Technical Lead - Database

About Planet

Planet is a global provider of integrated technology and payments solutions for retail and hospitality customers.

We create great experiences for the millions of people who use our payments, software, and tax-free solutions every minute of every day.

Planet empowers its customers to deliver great customer experiences by combining payments and software in ways that drive greater loyalty, increase revenue and save time.

Founded over 35 years ago and with our headquarters in London, today we have more than 2,500 employees located across six continents serving our customers in more than 120 markets.

Role overview:

As Planet transitions from the TCS tower model to a cloud-native operating model on AWS and Azure, the database estate is being re-established as an in-house specialist Database Pod. We are seeking a permanent Database Lead / Director to own the database technical and service layer end to end - across fully managed, managed-instance, and lift-and-shift (IaaS) platforms including Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, etc - within a large PCI DSS scope. This is both a leadership and a deeply technical role: you will build and lead the DBA pod, set strategy and standards, act as senior design authority and final escalation point, and carry Planet's data platforms forward sustainably - automation-first, cost-aware (FinOps), resilient, secure, and built to scale. The role reports to the VP Enterprise Platform & Cloud.

What you will do

• Strategy & technical ownership - Own the strategy, architecture, standards, and roadmap for the entire database estate across AWS, Azure, and on-prem; act as senior design authority and final escalation point for database matters.

• Team leadership & build-out - Build, lead, and mentor the in-house DBA pod; define roles, uplift skills (including AWS and Azure certification), and foster a culture of engineering excellence and continuous improvement.

• Sustainable operations & FinOps - Embed FinOps as a daily discipline - right-size platforms, optimise licensing and cloud spend, and balance managed-service adoption against engineering effort to keep the estate cost-effective and sustainable for the long term.

• Modernisation & migration - Lead the database workstream of the cloud migration (managed services, managed instance, and lift-and-shift waves) and drive ongoing modernisation and technical-debt reduction.

• Reliability, HA & DR - Set and assure resilience standards - high availability, disaster recovery, backup and recovery, and RTO/RPO - across managed and self-hosted platforms (Always On, RAC, replication, Multi-AZ).

• Security & compliance - Own database security posture and PCI DSS compliance from day one (encryption, access control, auditing, segregation of duties); partner with Security & Compliance on evidence collection and audits.

• Automation & engineering standards - Champion an automation-first, infrastructure-as-code approach (Terraform, CI/CD for database change) and set schema, code-review, and operational standards across the pod.

• Performance & capacity - Govern performance tuning, capacity planning, and forecasting to support Planet's growth and changing workload profile.

• Governance & vendor management - Own database governance, SLAs, and vendor / partner relationships, including licensing, support, and managed-service providers.

• Stakeholder leadership - Partner with application, platform, security, and infrastructure leaders; translate business needs into a scalable, future-proof data platform strategy, and ensure SOPs, runbooks, DR playbooks, and architecture documentation are maintained to audit standard.

Who you are

• Proven leadership of database / DBA teams at lead, principal, or director level, combining people leadership with hands-on technical authority.

• Deep, current expertise across Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle, with MySQL / PostgreSQL and NoSQL exposure.

• Strong cloud database experience across AWS and Azure - Azure SQL (DB and Managed Instance), RDS / Aurora, and self-hosted (IaaS) databases.

• Track record setting database strategy, standards, and architecture across a complex, hybrid estate.

• Enterprise-scale HA/DR, backup / recovery, and business-continuity design, consistently meeting RTO/RPO.

• FinOps / cost-optimisation and capacity planning for cloud consumption and licensing.

• Database security and regulatory compliance - PCI DSS (or comparable such as SOC 2 / ISO 27001) in a payments or regulated environment.

• Automation and infrastructure-as-code mindset (Terraform, CI/CD, database DevOps).

• Demonstrated leadership of large-scale migration and modernisation programmes (on-prem to cloud).

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management, with a track record of building and retaining high-performing teams.

Nice to have

• Payments / financial services background and familiarity with PCI DSS audit cycles.

• Experience standing up an in-house capability transitioning from an outsourced / managed-tower model.

• NoSQL and modern data platforms (Cosmos DB, DynamoDB, MongoDB) and data-governance frameworks.

• Relevant certifications (e.g. Microsoft Azure Database Administrator / Solutions Architect, AWS Database Specialty, Oracle OCP / OCM).

• Degree in Computer Science or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.

Why Planet:

Planet is an equal opportunity employer where diversity is valued, and all employment is decided based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

Come and grow your career in the most exciting, fast paced technology market, with a business that delivers feel-good connected commerce. 

We would love to hear from you – Apply now.

At Planet, we embrace a hybrid work model, with three days a week in the office.
 

Reasonable accommodations may be made in order to allow for an individual to perform the essential functions of this role successfully.