SQL Server Architect in London, Greater London

SQL Server Architect - Cloud Resilience & High Availability (AWS Focus)

London / Hybrid - 3 to 4 days per week onsite

£620 per day inside ir35

6 months initial contract -

Active SC or DV clearance

We are seeking an experienced SQL Server Architect to support a major cloud transformation programme, migrating a large-scale enterprise SharePoint environment from on-premises infrastructure to AWS.

The initial engagement will involve an eight-week Proof of Value (PoV), focused on designing, testing and validating SQL Server high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) solutions within AWS. This will include assessing different resilience patterns, failover capabilities, performance and cloud-native services.

Following a successful PoV, the programme is expected to progress into a detailed architecture and design phase.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and validate SQL Server HA/DR architectures within AWS.

• Implement and assess SQL Server Always On Availability Groups and Failover Cluster Instances (FCI).

• Evaluate AWS services including EC2, EBS, FSx, Route 53, CloudWatch and AWS Backup.

• Assess disaster recovery strategies, failover mechanisms and performance.

• Optimise SQL Server performance, storage and database configurations.

• Ensure compatibility with large-scale SharePoint environments.

• Work alongside Infrastructure Architects and AWS specialists to assess and recommend suitable technical solutions.

• Produce architecture documentation, technical recommendations and operational runbooks.

Essential Skills & Experience:

• 10+ years' experience in Microsoft SQL Server architecture and engineering (SQL Server 2016+).

• Strong hands-on experience with SQL Server Always On Availability Groups and FCI.

• Experience with SQL Server high availability and disaster recovery, including log shipping and replication.

• Previous experience supporting large-scale SharePoint database environments.

• Strong SQL Server performance tuning and optimisation skills.

• Excellent understanding of networking, DNS, listener design and failover configurations.

• Experience designing resilient, enterprise-scale database architectures.

Desirable:

• Hands-on AWS experience, particularly EC2, EBS, FSx and Route 53.

• Familiarity with AWS CloudWatch, Backup and Systems Manager.

• Experience with Terraform, CloudFormation and PowerShell automation.

• Exposure to Azure SQL high availability and disaster recovery solutions.

• Experience working within regulated or security-sensitive environments.

This is an excellent opportunity for a highly experienced SQL Server Architect to play a key role in a significant cloud migration programme, shaping the high availability and disaster recovery strategy for a mission-critical enterprise SharePoint platform.

If this role is of interest, apply now or email your CV to me directly at (url removed)