SQL Engineering Manager

Aeroflow Career•Asheville, NC

20d

About The Position

Aeroflow's SQL Engineering team owns the Microsoft SQL Server platform behind many of the organization's most critical operational and customer-facing applications. The team partners closely with Application Engineering, Database Administration, Infrastructure, Analytics Engineering, and business leaders to ensure our data platform remains reliable, scalable, secure, and ready to support continued growth. As SQL Engineering Manager, you'll be responsible for the long-term success of both the team and the platform. Success in this role is built around three core responsibilities: Lead People by developing a high-performing SQL Engineering team through coaching, accountability, hiring, and career development. Lead Through Partnership by building trusted relationships across Engineering and the business, balancing competing priorities, and helping stakeholders make thoughtful technology decisions. Lead Technically by providing architectural guidance, establishing engineering standards, and ensuring our SQL platform remains stable, maintainable, and positioned for future growth. This role is approximately 70% leadership, strategy, and delivery and 30% technical guidance and architecture.

Requirements

Proven experience leading, mentoring, or managing database or software engineers.
Demonstrated success with hiring, coaching, performance management, career development, and difficult conversations.
Deep production experience with Microsoft SQL Server, including database architecture, schema design, query optimization, indexing strategies, and T-SQL development.
Experience establishing engineering standards across enterprise SQL environments.
Experience improving engineering workflows through source control, CI/CD, deployment automation, monitoring, and operational tooling.
Experience leading delivery across roadmap initiatives, operational support, technical debt, and cross-functional dependencies.
Experience partnering effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain technical tradeoffs clearly.
Demonstrated ability to influence priorities across multiple teams and build trusted working relationships.
Employee has an individual responsibility for knowledge of and compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and company policies.
Compliance is a condition of employment and an element of job performance.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading database modernization or platform transformation initiatives.
Experience with Azure SQL, AWS RDS for SQL Server, Infrastructure as Code, or DevOps automation.
Experience supporting highly available or regulated production environments.
Knowledge of data warehousing, ETL, analytics platforms, or enterprise Microsoft Access applications.
Experience implementing data contracts or API-style interfaces between transactional databases and downstream systems.
Experience responsibly leveraging AI-assisted engineering tools to improve software development or operational workflows.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a high-performing SQL Engineering team.
Create clear expectations through regular feedback, career development, succession planning, and performance management.
Recruit, hire, and retain exceptional engineers while fostering accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement.
Build an environment where engineers are empowered to make decisions while maintaining high technical standards.
Build trusted partnerships across Engineering, Product, Analytics, Infrastructure, DBA, and business teams.
Balance roadmap initiatives, operational support, technical debt, and platform improvements against business priorities.
Clearly communicate priorities, tradeoffs, risks, and technical decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Partner across teams to define practical solutions that improve both technology and business outcomes.
Provide architectural leadership across Microsoft SQL Server environments supporting mission-critical business systems.
Guide database architecture, schema design, T-SQL development, performance optimization, and engineering best practices.
Establish practical standards around source control, peer review, testing, CI/CD, deployment automation, monitoring, and operational excellence.
Improve platform reliability through root-cause analysis, automation, observability, and continuous improvement.
Partner with Analytics Engineering and Product teams to establish reliable data contracts and protect downstream systems during database changes.
Develop engineers while maintaining high performance standards.
Build trust across technical and business teams.
Make pragmatic technical decisions grounded in business value.
Balance operational excellence with thoughtful modernization.
Communicate directly, collaborate effectively, and lead with humility.
Leave teams, systems, and processes stronger than they found them.
A more capable, engaged, and accountable SQL Engineering team with clear expectations and development plans.
Strong partnerships across Engineering, Product, Analytics, Infrastructure, and business stakeholders.
Improved platform reliability, maintainability, and operational maturity.
Consistent engineering standards that improve quality, predictability, and deployment confidence.
A prioritized, business-aligned roadmap for platform modernization that balances technical debt, operational risk, and long-term scalability.
Maintain HIPAA and patient confidentiality.

Benefits

Competitive Pay
Health Plans with FSA or HSA options
Dental
Vision Insurance
Optional Life Insurance
401K with Company Match
12 weeks of parental leave for birthing parent
4 weeks leave for non-birthing parent(s)
Additional Parental benefits to include fertility stipends, free diapers, breast pump
Paid Holidays
PTO Accrual from day one
Employee Assistance Programs