Sql server database administrator (devops)

You will be joining a dynamic team of enthusiastic DevOps DBAs who are working together in a SCRUM team, called a squad, where we design and build the on-premise Enterprise SQL Server solutions. We deliver Database Engine, Analysis Services, Integration Services, PowerBI Reporting Services and more globally via an automation portal to our internal Rabobank consumers.

Our squad is positioned within the Engineering Platform area, which in its turn is situated under the Tech4Engineering tribe.

We work in one of Rabobank's most complex and challenging IT environments. We provide and support our IT services from our own datacentres in the Netherlands (Best and Boxtel) and are working together with the Rabobank locations around the globe to align our IT services.

We are literally at the centre of attention both inside and outside the bank. Together with the rest of the tribe we ensure that our software engineers can do their job for our Rabobank consumers with as little cognitive load as possible.

Because you will be working in a financial organization, the demand on quality and security is high, but on the other side we also try to provide our consumers with an easy to use solution. To do that you will also work on the Day 2 operations. These are the activities that take place after the server is delivered to the requester and are often considered the boring activities a DBA has to do. Think of creating a database, a login or granting permissions. In the automation portal where the server can be requested, these Day 2's can also be called. Our team builds the scripts and API endpoints to handle these requests.

The APIs and scripts are all written in PowerShell with a hint of TSQL where direct queries are needed.

Besides all the automation we need to provide insights in many aspects of our landscape to various stakeholders. Daily jobs run to keep our landscape in order, send out alerts and collect data. This data is then visualized in several PowerBI reports and presented to our consumers, managers and our team itself.

Even though we aim for zero-ops we are not there yet. Part of our team handles the operational side of our team and works on changes, incidents and problems. Since we believe that by 'drinking your own champagne' you get the best understanding of how our products are used and where improvements are possible, you will also occasionally be partaking in these activities.

Since our services are used 24/7 you will also be scheduled for standby shifts about once every 2-3 months.

Our stack

In our multiplatform environment we keep up with the latest developments and only deliver the last 2 major versions of the SQL Server product, currently 2022 and 2019. We do still rely on the other DevOps squads to initiate the upgrades, so there are still some older versions that we need to support. Our deliveries are on the same Windows version on virtual servers, although some exceptions exist where physical servers are in use. For consumers that require high availability we offer AlwaysOn. Monitoring and automated ticketing is accomplished with SCOM, which is soon to be replaced by OBM.

Visual Studio (Code) is our main development tool. Code is stored in Azure DevOps from which we use pipelines to deploy our new releases.

Even though the standards exist we are always open to discuss and introduce new CI/CD tooling if these are a better fit for our purpose.

Who are you?

• You are an experienced SQL Server DBA in a complex environment (3+ years of experience)
• You love automation challenges and really enjoy connecting engineering with operational/delivery issues
• You get enthusiastic when talking about PowerShell, APIs, CI/CD Pipelines or other automation options and keeping your solution simple and fit for purpose are your drives
• You understand that security is a very large part of any infrastructure solution
• You see the big picture but like to go into details to solve complex integration issues
• You are a team player and you cooperate with your workmates to achieve solutions
• Your first priority is to make sure your team only delivers top quality code in a secure way
• You coach and embrace to be coached. We realize that not everybody in the team will be as awesome as you are but by providing and receiving feedback to each other we all become even more awesome

What skills do you have?

Must have:

• Experience in the latest Microsoft SQL Server suite of products
• Experience in Always On Availability Groups
• Experience in Performance tuning
• Experience in Microsoft Windows Server
• Experience in PowerShell scripting and automation
• Experience in using Visual Studio Code or similar together with GIT
• Experience in using (DevOps) Pipelines

Nice to have:

• Knowledge of Desired State configuration
• Knowledge of Active Directory
• Knowledge of Windows Clustering
• Knowledge of Networking
• Knowledge of Storage configurations
• Knowledge of Ansible
• Knowledge of Cloud database solutions
• Experience with working in the finance industry
• Experience with SSIS packages

Competences you possess:

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Autonomous and display initiative
• Experience with Agile based frameworks like SCRUM
• Experience with ITIL based processes
• Result-oriented
• Focus on compliancy and standards
• Willing to work as part of a team sharing knowledge and experience
• Proficient in spoken and written English

Reply to the vacancy for SQL Server Database Administrator at Rabobank.

• We will hold the interviews through a video call.
• A screening is part of the process.
• We respect your privacy.