architecture.
• Proven track record designing enterprise‑level database solutions.
• Strong hands‑on expertise in at least one major platform: Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL or MySQL.
• Extensive experience with SQL/PL‑SQL development, stored procedures and performance tuning.
• Background in ETL development and large‑scale data migration.
• Familiarity with cloud database services (Azure, AWS or Google Cloud) is a plus.
• Knowledge of security, high availability, disaster recovery and data‑governance standards.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder‑management skills.
• Ability to work independently and meet project timelines.

Required skills

• Microsoft SQL Server
• Oracle
• PostgreSQL
• MySQL
• SQL / PL‑SQL
• ETL development
• Data migration
• Performance tuning
• High availability and disaster recovery
• Azure
• AWS
• Google Cloud