Senior Manager - Database Engineering

At Zelis, we Get Stuff Done. So, let’s get to it! A Little About Us Zelis is modernizing the healthcare financial experience across payers, providers, and healthcare consumers. We serve more than 750 payers, including the top five national health plans, regional health plans, TPAs and millions of healthcare providers and consumers across our platform of solutions. Zelis sees across the system to identify, optimize, and solve problems holistically with technology built by healthcare experts – driving real, measurable results for clients. At Zelis, AI is woven into the fabric of how we work. Every associate is expected - and empowered - to partner with AI to challenge the status quo, accelerate innovation, and amplify their impact. This is a place for builders with a growth mindset who act with agility, embrace change, and use modern technology to shape smarter solutions, exceptional experiences, and the future of our industry for our clients, customers, and our culture. A Little About You You bring a unique blend of personality and professional expertise to your work, inspiring others with your passion and dedication. Your career is a testament to your diverse experiences, community involvement, and the valuable lessons you've learned along the way. You are more than just your resume; you are a reflection of your achievements, the knowledge you've gained, and the personal interests that shape who you are. Position Overview As the Senior Manager of Database Engineering at Zelis, you will be responsible for leading the strategy, architecture, engineering, modernization, and operational excellence of all enterprise database platforms across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and on-premises environments. This role has end-to-end operational responsibility and accountability for all databases across the enterprise, including availability, reliability, performance, security, monitoring, incident response, capacity, backup and recovery, disaster recovery, maintenance, upgrades, and lifecycle management. You will lead and manage a distributed team of Database Engineers across both onshore and offshore locations, establishing clear technical ownership, engineering standards, operational practices, performance expectations, and accountability. This role will drive the continued evolution of database engineering from traditional database administration toward a modern, cloud-focused engineering model built on automation, Infrastructure as Code, observability, Git-based engineering practices, and AI-assisted engineering. You will ensure database platforms are secure, reliable, scalable, well-documented, cost-effective, and capable of supporting mission-critical business applications. As the Senior Manager of Database Engineering at Zelis, you will be responsible for leading the strategy, architecture, engineering, modernization, and operational excellence of all enterprise database platforms across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and on-premises environments. This role has end-to-end operational responsibility and accountability for all databases across the enterprise, including availability, reliability, performance, security, monitoring, incident response, capacity, backup and recovery, disaster recovery, maintenance, upgrades, and lifecycle management. You will lead and manage a distributed team of Database Engineers across both onshore and offshore locations, establishing clear technical ownership, engineering standards, operational practices, performance expectations, and accountability. This role will drive the continued evolution of database engineering from traditional database administration toward a modern, cloud-focused engineering model built on automation, Infrastructure as Code, observability, Git-based engineering practices, and AI-assisted engineering. You will ensure database platforms are secure, reliable, scalable, well-documented, cost-effective, and capable of supporting mission-critical business applications. Key Responsibilities: Lead and manage a distributed team of Database Engineers across onshore and offshore locations, establishing clear ownership, accountability, engineering standards, performance expectations, and career development. Own end-to-end operational responsibility for all enterprise databases across on-premises, Microsoft Azure, and AWS environments, ensuring availability, reliability, performance, security, scalability, and operational health. Establish effective 24x7 operational coverage, including monitoring and alerting, incident response, escalation, problem management, performance management, capacity management, maintenance, patching, backup and recovery, and disaster recovery. Define and maintain the enterprise database engineering strategy, architecture, technology standards, operating model, and platform roadmap across Azure, AWS, and on-premises environments. Provide technical leadership and establish engineering standards for Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines, SQL Server on Amazon EC2, and Amazon RDS for SQL Server. Lead database migrations and modernization initiatives from traditional data center environments to Azure and AWS, including workload placement, assessments, architecture, remediation, testing, cutover, validation, and optimization. Develop and maintain database lifecycle management strategies, including SQL Server upgrades, patching, platform currency, end-of-support remediation, and reduction of legacy technology and technical debt. Establish comprehensive database telemetry, observability, monitoring, and