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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Database Engineer - **Company:** Delft - **Location:** Delft, Netherlands - **Experience:** Expert - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Java (Programming Language), Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Artificial Intelligence, Application Layers, Microsoft Azure, Software as a Service, Cloud Computing, Cloud Engineering, Databases, Data Systems, Database Security, Java Persistence API, Python (Programming Language), PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Azure, Performance Tuning, Query Optimization, Topdesk, Service-Oriented Architecture, SQL Databases, TypeScript, Backup and Restore, System Availability, Database Performance, Vue.js, Kubernetes, Terraform, Microservices - **Published:** September 5, 2026 - **Apply:** https://startup.jobs/senior-database-engineer-topdesk-8792659 ## About the Role * At least 5 years hands-on as a Database Administrator, Database Engineer, or Performance Specialist in Microsoft SQL Server environments. * Deep, current expertise in Microsoft SQL Server, specifically Azure SQL (Managed Instances) and related flavours. * Proven performance tuning at API scale: index optimisation, execution-plan analysis, query tuning, locking and concurrency. * Strong on elastic pools, resource sharing, and noisy-neighbour management in multi-tenant SaaS. * Comfortable advising on multi-tenancy patterns and their trade-offs, and working around ORMs (Jooq, JPA, custom persistence). * Consultative communicator who can both spot the inefficiency and help ship the code-level fix alongside engineering teams. Nice to have * Experience in an environment decomposing a long-tenured heritage platform into microservices. * A track record of reducing external-consultant dependency for database work. * Strategic input into sharding, streaming, and decomposition decisions. ## Description Azure SQL is a material portion of TOPdesk's hosting cost and the foundation of our customer-facing performance. Today, much of our optimisation happens when something breaks; this role gets ahead of that. Deep database performance engineering is a specialist craft, and this role brings it in-house as we decompose a long-tenured Java / MS SQL heritage platform into microservices. What this is not: A ticket-driven, request-by-request DBA role. The mission is structural ownership of the Azure SQL estate, not break-fix. On AI: Deep database expertise is the primary selection criterion. Familiarity with AI-assisted analysis and automation is beneficial and will be developed further in role - we are an increasingly agentic engineering organisation, and you will have the support to grow that practice. Who you work with You sit in the Deploy, Run & Optimize lane, reporting to the Engineering Manager for Cloud & SRE, and partner across the teams driving heritage-platform decomposition - bringing deep specialist ownership where database craft is currently spread thin. What you'll do Own the estate * Cost and resource optimisation. Find the inefficiencies - noisy neighbours, abusive API usage, sub-optimal allocation - that drive Azure SQL cost, and implement structural savings. * Performance engineering. Monitor query response times and execution plans structurally; own index hygiene - remove redundant indexes, add smarter ones for heavy API traffic. * Observability. Query tagging and monitoring so the business sees which services and customers drive load and cost. * Resilience and security. Own backup and restore validation and disaster-recovery testing for the SQL estate; partner with Cloud & SRE on high availability, patching and lifecycle, privileged access, and database security. Enable engineering teams * Advise teams so they own their data solutions well and prevent data-layer debt accumulating across new microservices. * Move toward a model where domain teams keep strong control of their data with deep DBA partnership - reducing ad-hoc, externally-run production queries. Shape the target architecture * Contribute to decisions on sharding strategies, multi-tenancy models, and event-driven decomposition to reduce database load over time. Technical environment * Primary estate: Azure SQL (Managed Instances) and related flavours; elastic pools; multi-tenant SaaS. * Application layer: Java heritage platform being decomposed into microservices; Jooq, JPA, and custom persistence frameworks in active use. * Broader stack (context): Python, TypeScript, Vue, Postgres, Azure, Kubernetes; cloud-native / service-oriented architecture; Terraform-managed infrastructure. Your focus is Azure SQL. * Scale: 10M+ SaaS users; a complex hybrid estate with significant per-tenant variability. Success in your first year * A documented baseline of Azure SQL cost, performance, and tenant-impact metrics - and measurable improvement against it. * An index-hygiene programme delivered, and query tagging in place with cost-per-service and cost-per-tenant attribution. ## Related Videos - [How building an industry DBMS differs from building a research one](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/768-how-building-an-industry-dbms-differs-from-building-a-research-one) - [Infrastructure as Code: The Developer's Secret Weapon](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1221-infrastructure-as-code-the-developer-s-secret-weapon) - [Lessons learned from building a thriving Vue.js SaaS application](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1666-lessons-learned-from-building-a-thriving-vue-js-saas-application) - [From Messy Queries to Scalable Systems - How Data Engineering actually works](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100203-from-messy-queries-to-scalable-systems-how-data-engineering-actually-works) - [Implementing Feature Environments with AWS and Terraform](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/531-implementing-feature-environments-with-aws-and-terraform) - [Common Mistakes in Vue.js and How to Avoid Them](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/958-common-mistakes-in-vue-js-and-how-to-avoid-them) ## Related Articles - [Data Engineer Salary UK](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/253-data-engineer-salary-uk) - [What Are The Top Skills Required For Azure Developers?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/77-what-are-the-top-skills-required-for-azure-developers) - [The Most Popular IT Jobs on the Market](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/376-the-most-popular-it-jobs-on-the-market) - [Making Data Warehouses Fast: A Developer’s Story](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/107-making-data-warehouses-fast-a-developer-s-story) - [Where To Find Software Engineering Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/396-where-to-find-software-engineering-jobs) - [How We Built a Worry-Free System That Runs for 10+ Years – And What We’d Do Again](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/751-how-we-built-a-worry-free-system-that-runs-for-10-years-and-what-we-d-do-again)