Platform/DevOps Lead

We are looking for a DevOps / Platform Lead to provide technical direction, mentorship, and escalation ownership across our DevOps and Platform Engineering practice. This is a technical leadership role with hands-on depth — combining architecture guidance, vendor management, and engineering oversight for the DevOps and Platform Engineer group supporting the enterprise Data Platform, ingestion, orchestration, CI/CD, and observability layers. Leads a team of Platform and DevOps Engineers. You own the health, roadmap, and delivery of the platform practice.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Strategy & Architecture

• Set the technical direction for DevOps and Platform Engineering — CI/CD standards, IaC patterns, orchestration, and observability.

• Own the architecture roadmap for the ingestion layer, scheduling, and deployment automation.

• Guide the team on modern Databricks-native operating patterns.

Platform Operations & Reliability

• Serve as the single technical escalation point for DevOps and Platform incidents and change management.

• Drive problem management practices — reduce recurring incidents and champion permanent fixes over reactive support.

• Ensure operational readiness for year-end activities, compliance, and audit requirements.

• Track platform KPIs — reliability, incident volume, deployment success rate, and cost efficiency.

Automation & Continuous Improvement

• Champion automation and agentic operations to reduce manual effort and improve reliability.

• Drive continuous improvement in ways of working, aligned with industry-standard operating maturity models.

Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor and grow Platform and DevOps Engineers on best practices, code quality, and career growth.

• Shape team capacity and capability — hiring input, skills development, and workload planning across the Platform/DevOps group.

• Represent the DevOps / Platform practice in Data & AI leadership forums and cross-functional reviews.

Stakeholder & Vendor Management

• Partner with Data Engineering leadership to align platform capabilities with data delivery needs.

• Own vendor coordination with Databricks and adjacent platform vendors — case management, upgrade planning, and license/capacity discussions.

What Success Looks Like (First 6–12 Months):

• You'll establish the platform's CI/CD and observability standards, reduce recurring incidents through problem management, mature vendor and upgrade governance, and lift the team's automation and AI-native operating maturity.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or equivalent relevant experience.

• 10+ years of overall experience in Data Engineering, Platform Engineering, or DevOps including 2+ years in a technical lead capacity.

• Strong hands-on background in Databricks, cloud platforms, CI/CD, and Infrastructure-as-Code.

• Prior experience leading platform or DevOps teams supporting enterprise data workloads.

• Proven experience managing vendor relationships and complex upgrade programs.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills across engineering and business audiences.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with Unity Catalog governance and Databricks-native AI capabilities.

• Exposure to industry-standard maturity models for data and platform operations.

• Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional or Cloud Solutions Architect Professional certification.

Competencies:

• Ownership and accountability — end-to-end responsibility for platform health and delivery.

• Servant leadership — grows the team while removing blockers.

• Strategic thinking — balances short-term operational stability with long-term platform evolution.

• Diplomatic and clear communicator — comfortable with vendors, leadership, and engineering peers.

• Bias for automation, KPIs, and outcome-driven service delivery.