alerting using IDERA and cloud-native capabilities, including actionable operational KPIs for availability, performance, capacity, recovery, and platform health. Establish, test, and continuously improve database high availability, disaster recovery, backup, restore, resiliency, and business continuity capabilities. Drive automation and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for database provisioning, configuration, deployment, maintenance, monitoring, and lifecycle management. Establish GitHub-based engineering practices using Git, CI/CD, peer review, version control, VS Code or other modern IDEs, and GitHub Copilot for database scripts, automation, Infrastructure as Code, and engineering assets. Drive the responsible adoption of AI-assisted engineering tools, including ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and GitHub Copilot, to improve automation, troubleshooting, scripting, documentation, code quality, and engineering productivity. Create and maintain comprehensive database engineering documentation and structured document libraries within Confluence, enterprise wikis, or equivalent platforms, including architectures, standards, runbooks, troubleshooting guides, migration procedures, and disaster recovery processes. Partner with application engineering, cloud engineering, architecture, DevOps, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and business teams to ensure database services are standardized, secure, scalable, integrated, and operationally supportable. Drive continuous improvement across database operations and engineering, including reliability, automation, security, cost efficiency, technical debt reduction, vendor management, capacity planning, and modernization. Qualifications: Extensive enterprise database engineering and leadership experience, including demonstrated responsibility for business-critical database platforms and geographically distributed onshore and offshore Database Engineering teams. Deep technical knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server, including architecture, performance, high availability, disaster recovery, security, backup and recovery, upgrades, and lifecycle management. Strong experience with Microsoft Azure and AWS database platforms, including Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines, SQL Server on Amazon EC2, and Amazon RDS for SQL Server. Extensive experience leading database cloud migrations, SQL Server upgrades, modernization initiatives, platform lifecycle management, and remediation of legacy or end-of-support technologies. Strong experience with database telemetry, observability, monitoring and alerting, performance engineering, and tools such as IDERA or comparable enterprise database monitoring platforms. Experience with modern engineering practices and tooling, including Infrastructure as Code, automation, Git, GitHub, CI/CD, VS Code or other IDEs, Confluence or enterprise wikis, and AI-assisted engineering tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and GitHub Copilot. Has a Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related technical discipline with 15+ years of relevant professional experience, or a PhD/MD with 10+ years of relevant professional experience. Please note at this time we are unable to proceed with candidates who require visa sponsorship now or in the future. Location and Workplace Flexibility Zelis is headquartered in the U.S., with multiple locations across the country and in Hyderabad, India. Check out our locations to learn more about our offices. All employee work locations are based on the needs of the position and are determined by the Leadership team. In-office work and activities vary based on work and team objectives in accordance with Company policies. While location expectations vary by role, candidates within approximately 50 miles of a U.S. office are generally preferred to support collaboration when needed. Our hybrid approach is flexible, and in-office presence is guided by team and business needs rather than a fixed weekly schedule. Base Salary Range $139,000.00 - $176,700.00 At Zelis we are committed to providing fair and equitable compensation packages. The base salary range allows us to make an offer that considers multiple individualized factors, including experience, education, qualifications, as well as job-related and industry-related knowledge and skills, etc. Base pay is just one part of our Total Rewards package, which may also include discretionary bonus plans, commissions, or other incentives depending on the role. Zelis’ full-time associates are eligible for a highly competitive benefits package as well, which demonstrates our commitment to our employees’ health, well-being, and financial protection. The US-based benefits include a 401k plan with employer match, flexible paid time off, holidays, parental leaves, life and disability insurance, and health benefits including medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage. Equal Employment Opportunity Zelis is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications for the role. We believe in the value of diverse perspectives and experiences and are committed to building an inclusive workplace for all. Accessibility Support We are dedicated to ensuring our application process is accessible to all candidates. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require a reasonable accommodation with any part of the application and/or interview process, please email TalentAcquisition@zelis.com . Disclaimer The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities, duties, and skills from time to time.