AVP, Enterprise Database Platforms & Operations

The AVP, Enterprise Database Platforms & Operations is a senior technology leadership role responsible for the end-to-end strategy, architecture, engineering, operations, and product lifecycle management of Voya’s enterprise database platforms.

• Defines and owns the enterprise database platform strategy across relational, NoSQL, in-memory, engineered systems, and cloud-native platforms.

• Translates business and application needs into standardized, scalable database platform capabilities.

• Establishes reference architectures, standards, patterns, and multi-year roadmaps aligned to business, security, and regulatory requirements.

• Provides architectural leadership across various database technologies including Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 UDB, Sybase ASE, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, Oracle Exadata / ExaCC, Oracle ZDLRA, and Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM).

• Drives capacity planning, performance engineering, scalability, and resiliency design across on-prem and Azure environments.

• Leads enterprise adoption of automation-first and self-service database platforms.

• Builds and governs Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and CI/CD pipelines for Database-as-Code.

• Enables automated provisioning, configuration, schema versioning, and standardized builds.

• Advances AIOps capabilities for predictive insights and proactive incident detection.

• Drives measurable reduction in incident volume and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) through automation and observability integration.

• Integrates automation and AIOps with observability and ITSM workflows.

• Leads large-scale database migrations from on-premises to Azure and hybrid cloud platforms.

• Prioritizes and sequences migration initiatives based on business impact, risk, and cost optimization opportunities.

• Optimizes cloud platforms for availability, security, scalability, and cost efficiency.

• Establishes cloud operational, resiliency, and security standards.

• Owns 24x7 production operations with strict Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

• Ensures clear ownership models, escalation paths, and accountability across global support teams.

• Adheres to IT Service Management (ITSM) processes including incident, problem, and change management.

• Drives a proactive reliability model rather than reactive support.

• Ensures platforms meet Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) standards.

• Defines cyber-recovery and ransomware readiness strategies in partnership with the Business Resiliency office.

• Implements immutable backups, clean-room recovery, and scenario testing.

• Continuously validates recovery readiness through testing and measurable outcomes.

• Manages platform lifecycle from ideation through retirement.

• Drives refresh, upgrades, standardization, and technical debt reduction.

• Rationalizes platforms and reduces unnecessary technology sprawl where possible.

• Aligns platform roadmaps with modernization and cloud initiatives.

• Establishes platform health, reliability, cost, and automation metrics.

• Provides executive dashboards for availability, utilization, cost, and efficiency.

• Uses data insights to drive investment and prioritization.

• Owns financials including budgeting, forecasting, and multi-year planning.

• Drives FinOps practices including license optimization and capacity right-sizing.

• Delivers measurable cost savings while maintaining reliability.

• Balances cost optimization with performance and risk tolerance expectations.

• Leads large global onshore/offshore teams.

• Drives skills modernization and workforce transformation.

• Fosters a culture of innovation, automation, and accountability.

• Builds a leadership bench and succession pipeline within the organization.

• Serves as a trusted advisor to Application, Cloud, Infrastructure, Security, and Business leaders.

• Translates business objectives into scalable, secure, and resilient database solutions.

• Communicates with executives on risk, roadmap, and operational health.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in enterprise database architecture, engineering, and operations.

• Proven experience operating in a senior leadership role with accountability for large-scale, 24x7 production environments.

• Deep hands-on expertise across enterprise database platforms including Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, and Redis.

• Demonstrated experience building and scaling Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), CI/CD, and Database-as-Code capabilities.

• Proven success leading database modernization and migration programs across on-premises, hybrid, and Azure environments.

• Strong expertise in performance tuning, resiliency engineering, cyber recovery, observability, ITSM, security controls, and governance practices.

• Excellent executive communication, stakeholder management, and people leadership skills.

• Ability to balance strategic leadership with hands-on technical credibility.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in financial services or regulated industries.

• Background in FinOps and cloud cost governance.

• Strong observability, automation, and DevOps tooling expertise.

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s preferred.