SQL Developer in Slough

Trace Solutions is a pioneering, employee-owned software company that builds enterprise-grade property management and accounting systems. For over 50 years, our software has served as the technological backbone for major UK managing agents and housing associations. We are a mid-sized organisation of around 60 people, based in Clerkenwell in central London, with a strong focus on providing exemplary service and cultivating absurdly happy customers.

The development function at Trace Solutions brings together deep industry heritage and modern innovation across two core teams. Our PowerBuilder Development Team is dedicated to supporting and enhancing our highly successful, enterprise-grade legacy platform (built on a PowerBuilder and SQL Server architecture). Concurrently, our Web Development Team is tasked with building Mojo, a cutting-edge, cloud-based platform destined to completely replace TRAMPS/BlueBox/o6ix. A critical bridge between these systems is our data infrastructure, which has a reputation for rock-solid reliability.

Some of our team’s core values are:

• Psychological Safety: We foster a respectful, no-blame working environment where everyone has a right to be heard and mistakes are treated as learning opportunities.
• Collaborative Mindset: We work together, actively asking for support when we need it and freely offering it when we can.
• Pragmatic Excellence: We take pride in our code quality but remain practical and solution-oriented when balancing business-critical deadlines.

Our engineering function is organised into small teams, with time split across three core areas:

• Core Product Development
• Client Requests
• 2nd/3rd-Line Support

We operate a hybrid working model with a minimum of 2 days per week in our London office. We choose to work this way because we value face-to-face collaboration, team brainstorming, and peer-to-peer mentoring.

The SQL Developer & Database Performance Specialist is expected to be our internal "SQL Whisperer." You will have a profound understanding of how database queries execute inside Microsoft SQL Server, coupled with a passion for hunting down reporting efficiencies and improving system performance. This role is a hands-on technical position embedded within the engineering cycle, acting as a critical bridge between legacy reporting logic and modern cloud database architecture.

Your primary mission will be to ensure our core SQL Server database runs optimally to support current TRAMPS/BlueBox/o6ix installations, while providing the clean execution paths needed as we transition to our modern cloud future. Additionally, you will act as the go-to technical resource across all squads: writing new, optimised T-SQL queries for emerging product features, diving into the database to diagnose and resolve reported application bugs, and inefficiencies to ensure our platforms run flawlessly.

Technical skills we'd expect some familiarity with:

• Deep profiling of database queries using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), Plan Cache analysis, and Extended Events.
• Reading and evaluating Execution Plans to spot performance bottlenecks (e.g., expensive table scans, bad cardinality estimates, or costly joins).
• Designing and implementing advanced indexing strategies specifically optimised for heavy read/reporting workloads.
• Writing, refactoring, and optimising complex T-SQL queries, database views, and stored procedures.
• Diagnosing database resource issues such as locking, blocking, or parameter sniffing.
• Working with version control systems such as Git.

Bonus points for any of the following:

• Experience working alongside legacy client-server application logic (such as PowerBuilder) where code cannot easily be modified on the front-end.
• Exposure to property management software, multi-ledger accounting, or related business domains.
• An interest and some experience in using AI tools (such as Claude Code) to assist with query construction, debugging, and productivity.
• Agile working practices and Scrum ceremonies.

Personal Skills & Mindset:

• Analytical Thinker: Demonstrates strong problem-solving skills and genuinely enjoys uncovering the "why" behind sudden drops in query or database performance.
• Proactive Growth: Takes active steps to continuously improve your own technical and professional skills.
• Resourceful Collaboration: Can investigate issues independently but seeks input from others when appropriate and shares knowledge openly.
• Pragmatic Problem Solver: Comfortable evaluating trade-offs between complex database redesigns and fast, effective tactical fixes (like an index or a quick query rewrite).
• Clear Communicator: Communicates effectively with both technical and non-technical colleagues, ensuring complex performance risks are easily understood.

Responsibilities of the Role:

• Performance Optimisation: Methodically hunt down, isolate, and resolve slow-running reporting queries across both the legacy TRAMPS/BlueBox/o6ix system and Mojo platform workflows.
• Query Crafting: Write clean, efficient, and highly optimised new T-SQL queries and procedures to support emerging product features in the cloud ecosystem.
• Defect Investigation: Actively partner with developers and 2nd/3rd-line support to diagnose, trace, and debug complex data-related application bugs.
• Index Architecture: Design, monitor, and maintain indexing structures across our property schemas to maximise read efficiency while minimising structural overhead.
• Environment & Data Support: Assist engineering teams with complex query plans, test data design, and performance-profiling inside our development and staging database environments.

At Trace Solutions, we believe that great work happens when people feel supported, valued, and genuinely engaged. In joining us, you'll become part of a collaborative, employee-owned business where your contribution matters and your development is taken seriously.

We offer a culture built on transparency, innovation, and mutual respect — with real opportunities to grow your skills, take on meaningful work, and make a lasting impact in the PropTech space.

In addition, we offer:

• Enhanced pension scheme
• 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• Life assurance
• Group Income Protection
• Hybrid working arrangements (2 days a week in our Clerkenwell office)

Equal Opportunities: Trace Solutions is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.