Manager, Data Operations

Lead and Grow the Team

• Manage, mentor, and develop a team of data engineers and DBAs
• Set clear priorities and uphold high operational standards
• Coach on performance tuning, troubleshooting, and best practices
• Partner on hiring, workforce planning, and team development

Own Platform Reliability and Security

• Ensure availability, performance, and security across all platforms
• Lead incident response and improve operational readiness
• Strengthen monitoring, alerting, and runbooks to reduce noise and speed response
• Support backup, recovery, and disaster recovery strategies

Stay Hands-On

• Troubleshoot complex performance issues across CPU, memory, IO, and concurrency
• Optimize queries, indexing, and execution plans at scale
• Guide database design and performance with engineering teams
• Serve as an escalation point for critical production issues

Drive Improvement and Modernization

• Identify opportunities to improve scalability, efficiency, and cost
• Support adoption of Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, and modern data tools
• Partner to enable analytics, ML, and AI workloads
• Promote automation and standardization

What we’re looking for

• Strong SQL Server performance tuning experience in production environments, including execution plans, indexing, locking/blocking, and wait analysis
• Experience with Azure SQL and hybrid data platforms; familiarity with Snowflake and/or Microsoft Fabric is a plus
• Proficiency in SQL and scripting languages such as PowerShell or Python
• Experience with monitoring and observability tools like Query Store, Azure Monitor, or Datadog
• A solid understanding of how infrastructure decisions impact database performance, scalability, and cost
• Experience supporting analytics, reporting, or AI-driven data platforms
• Proven ability to lead technical teams while remaining hands-on when needed
• Strong decision-making skills, accountability, and a track record of improving operational practices
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, especially during incidents, cross-functional initiatives, and technical decision-making discussions

What Success Looks Like

• A secure, high-performing, well-monitored data platform
• A team with clear ownership and reduced operational noise
• Effective incident response with continuous improvement
• Ongoing platform enhancements—not just maintenance
• A data environment ready to scale with analytics and AI needs

Pay

Estimated Salary Range: $150,000-168,000
Actual salary will be determined based on factors including, but not limited to, skill set and level of experience. This salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Strata also provides discretionary variable pay programs based on role. In addition, Strata provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits, health and welfare benefits, paid time off, parental leave, life and accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits.

Schedule

Our preferred location for open roles is Chicago, IL. We value in-person connection and regularly host on-campus events to create meaningful opportunities for our team to build relationships and collaborate.

How we work

Thinking about applying? Research shows that women and underrepresented groups tend to apply to jobs only when they check every box on a job posting. If you’re currently reading this and hesitating to click “Apply” for that reason, we encourage you to go for it! A true passion and excitement for making an impact is just as important as work experience.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. We do not discriminate against applicants or employees because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Core Values

While we celebrate what makes each member of our team unique, our core values are what connect us. They set clear expectations for how we approach our work and how each of us can positively influence the experience of our team and our customers.

• We connect with positive intent.
• We are helpful.
• We own it.
• We get better every day.
• We are humble.

Find out more about Strata benefits

Find out more about Strata benefits here.

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