Manager of Data Platform Engineering

Atlantic Health System•Morristown, NJ

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Manager, Data Platform Engineering, is responsible for leading, developing, and organizing a high-performing team of data platform engineers. You will own the people, process, and delivery health of your team — ensuring engineers are growing in their careers, teams are delivering reliably, and the platform function is well-coordinated with the broader organization. This is a first-line management role that sits at the intersection of technical credibility and people leadership, you must possess sufficient technical depth to earn trust, participate meaningfully in architectural conversations, remove engineering blockers, and make informed decisions about resourcing and prioritization. You will partner closely with the Lead Data Platform Engineer to ensure alignment between technical direction and team execution. While the Lead owns architecture and standards, you own: hiring, career development, performance, team health, and delivery operations. Together, you form the leadership unit for the Data Platform function. This role is ideal for a seasoned senior engineer who has made the deliberate choice to grow into engineering leadership, or an experienced engineering manager who wants to operate in the dynamic, high-impact world of data infrastructure.

Requirements

Seasoned senior engineer with a desire for engineering leadership or an experienced engineering manager.
Sufficient technical depth to earn trust, participate in architectural conversations, remove blockers, and make informed decisions.
Experience in people leadership, including career development, performance management, and fostering team culture.
Experience with the full recruitment lifecycle, including defining headcount needs, writing job descriptions, and conducting interviews.
Ability to manage delivery systems, including sprint cadence, backlog grooming, capacity planning, and release coordination.
Experience establishing and maintaining SLAs, on-call rotations, and incident response processes.
Proficiency in quarterly planning, translating organizational priorities into team goals.
Experience managing cross-team dependencies and resolving conflicts.
Strong reporting and communication skills to leadership.
Ability to evaluate engineering trade-offs and assess resource allocation.
Understanding of data platform trends and adjacent technologies.
Experience in stakeholder management and building relationships with peer managers.
Familiarity with budget planning and headcount justification.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the dynamic, high-impact world of data infrastructure.

Responsibilities

Directly manage 4-5 data platform engineers across levels (Engineer I through Senior Engineer III); serve as their primary advocate, coach, and career guide.
Conduct regular 1:1s with each direct report focused on growth, blockers, wellbeing, and career trajectory.
Own the career development plans for each team member; set clear expectations at every level, identify growth opportunities, and provide timely, actionable feedback.
Drive performance management end-to-end: set goals, provide continuous feedback.
Identify high-potential engineers and create stretch opportunities that accelerate their development toward the next level.
Foster a team culture of psychological safety, inclusion, continuous learning, and high accountability — where engineers feel empowered to take initiative and safe to raise concerns.
Address performance gaps early and constructively.
Own the full recruitment lifecycle for your team: define headcount needs, write and refine job descriptions, run structured interview processes, and make hiring decisions.
Partner with recruiting to build and maintain a healthy pipeline of engineering talent at all levels; actively source candidates and represent the company at recruiting events.
Onboard new hires effectively: ensure they have a structured ramp plan, a buddy/mentor, and clear 30/60/90-day expectations from day one.
Own the health of the team's delivery system: sprint cadence, backlog grooming, capacity planning, dependency management, and release coordination.
Ensure the team consistently delivers against commitments; proactively identify risks, surface blockers early, and create conditions for engineers to do their best work.
Establish and maintain clear team-level SLAs, on-call rotations, and incident response processes; hold the team accountable to reliability standards.
Drive quarterly planning in coordination with the Lead Engineer and Director: translate organizational priorities into team-level goals, milestones, and resourcing decisions.
Manage cross-team dependencies with partner engineering organizations (ML, Analytics); ensure alignment and resolve conflicts at the manager level.
Own team-level reporting and status communication to leadership: weekly/bi-weekly updates, risk flags, and delivery summaries that give stakeholders accurate, timely visibility.
Maintain sufficient technical depth to participate in architectural discussions, evaluate engineering trade-offs, assess estimates, and identify when the team is over- or under-resourced for a given problem.
Partner closely with the Lead Data Platform Engineer to ensure technical direction is translated into executable work; bridge the gap between architectural vision and sprint-level delivery.
Represent technical considerations in cross-functional conversations — with infrastructure, Data Science, Analytics, and Directors — and advocate for necessary infrastructure investment.
Contribute to technical decisions where your perspective as a manager is valuable: team ergonomics, tooling adoption, process improvements, and build-vs-buy trade-offs with organizational implications.
Stay current with data platform trends and adjacent technologies to have informed conversations with your team and with engineering leadership about the evolving landscape.
Serve as the primary point of contact for partner Information Systems & Services(ISS) managers, and business stakeholders on matters of team delivery, capacity, and roadmap alignment.
Represent the Data Platform Engineering team in cross-functional planning forums, leadership reviews, and all-hands; communicate team accomplishments, challenges, and needs clearly.
Proactively build relationships with peer managers across the organization to improve cross-team collaboration, reduce friction, and identify shared investment opportunities.
Partner with the Executive Director on budget planning, headcount justification, and tooling procurement decisions that affect the team.
Contribute to shaping the engineering culture and management practices across the broader engineering organization — share what works, contribute to manager forums, and help raise the bar on people leadership.

Benefits

Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Coverage (22.5 hours per week or above for full-time and part-time team members)
Life & AD&D Insurance.
Short-Term and Long-Term Disability (with options to supplement)
403(b) Retirement Plan: Employer match, additional non-elective contribution
PTO & Paid Sick Leave
Tuition Assistance, Advancement & Academic Advising
Parental, Adoption, Surrogacy Leave
Backup and On-Site Childcare
Well-Being Rewards
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Fertility Benefits, Healthy Pregnancy Program
Flexible Spending & Commuter Accounts
Pet, Home & Auto, Identity Theft and Legal Insurance