Senior Oracle DBA

Senior Oracle DBA

Client: A UK central government department

Location: Blackpool or Newcastle

Working Pattern: Hybrid, with three days per week on-site

Rate: Competitive

Status: Inside IR35

Start Date: October 2026

Contract Length: 6 months

Vetting: Successful candidates will undergo BPSS checks as part of the vetting process.

Attendance at the Blackpool or Newcastle office three days per week is mandatory and non-negotiable. Fully remote working is not available.

The Opportunity

Salt Recruitment is recruiting a Senior Oracle DBA to join a UK central government department, supporting the design, development and operation of critical database infrastructure and services.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Oracle specialist to combine hands-on technical delivery with leadership, supporting highly available, mission-critical databases and advancing the department's data platform capabilities across Oracle and public cloud environments.

You will provide expert technical guidance, lead infrastructure solutions and work closely with senior stakeholders, engineering teams and suppliers to deliver secure, stable and cost-effective services.

Key Responsibilities

. Lead the delivery of infrastructure services and solutions, ensuring alignment with departmental strategy, user needs and value-for-money objectives.

. Design, develop, support and improve Oracle database infrastructure, maintaining the stability and availability of mission-critical services.

. Deliver technical improvements that advance the department's data platform products and support its wider business priorities.

. Lead a team of Senior Engineers, providing specialist technical advice, resolving complex issues and supporting effective service delivery.

. Act as a major incident manager and escalation point for service-related incidents, coordinating investigation and resolution.

. Maintain operational relationships with suppliers, ensuring services and products meet industry best practice, regulatory obligations and contractual requirements.

. Develop, maintain and troubleshoot Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and Ansible.

. Implement and maintain security controls across database and public cloud environments, including network segregation, encryption and secure authentication.

. Support database migrations, including migration testing, patching, upgrades, backup and recovery.

. Maintain technical risk register updates and ensure appropriate mitigation plans and actions are implemented.

. Collaborate with senior leaders and technical teams, advising on technology choices and implementation approaches.

Essential Skills and Experience

Oracle Database Administration

. Extensive experience administering and supporting Oracle RDBMS versions 11.2 through to 23ai.

. Strong Oracle RAC experience, including ASM, AFD, HANFS and TAF.

. Experience supporting Oracle databases in Linux and AIX operating environments.

. Strong RMAN backup and recovery expertise.

. Experience setting up and configuring Oracle Data Guard.

. Experience using Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) and OCI Database Management.

. Proven experience delivering database patching and upgrades.

. A track record of supporting highly available, mission-critical databases.

. Experience with database migration tools, including Oracle Data Pump, GoldenGate and Zero Downtime Migration (ZDM).

. Experience configuring Exadata and Base Database services within Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

Cloud, Automation and Security

. Strong experience with public cloud technologies, particularly OCI and AWS.

. Experience writing Infrastructure as Code and debugging Terraform and Ansible.

. Experience implementing network segregation within public cloud environments, preferably AWS.

. Experience implementing transport encryption to protect data in transit, preferably within Oracle environments.

. An understanding of database encryption options and their implementation, preferably with Oracle.

. Experience conducting migration testing, preferably involving Oracle and AWS.

. Experience implementing secure authentication using OpenID Connect (OIDC) for GitLab runners.

. Experience maintaining and updating repositories using Git.

Technical Leadership and Service Delivery

. Proven experience designing, developing and supporting infrastructure services.

. Experience leading engineers and providing expert guidance on complex technical issues.

. Strong incident management, troubleshooting and escalation-handling skills.

. Ability to collaborate with senior stakeholders, technical teams and external suppliers.

. Experience identifying technical risks and implementing appropriate mitigation measures.

Highly Preferred Experience

Public sector experience, particularly within central government, is strongly preferred. Candidates without this background may be considered where they demonstrate exceptional depth of relevant technical expertise and experience.

Experience with Oracle Multitenant, Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) is also desirable.

Eligibility

. Applicants must currently reside in the UK and hold a British passport.

. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

. Successful candidates will undergo BPSS checks as part of the vetting process.

. Applicants must be able to attend the Blackpool or Newcastle office three days per week for the duration of the assignment.

*Rates depend on experience and client requirements