Manager / Sr. Manager, Technical Operations

About the role

This is a foundational hire for Technical Operations at Spark Advisors. The role involves applying AI and agentic tooling to DevOps and infrastructure work, driving org-wide AI enablement, and ensuring a secure and compliant environment.

Responsibilities

• AI-Enabled Operations:
  • Apply AI/agentic tooling to DevOps and infrastructure work; automated remediation, anomaly detection, capacity and cost optimization, and agent-assisted incident response and runbook execution
  • Drive org-wide AI enablement for technical operations: evaluate and roll out agentic tooling to support the broader organization
  • Set guardrails for safe AI adoption in a regulated environment — data handling, auditability, and model/tool vetting — so speed doesn't come at the cost of compliance
• DevOps & Infrastructure:
  • Own the reliability, scalability, and cost-efficiency of our AWS-native infrastructure (Lambda, Step Functions, Kinesis, Connect, Bedrock, and related services)
  • Drive CI/CD maturity, infrastructure-as-code practices (SAM/CloudFormation/Terraform), and environment consistency across dev/staging/prod
  • Own observability: logging, monitoring, alerting, and incident response processes; drive down MTTR
  • Manage on-call rotations and runbooks; be a calm, decisive presence during incidents
• Information Security & Compliance:
  • Own the security posture of a HIPAA- and CMS-regulated platform: policies, controls, risk assessments, and audit readiness
  • Lead SOC 2 / HIPAA compliance programs, vendor security reviews, and incident response
  • Partner with engineering on secure-by-default practices (secrets management, least-privilege IAM, PHI handling, encryption at rest/in transit)
  • Own security awareness training and access governance across the company
• IT Operations:
  • Manage corporate IT: employee onboarding/offboarding, endpoint management, SSO/identity (Okta or similar), device security, and helpdesk support
  • Build scalable, self-serve IT processes appropriate for our headcount
• Leadership & Cross-Functional Partnership:
  • Build and lead a small, high-leverage team as the function grows — hire well, and know when not to hire, favoring automation and good tooling over headcount
  • Partner closely with the VP of Engineering, Data Engineering, and Product on shared infrastructure needs
  • Represent technical operations to the board, auditors, and enterprise customers/partners when needed
  • Set and report on operational KPIs; uptime, deployment frequency, MTTR, security findings closure rate

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a technical operations, DevOps, infrastructure, or security leadership role, ideally with 2+ years managing people or leading cross-functional initiatives
• Deep hands-on experience with AWS; IAM, networking, serverless, and container services
• Direct experience with security compliance frameworks (SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001) — you've been through an audit, not just read about one
• Strong infrastructure-as-code and CI/CD chops
• Experience operating in a regulated or high-stakes environment such as healthcare, fintech, insurance is a strong plus
• A builder's mindset: comfortable with ambiguity, allergic to unnecessary process, and biased toward reversible, incremental decisions
• Excellent judgment under pressure — you're often the person who is calm when something breaks in production
• A clear communicator who can translate technical risk into business terms for non-technical stakeholders

Benefits

Spark Advisors offers a comprehensive benefits program including health care, dental and vision, 401k, and paid time off. We also provide a monthly remote work stipend, parental leave, and a sabbatical after 5 years of employment. Additionally, we support wellbeing through perks like health and wellness programs.

Pay

A reasonable estimate of the current salary range is $170,000—$215,000 USD. Individual pay decisions are based on a number of factors, including qualifications, experience, skillset, geography, and balancing internal equity.

Schedule

We are open to remote work, but all work must be conducted from an approved location within the U.S. Due to compliance requirements, we are unable to accommodate international remote work.

Skills

• Strong understanding of AWS services and infrastructure
• Experience with security compliance frameworks (SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001)
• Hands-on experience with DevOps and infrastructure
• Ability to manage and mentor a team
• Excellent communication skills

Benefits

• Equity compensation
• Health care, including dental and vision through our PEO Sequoia
• Flexible work location; co-working available
• 401k
• Paid Time Off
• Monthly Remote Work Stipend (help cover costs of home-office needs)
• Paid Parental Leave
• Up to 14 weeks for birthing parents
• Up to 8 weeks for non-birth parents
• 2 week sabbatical at 5 years of employment
• 11 paid holidays