Lead SAS Administrator

On-site in London·Added today (last checked 13 Nov)

Vanquis Banking Group

3 open roles

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Our summary

Work mode: On-site, London
Experience: Senior level
Closing date: Apply by Saturday 28 November
Pension: Up to 10% employer pension

Skills

The role

THE NEXT CHAPTER STARTS WITH YOU

Lead SAS Administrator (12 Month FTC)

Lead the reliability, security and modernisation of the analytical platforms that power critical decisions across Vanquis

This is an opportunity to take visible technical ownership of a platform estate that supports analysts and business teams across Vanquis Bank, Moneybarn and PFG. You will combine deep SAS administration expertise with practical leadership, helping colleagues run critical analytical processes reliably while shaping the next stage of our cloud journey.

Working within Data Engineering and reporting to the Senior Analytical Platforms Manager, you will join a small team of SAS administrators. With no direct reports, your influence will come through technical authority, trusted advice and the ability to bring people together around complex platform decisions.

You will help protect today's service while contributing to the migration from Base SAS 9.4 on-premises to SAS Viya 4 on Microsoft Azure. It is a role with broad stakeholder exposure, meaningful ownership and the chance to improve resilience, security, performance and cost effectiveness at scale.

There's More to the Story

Vanquis is continuing to modernise its technology and data capabilities. This role sits at the centre of that change, connecting established SAS services with a more flexible cloud-based future and ensuring the transition is controlled, dependable and valuable for users.

How You'll Make an Impact

You'll...	So that...
Be the technical authority for our Base SAS 9.4 on-premises and SAS Viya 4 on Azure platforms, setting clear standards and guiding complex decisions.	Colleagues across Vanquis Bank, Moneybarn and PFG can rely on secure, well-governed analytical platforms and trusted technical advice.
Strengthen platform resilience, performance and capacity across Windows, Linux and Azure environments.	Analysts can complete critical data and decisioning activity with fewer disruptions and predictable performance.
Lead the diagnosis of complex incidents, complete root cause analysis and turn learning into lasting improvements.	Recurring problems are reduced, service recovery is faster and operational risk is better controlled.
Own the health of SAS-related technical pipelines and the movement of data between SAS, Azure and SQL environments.	Business and analytical processes run completely, accurately and to the schedules colleagues and customers depend on.
Plan and deliver upgrades, patching, licence and certificate renewals, and coordinated change outages.	The platforms remain supported, secure and ready for future business demand without avoidable service impact.
Shape interim and strategic change, including the migration from on-premises SAS to SAS Viya on Azure.	Vanquis can modernise its analytical capability while protecting continuity, data integrity and user confidence.
Partner with architects, engineers, data teams, project colleagues and business users to translate needs into practical solutions.	Change is designed with the full technical and business context in mind and delivers measurable value.
Share expertise, mentor colleagues and help SAS users adopt effective, well-controlled ways of working.	Capability grows across the team and knowledge is not concentrated in one place.

Why This Role Matters

Reliable analytical platforms underpin decision-making, customer outcomes and essential business processes. This role exists to provide senior technical ownership across a mixed on-premises and Azure SAS estate at an important point in its evolution. Your work will reduce operational and security risk, improve the experience of a wide user base and help Vanquis move towards SAS Viya on Azure without losing the stability the business depends on.

You will work regularly with Engineering Leads, Heads of Department, business stakeholders, Infrastructure, Solution and Cloud Architects, Data Engineers, Business Analysts, Project Managers and external partners. That visibility gives you the opportunity to influence both day-to-day service quality and longer-term platform direction.

Our Analytical Platforms Approach

We believe in	What that means
Platform reliability	We act early, use evidence and focus on stable, performant services that analysts can trust.
Security by design	Access, patching, data movement and platform change are managed with security and control built in.
Practical modernisation	We balance immediate service needs with the strategic move towards SAS Viya on Azure.
Shared ownership	SAS administrators, engineers, architects, project teams and users work together to resolve issues and improve outcomes.
Clear communication	Technical complexity is translated into straightforward choices, risks and next steps for different audiences.
Learning and improvement	Root cause analysis, new SAS capabilities and cloud learning are used to strengthen the service continuously.

Essential Experience

Extensive experience administering enterprise SAS platforms, including strong hands-on experience with SAS 9.x and relevant experience with SAS Viya.
Demonstrable experience supporting, troubleshooting and performance-tuning SAS across Windows and Linux infrastructure.
Experience operating cloud-based analytical platforms, ideally SAS Viya 4 on Microsoft Azure.
Practical experience of upgrades, patching, licensing, certificate renewal, security controls, resilience and capacity planning.
Ability to investigate complex production issues, complete root cause analysis and drive sustainable remediation.
Experience supporting data pipelines and integrations involving SAS, Azure and SQL-based data platforms.
Confidence working independently from high-level requirements while coordinating multiple priorities and planned changes.
Clear communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders, including architects, engineers, project teams and business users.
A collaborative approach to knowledge sharing, mentoring and improving team standards.

Useful, but Not Essential

SAS Certified Platform Administrator and/or SAS Certified Base Programmer credentials.
PowerShell, SAS Macro and SQL pass-through experience, including query optimisation.
Knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Azure Synapse, Apache NiFi, SAN or Lustre technologies.
Experience in banking, financial services or another environment handling large, business-critical data volumes.
Experience with automation, automated testing and Agile delivery methods such as Scrum or Kanban.

Career Development

You will deepen your expertise across SAS Viya 4, Azure, platform automation, security, resilience and performance engineering. The role offers exposure to strategic migration work, architecture and senior business stakeholders, alongside opportunities to shape standards, influence technology choices and mentor colleagues. Over time, this experience can support progression into broader analytical platform leadership, cloud platform engineering, data architecture or specialist consultancy pathways.

Why Vanquis?

Benefits & culture	Learning & wellbeing
Award-winning employer	LinkedIn Learning
Flexible working	Two volunteering days
Inclusive culture	Enhanced family leave
Up to 10% pension contribution	Paid birthday leave
25-30 days annual leave	Career development opportunities

Ready to shape what's next?

If you are an experienced SAS administrator who enjoys solving complex platform challenges, influencing change and helping others succeed, we would love to hear from you.

Recruitment agency information

Our Talent Acquisition team manages all recruitment activity directly. We work with approved recruitment partners where additional support is required.

Unsolicited CVs submitted without prior agreement from Vanquis Talent Acquisition will be considered direct applications and no agency fees will be payable.

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