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- Tasks: Manage and optimise our MySQL clusters to ensure top performance and reliability.
- Company: Equals, a leading tech company focused on simplifying money management.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, 25 days holiday, gym access, and professional development support.
- Why this job: Join a supportive team and make a real impact in the fintech industry.
- Qualifications: Experience with MySQL administration and strong problem-solving skills.
- Other info: Flexible working arrangements and a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The predicted salary is between 36000 - 60000 £ per year.
About us
Over the last 18 years, we have helped over a million satisfied customers move and manage their money. Our award-winning product portfolio allows our customers to make low-cost multi-currency payments across various payment products. From travel money to transfers, currency hedging, to expense management, we are focused on a single goal of making it easy for our customers to manage and move their money. As a business, we are committed to delivering value to our customers through the combination of advanced payments technology and personal expert service. We’re doing this by hiring exceptional people and are now looking for a Senior Database Administrator to join our team.
Within our offices in London, Chester and Los Angeles and Europe, Equals comprises of three business lines and brands - Equals Money, FairFX and CardOneMoney. You will join a very close-knit, talented and supportive team from various backgrounds who believe that bringing different perspectives together helps us understand our customers’ needs. United, by one thing, making money management straightforward and cost-effective for our customers.
About the role
We’re hiring a pragmatic Senior Database Administrator to own the health, performance and reliability of our fleet of ~50 Aurora MySQL clusters. You’ll work closely with engineering to keep systems running smoothly — ensuring backups and alarms are configured, capacity is right-sized, and maintenance windows and failover procedures are tested. Day-to-day you’ll profile and optimise slow queries, review and add indexes, rewrite problematic SQL, and drive performance tuning and schema-change best practices. You’ll also automate routine checks, maintain runbooks for incidents and recovery, and partner with teams to plan migrations, capacity growth and long-term improvements.
About you
We believe that certain skills are essential in order to be successful in this role and these are detailed below. You may not have all the other skills we have outlined as desirable, we understand that and will still welcome your application. We will carry out individual interviews for shortlisted candidates and assess who is best suited for the role after we have discussed everything with you.
Responsibilities
- Monitor cluster health and alerts (CloudWatch / Performance Insights / slow-query), investigate anomalies and act on incidents.
- Diagnose and optimise slow queries and problematic transactions: use EXPLAIN, rewrite queries, and add/remove indexes as needed.
- Ensure backups, snapshots and PITR are configured and tested; maintain and exercise recovery/runbook procedures.
- Perform capacity planning, sizing and maintenance (patches, minor version upgrades, failover drills) to keep performance and availability targets.
- Automate routine checks and reports (index coverage, long-running queries, replica lag, space usage) and produce actionable recommendations for engineering teams.
Essential Skills
- Strong practical experience with MySQL / Aurora MySQL administration at production scale (schema design, replication, failover).
- Proven ability to profile and tune queries and indexes (EXPLAIN, slow-query analysis, query rewriting).
- Solid knowledge of backup & recovery strategies for Aurora (snapshots, continuous backups/PITR) and tested restore experience.
- Experience with monitoring and alerting for databases (CloudWatch, Performance Insights, slow-query logs) and acting on alarms.
- Comfortable scripting/automation (Bash, Python, or similar) to build health checks, runbooks and operational tooling; good Linux fundamentals.
- A role model for our values: Make it happen, Succeed together, Be the customer, Go beyond.
Desirable Skills
- Familiarity with MySQL tooling such as pt-query-digest / Percona Toolkit, ProxySQL, or similar performance/management tools.
- AWS experience or certification (Aurora/RDS internals, KMS for encryption, IAM, multi-AZ/Global DB setups).
Our investment in you
We welcome people into Equals and desire to grow and develop our talented teams. We believe in teamwork and celebrating our successes. We strive to embrace our values. We want to put you in the driving seat of your career and achieve your full potential through growth opportunities and developmental support. When you join Equals, we aim to help you to get more out of your career.
Benefits
- A competitive salary benchmarked against a peer group.
- 25 days holiday per year + your birthday off.
- Opportunities for progression, development and learning new skills - £250 towards the cost of learning & development.
- Free onsite Nuffield Health gym & pool (London) and discounted gym membership elsewhere.
- GetActive with Aviva – Health and Wellbeing discounts on services and products.
- Interbank currency rates on travel money and international transfers.
- Bupa Private Healthcare.
- Free Eye Test and £50 up to the cost of glasses.
- EAP Service – Mental Health Services.
- Life Assurance Policy – x3 annual salary.
- Contributory pension scheme.
- Cycle to Work Scheme.
- Season Ticket Loans.
- Enhanced Par Policies.
- Complimentary tea, coffee, soft drinks and fruit.
We operate a hybrid working arrangement where possible. Where possible we offer the opportunity to work flexibly and the opportunity to balance some remote working with time in the office collaborating, taking part in events and developing the social connections that make working with us rewarding. Equals strives to create a workplace where we can all be ourselves. We believe in inclusion, equality and the power of diversity, so you’ll be encouraged to bring your unique perspectives and experiences, and help us understand what you need to do your best work.
Senior Database Administrator employer: Equals Money
Contact Detail:
Equals Money Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Database Administrator
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to current employees on LinkedIn or attend industry meetups. A friendly chat can give you insider info and maybe even a referral!
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for the interview by researching the company culture and values. Think about how your skills align with their mission of making money management straightforward and cost-effective.
✨Tip Number 3
Show off your problem-solving skills during interviews. Be ready to discuss specific examples of how you've optimised database performance or tackled tricky queries in the past.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in joining our team.
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Database Administrator
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the Senior Database Administrator role. Highlight your experience with MySQL and any relevant projects you've worked on. We want to see how your skills align with what we're looking for!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Use it to explain why you're passionate about this role and how you can contribute to our mission at Equals. Keep it concise but impactful, and don’t forget to show a bit of your personality.
Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills: In your application, give examples of how you've diagnosed and optimised slow queries or handled database incidents in the past. We love seeing candidates who can think critically and act decisively!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way to ensure your application gets into the right hands. Plus, it shows us that you’re genuinely interested in joining our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at Equals Money
✨Know Your MySQL Inside Out
Make sure you brush up on your MySQL and Aurora MySQL skills. Be ready to discuss your experience with schema design, replication, and failover procedures. Prepare examples of how you've optimised slow queries and managed backups in previous roles.
✨Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills
During the interview, be prepared to walk through your thought process when diagnosing and optimising problematic transactions. Use specific examples where you’ve successfully used EXPLAIN or rewritten queries to improve performance.
✨Demonstrate Your Automation Know-How
Since scripting and automation are key for this role, come equipped with examples of how you've automated routine checks or built operational tooling. Highlight any experience with Bash or Python, and be ready to discuss how these skills can benefit the team.
✨Emphasise Team Collaboration
This role requires working closely with engineering teams, so be sure to highlight your teamwork experiences. Share instances where you’ve collaborated on capacity planning or migrations, and how you’ve contributed to a positive team environment.
