Purpose of the Role
Agratas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons. We design, develop and manufacture high-quality, high-performance, sustainable batteries applied to multiple use cases in the mobility and energy sectors, to match our customers’ requirements. Agratas is a scale-up business with a start-up mentality, driven by our pursuit of green growth and technological progress. We will scale up manufacturing of our next-generation battery technologies in our state-of-the-art Gigafactories in India (Sanand) and the UK (Somerset).
As a SQL Database Administrator (Manufacturing Systems), you will be responsible for the availability, performance, security, and recoverability of Microsoft SQL Server databases underpinning manufacturing applications and plant operations. This includes support for Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) & SCADA platforms, integrations, and operational reporting—working closely with Manufacturing IT/OT, infrastructure, engineering, vendors, and cybersecurity teams to ensure stable 24x7 services, controlled change, and compliance with operational and regulatory requirements
Key Responsibility Areas
Manufacturing Systems Database Operations (24x7):
- Administer and support SQL Server databases used by MES, quality, traceability, scheduling, and plant reporting systems, ensuring high availability and predictable performance.
- Provide 2nd/3rd line support for incidents impacting production; participate in an on-call rota and drive root cause analysis to prevent recurrence.
HA/DR, Backup & Recoverability:
- Implement and operate HA/DR solutions, such as Always On Availability Groups and failover clustering, aligned to plant uptime needs and defined RPO/RTO targets.
- Own backup, restore, and regular recovery testing; maintain DR runbooks and support planned DR exercises and audits.
Performance, Capacity & Data Growth:
- Proactively monitor and tune SQL Server performance, including indexing, statistics, query plans, tempdb, and I/O and memory configuration, with particular focus on high-volume shop-floor data and traceability workloads.
- Plan and manage capacity for database growth, including retention and archival approaches, and support reporting and analytics use cases without impacting production workloads.
Change, Release & Vendor Collaboration:
- Plan and execute patching, upgrades, configuration changes, and deployments within controlled maintenance windows; ensure validation and rollback plans are in place.
- Work with application owners and vendors to support upgrades, troubleshoot database-related issues, and implement schema changes safely and consistently.
Security & OT/IT Compliance:
- Implement database security controls, including least privilege, role-based access, auditing, and encryption, and support cybersecurity requirements in manufacturing environments.
- Support vulnerability remediation, credential management, and access reviews in collaboration with OT, infrastructure, and security teams.
Automation, Monitoring & Documentation:
- Automate routine tasks using T-SQL and PowerShell; implement monitoring, alerting, and operational dashboards appropriate for 24x7 support.
- Maintain accurate documentation, SOPs, and runbooks for manufacturing application databases and interfaces.
Roles Specification
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
- Demonstrable experience administering SQL Server in enterprise environments, ideally supporting manufacturing or industrial systems.
- Hands-on experience implementing and operating HA/DR and executing routine DR tests aligned to operational uptime requirements.
- Strong working knowledge of database security, access controls, and auditing in environments with strict change management.
- Ability to participate in an on-call rota and provide out-of-hours support as required to protect plant operations.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
- Demonstrable experience administering SQL Server in enterprise environments, ideally supporting manufacturing or industrial systems.
- Hands-on experience implementing and operating HA/DR and executing routine DR tests aligned to operational uptime requirements.
- Strong working knowledge of database security, access controls, and auditing in environments with strict change management.
- Ability to participate in an on-call rota and provide out-of-hours support as required to protect plant operations.
Job Context
Essential:
- Proven 5–7 years of experience as a SQL Server Database Administrator supporting production, business-critical environments with demanding uptime requirements.
- Strong knowledge of SQL Server architecture and administration, including installation, configuration, upgrades, patching, SQL Server Agent, and maintenance.
- Hands-on experience with HA/DR and recoverability, such as Always On Availability Groups and failover clustering, including routine backup and restore testing to meet RPO/RTO requirements.
- Performance tuning experience, including indexing, statistics, query plans, tempdb, I/O, and memory, along with strong troubleshooting skills.
- Knowledge of database security concepts, including authentication, authorization, least privilege, encryption, and auditing, with disciplined change control practices.
- Experience working with operational stakeholders, including manufacturing IT/OT, engineering, and vendors, and communicating clearly during incidents and planned changes.
- Scripting and automation skills using T-SQL and PowerShell to improve reliability and reduce manual effort.
- Strong database design expertise, encompassing data modeling and performance tuning, to ensure efficient and scalable database architecture.
Desired:
- Experience supporting Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), SCADA-related data stores, plant historians, or other manufacturing/industrial applications.
- Familiarity with OT/IT network and security principles and working within controlled plant change windows.
- Experience with Azure SQL, including Azure SQL Database, Managed Instance, and/or SQL Server on Azure VMs.
- Exposure to database DevOps, including version-controlled schema changes, CI/CD pipelines, and database change tooling.
- Relevant certifications, such as Microsoft Azure Database Administrator Associate, or equivalent experience.