Starling is the UK’s first and leading digital bank on a mission to fix banking! Our vision is fast technology, fair service, and honest values. All at the tap of a phone, all the time.
We are about giving customers a new way to spend, save and manage their money while taking better care of the planet which has seen us become a multi-award winning bank that now employs over 2300 across five offices in London, Cardiff, Dublin, Southampton, and soon to be Manchester. Our journey started in 2014, and since then we have surpassed three million accounts (and four account types!) with 350,000 business customers. We are a fully licensed UK bank but at the heart, we are a tech first company, enabling our platform to deliver brilliant products.
Our technologists are at the very heart of Starling and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment that is all about building things, creating new stuff, and disruptive technology that keeps us on the cutting edge of fintech. We operate a flat structure to empower you to make decisions regardless of what your primary responsibilities may be, innovation and collaboration will be at the core of everything you do. Help is never far away in our open culture, you will find support in your team and from across the business, we are in this together!
The way to thrive and shine within Starling is to be a self-driven individual and be able to take full ownership of everything around you: From building things, designing, discovering, to sharing knowledge with your colleagues and making sure all processes are efficient and productive to deliver the best possible results for our customers. Our purpose is underpinned by five Starling values: Listen, Keep It Simple, Do The Right Thing, Own It, and Aim For Greatness.
We have a Hybrid approach to working here at Starling - our preference is that you're located within a commutable distance of one of our offices so that we're able to interact and collaborate in person. We don't like to mandate how much you visit the office and work from home, that's to be agreed upon between you and your manager.
Working within our engineering team, you will be responsible for the application and infrastructure used to support our PostgreSQL databases. This will include:
Working within the DBA team to build out our Database Manager application used to manage and monitor our databases.
Working with our teams to understand their database needs and make adjustments from an application and infrastructure standpoint.
Monitoring and optimising the performance of databases
Query analysis to understand how our databases are being used
Allocating for systems requirements and planning future needs
Working within the team to understand how to manage and maintain Postgres database infrastructure
Monitor and optimise the performance of our ever growing PostgreSQL database.
Keep our database estate up to date - both from a vulnerability management and supported Postgres version point of view
Managing and monitoring data replication
Lead regular disaster recovery testing initiatives
Own and improve technical documentation and processes for database tasks - enabling teams to self help with e.g. allocating system storage and planning storage needs; performing upgrades; optimising database queries
Own and improve monitoring dashboards and alerts
Own cost optimisation - reviewing and proposing recommendations for optimising database footprint, including reserved instance lifecycle management
Embrace automation and be reluctant for manual implementation
Implement security best practices
Demonstrate knowledge of new technologies and changes in the industry
The ideal candidate will have experience in the following:
Proven experience working as a DBA
Experience of using infrastructure as code. Preferably Terraform
Experience working with AWS RDS Postgres or GCP Cloud SQL databases
Understanding of Postgres administration, monitoring, disaster recovery and performance tuning
Self-motivated person able to drive change, take initiative and own their work
Ability to communicate at all levels of the business to understand the users needs
Built and deployed PostgreSQL clusters into production (would consider Oracle/MySQL and similar technologies)
Knowledge of Postgres configuration settings
A strong understanding of Postgres’ vacuum/MVCC process
Worked within high availability, scalable environments
Ability to engage with all levels of the business to understand user needs
Strong ability to solve complex technical issues
Interviewing is a two way process and we want you to have the time and opportunity to get to know us, as much as we are getting to know you! Our interviews are conversational and we want to get the best from you, so come with questions and be curious. In general you can expect the below, following a chat with one of our Talent Team:
First Interview - 30 minutes
Technical Interview - 90 minutes
Final Interview - 45 minutes
25 days holiday (plus public holidays)
An extra day’s holiday for your birthday, taken a week on either side of the day
16 hours paid volunteering time a year
Part-time and/or flexible hours available for most roles
Hybrid/remote working
Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton
Generous family-friendly policies
Enhanced sick pay
Contributory pension scheme
Varied social groups set up and run by our employees
Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a cashback scheme, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, a birthday box and weekly free coffee
Access to ‘salary sacrifice’ benefits such as Cycle to Work scheme
Full details are available on our careers site
Starling is a leading digital bank on a mission to disrupt the banking industry.
Since our launch in 2014, we've surpassed 2 million accounts, including over 350,000 business accounts. Our total deposits, meanwhile, have topped £5 billion and we have lent over £2bn over the same period. We're a fully licensed UK bank, and we have the culture and spirit of a fast-moving, disruptive technology company. We've won the Best British Bank award four years running, and now employ over 1500 people across our London, Southampton, Cardiff & Dublin offices.
Starling Bank is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Starling Bank are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
By submitting your application, you agree that Starling Bank may collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we may process, where we may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.