Peter Whyte
Site Reliability Engineer / DBA
Remote (Edinburgh, Scotland)
I’m a confident & optimistic individual, approaching my work with enthusiasm and a strong belief in the value of teamwork. My greatest strength lies in my ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, bringing teams together to work towards a common goal.
I am extremely determined and committed to achieving every success in my career. I need to be aligned with the direction, purpose and values of a company. I believe that a clear vision of the long-term rewards is critical for keeping motivated and focused, and I always keep my sights set on the bigger picture.
Beyond the world of servers and databases, I’ve cultivated a hobby that has spanned over 8 years, which is creating and managing websites. I’m in a lucky position where my passions align seamlessly with my current job, making my work at GoDaddy a great & fulfilling journey, where I can fuse enthusiasm for database administration while making the Internet a better, and more secure place for all.
Career History
GoDaddy
sENIOR SITE Reliability Engineer – Database Services
apr 2025 – PRESENT
# Take full ownership of MSSQL monthly patching and OS compliance across a large multi-environment estate, significantly reducing operational risk and manual effort.
# Drive automation of SQL Server patching via Puppet and PaaS, moving ~75% of servers into automated workflows and reducing patching SLA from 30 days to ~8 days.
# Design and deliver Grafana dashboards covering patch compliance, SQL/OS upgrade trajectory, and on-call visibility, enabling clear, actionable operational metrics for the team.
# Act as an SME for SQL Server backups, supporting the migration to Ceph and working closely with Storage teams to investigate and remediate performance and availability issues, including scrubbing schedules and capacity constraints, treating backup reliability as a tier-0 risk.
# Redesign and standardise monthly database failovers and node blips, decoupling them from datacentre swings and making them a repeatable, well-communicated process.
# Train and guide peers on database failovers, node blips, and day-to-day operational decision-making, enabling confident independent execution and improving team resilience.
# Collaborate closely with platform and security teams on tier-0 SQL Server cluster and availability group environments, producing architecture diagrams, threat models, and security certification artefacts.
# Support and lead migration work away from legacy platforms such as SSIS 2014, working through complex scope changes while maintaining delivery focus.
# Roll out new SQL permission roles and access models to improve consistency, security, and customer self-service capabilities.
# Provide consistent on-call cover and act as a stabilising presence for the team, particularly as the only Europe-based engineer, ensuring issues are handled promptly during UK hours.
Site Reliability Engineer – Database Services
Aug 2021 – Mar 2025
# Work within the Database Services Team to provide global support and engineering for SQL Server, MySQL, and NoSQL databases.
# Lead initiatives to ensure reliable and high-quality SQL Server (MSSQL) operations, directly impacting service quality for our customers.
# Oversee traditional DBA responsibilities, including High-Availability (FCIs, AAG), Replication, Mirroring, Change Data Capture (CDC), and Partitioning, while also managing backups, security protocols, and full estate monitoring.
# Participate in the MSSQL on-call rotation and respond to critical incidents to uphold performance and reliability across systems.
# Support and collaborate with global teams, aligning support improvements to meet long-term goals.
# Maintain reliable database backups and automate database test restores to enable efficient backup validation for business-critical MSSQL databases.
# Drive monitoring and alerting enhancements for the SQL Server DBA team, improving system oversight and proactive issue identification.
# Support Teradata system & promptly assist customers with requests (1 year).
# MySQL Training (6 months).
People’s Postcode Lottery
Database & System Administrator
Oct 2017 – oct 2021
# Monitor & maintain the Data Platform & Legacy Data systems. Help ensure they remain secure, compliant, stable, performant, and data are kept accurate.
# Take ownership of incidents, troubleshoot & resolve issues on data systems.
# Assist with the design & development of new AWS Data Platform features, including active involvement in peer reviews.
# Perform software, OS upgrades & data configuration changes (cleaning/deduplication tools).
# Support the Insight & Campaigns teams, guiding on technical issues and automation of SQL tasks.
# Work with Data Governance & other teams to help ensure GDPR & Security measures are adhered to across the data.
# Produce data system security audit reports and work with department managers to ensure agreed permissions are in place.
# Attend and contribute to wider business security audits & meetings.
# Create, schedule & maintain ETL workloads.
# (project) Deliver phase 1 of a new AWS Data Platform.
# (project) Lift and shift the BI stack to AWS.
# (project) On-board & configure Tableau.
# (project) Build out data selection history, retention, and anonymization components in advance of GDPR 2018.
# (short-term) Support with BAU IT Operations tasks & other small projects.
Zonal Retail Data Systems
Database Administrator
Oct 2016 – oct 2017
# Administration, monitoring and tuning of live datacentre and customer on-premise database services.
# Promptly respond to database alerts ensuring high uptime and performance targets are archived.
# Configure SQL Server features to enable reporting or to improve performance.
# Proactively upgrade SQL Server instances, Operating Systems and VM Build versions.
# Ensure backups are sound and RPO/RTO targets are achieved.
# Spawn and provision new Windows GUI or CLI VMs for production SQL Server use, ensuring best practices have been adhered to.
# Configure permissions and arrange networking line of sight required for external data uplifts.
# Attend CAB meetings with external stakeholders and perform database changes in accordance with plans.
# Work with R&D and support teams to resolve issues at hand, including assisting with deployments of new software changes.
# Produce database performance reports for clients.
# Maintain database inventory and other shared documentation.
Exova
IT Operations Engineer
Apr 2015 – oct 2016
# Provide internal on-site & remote IT Support to office & lab sites within Europe, working with other divisions on a global scale to support shared systems. Travel to other locations within the UK to provide VIP support and for other projects.
# Administration & configuration of IT Operations tools & hardware.
# Support internal SQL-based applications and servers.
# Manage new start & leaver requests and re-patching of site server equipment.
# Communicate with 3rd party vendors to query information, report faults, and for purchase.
# (project) Tech-lead on the roll-out of Web Security (Forcepoint) across the UK.
# (project) Assist in domain migrations for several sites.
Checkout my LinkedIn Profile for more background info.