Manager, Data Operations

Strata Decision Technology•Chicago, IL

3d•$150,000 - $168,000•Onsite

About The Position

As the Manager of Data Operations, you will lead a team responsible for the reliability, performance, and security of a mission-critical data platform spanning SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Snowflake, and Microsoft Fabric. This is a hands-on leadership role where you will balance people management with deep technical engagement—guiding the team while also stepping in to solve complex performance issues, drive platform improvements, and ensure operational excellence across the environment. You’ll partner closely with engineering, analytics, and platform teams to ensure our data systems are scalable, cost-efficient, and ready to support advanced analytics and AI-driven workloads.

Requirements

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
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

Nice To Haves

familiarity with Snowflake and/or Microsoft Fabric is a plus

Responsibilities

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
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
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
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