The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is hiring a Senior Systems Engineer – Oracle DBA.
This role is based in Basel, Switzerland however, thanks to our status as an international organization, we can hire globally and welcome applications from candidates of all nationalities and located anywhere in the world. Relocation support is available for the successful candidate and their dependent family members.
Please note the deadline for applications is 7 November 2025 end of day.
Please note that this role is offered as a 3 year fixed term contract.
Purpose Of The Job
Our mission is to support central banks' pursuit of monetary and financial stability through international partnership and to act as a bank for central banks.
You will contribute to this mission by providing resilient inputs and guidance to critical systems and databases based on Oracle across the Bank. The primary purpose of this role will be to provide input and guidance to business units on database design and architecture, collaborating with them to meet business needs while leveraging shared platforms and best security practices and standards.
By joining the Platforms team with Information Technology and Services (ITS) department, you will:
- Join a collaborative and specialist engineering team that embraces innovation, creativity and encourages knowledge sharing.
- Gain exposure and work with various technologies and systems with an impact across the whole organization.
- Benefit from working in a unique, international environment that offers flexible, hybrid working options with a blend of onsite work from our central office location in Basel and home office.
Principal Accountabilities
Database Design and Modernisation:
- Support business units in adopting modern database technologies and architectures, including containerized database solutions.
- Plan and implement strategies for database availability and scalability, leveraging technologies such as OpenShift for containerized deployments.
- Provide templates and base configurations for standardized database deployments across MS SQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL environments.
Resilience And Security
- Ensure all database administration activities align with the Bank’s high security standards, corporate policies, and compliance requirements.
- Incorporate resilience practices to ensure databases are adequately protected and can sustain operations during times of adversity.
- Implement robust backup, recovery, and disaster recovery solutions for all supported database platforms.
Technology Strategy
- Support the selection and implementation of database technologies that meet the Bank’s business needs, considering hybrid cloud strategies, automation, monitoring, and resilience.
- Lead efforts to modernize database infrastructures, including the adoption of containerized.
- Promote a culture of innovation and collaboration, advocating for modern database management practices and tools.
Agile Project Management
- Apply Agile and DevOps practices within database administration projects and operations.
- Ensure timely delivery of database solutions that meet business requirements while adhering to best practices.
Automation And Tooling
- Enable automation of routine database administration tasks, such as provisioning, monitoring, patching, and performance tuning, using tools like Ansible and OpenShift.
- Leverage and contribute to the use of a DevOps toolchain to enhance collaboration and streamline database delivery and operations.
- Develop and maintain scripts (e.g., Python, Bash) to improve operational efficiency and consistency across database platforms.
Collaboration With Development Teams
- Work closely with development teams to support database integration in application environments.
- Provide expertise in database design, query optimization, and performance tuning to ensure efficient application development and deployment.
- Assist in building integrations with modern authorization mechanisms (e.g., OAuth, token-based authentication) and REST APIs for database-related services.
Qualifications, Skills And Experience
- Deep domain expertise in databases based on Oracle (database design and administration, implementation, maintenance and resilience)
- Extensive experience in designing, implementing and supporting robust database architectures for hybrid cloud infrastructures, ensuring scalability, security, and performance.
- Experience with developing and enforcing compliance and security policies for database systems, ensuring foundational controls are implemented and maintained as part of a modern CI/CD pipeline.
- Experienced collaborating with business units on database design, architecture and maintenance
- Experienced with designing, implementing, and maintaining enterprise-class database systems, ensuring high availability, resilience, and adherence to the Bank’s security standards.
- Ability to actively work supporting culture change initiatives.
Who We Are
Internationalism is at the core of our identity and the best representation of this is our workforce. With employees from over 66 countries and offices in nine locations, the BIS is a global organisation with a truly international workforce. By joining us, you will work in a unique, highly rewarding, and international work environment. We are committed to equal opportunities at the BIS and aim to build a workforce that reflects our global membership. We strive to attract the best talent and foster an inclusive environment. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, including those with a breadth of professional experience. You can discover more about our inclusive working environment here.
What The BIS Offers
We want your time at BIS to be a rewarding and career-enriching experience. We offer an agile and flexible working environment with hybrid working opportunities including home office and working from abroad days. To support our international applicants, we offer relocation support that extends to your dependent family members. In addition, we offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, including support for working families including childcare and education allowances (where applicable). Finally, we offer a genuinely unique international working environment, which will give you exposure to the global financial system and the opportunity to collaborate with passionate experts from all over the world.
