Incident Manager

Zillow Group; United States; Remote; USD 101,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity awards

Job summary

Zillow Group is seeking an Incident Manager to support the reliability and operational excellence of our production systems. You will coordinate incident response to minimize customer impact and improve system resilience through structured execution and clear communication.

At this level, success hinges on operational execution, communication, and information synthesis—driving incidents to resolution, delivering updates to stakeholders, and contributing to RCA and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in incident management, SRE, or technical operations (or 3 years with a Master's degree)
• Proven experience coordinating responses to production incidents or operational events
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, able to tailor updates for diverse audiences
• Demonstrated sound judgment and prioritization in high-pressure or ambiguous situations
• Familiarity with structured incident management processes (triage, escalation, post-incident review) and RCA practices
• Comfortable collaborating with cross-functional teams (Engineering, Product, Support)
• Plus: Experience with incident management/on-call tooling (e.g., Rootly, PagerDuty, ServiceNow)
• Plus: Exposure to distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, or large-scale applications

Responsibilities

• Lead non-trivial production incidents from detection through mitigation
• Facilitate incident calls, defining clear ownership, priorities, and next steps
• Execute established incident management workflows, runbooks, and escalation paths
• Coordinate cross-functional teams for timely resolution and minimal customer impact
• Maintain accurate, real-time documentation of incident timelines and actions
• Deliver clear and concise updates to all technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ensure stakeholder alignment on status, risks, and next steps
• Document incident summaries and contribute to post-incident reporting
• Proactively escalated risks and communication gaps early
• Support Root Cause Analysis (RCA) by gathering data and documenting contributing factors

Skills

Incident management

SRE

Technical operations

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Root Cause Analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technical field

Tools

PagerDuty

ServiceNow

Rootly

Job description

About the team

Zillow is strengthening how it manages and learns from production incidents, with greater focus on operational discipline, actionable data, improved tooling, and preventing repeat issues. The role sits at the intersection of technology, operations, and communication. You will independently manage small- to mid-scale incidents while supporting senior incident managers during complex, high-severity events. The incident management practice is evolving. You will help improve processes, runbooks, tooling, root-cause analysis, and follow-through—not simply respond to incidents.

About the role

Zillow Group is seeking an Incident Manager (IC) to support the reliability and operational excellence of our production systems. This role coordinates incident response to minimize customer impact and improve system resilience through structured execution and clear communication.

At this level, success in this role is anchored in three core areas - Operational Execution: independently driving incidents to resolution through structured process and sound judgment; Communication: delivering timely, accurate updates to diverse stakeholders; and Information Synthesis: gathering, connecting, and applying data to drive RCA and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

Operational Execution

• Lead non-trivial production incidents from detection through mitigation
• Facilitate incident calls, defining clear ownership, priorities, and next steps
• Execute established incident management workflows, runbooks, and escalation paths
• Coordinate cross-functional teams for timely resolution and minimal customer impact
• Maintain accurate, real-time documentation of incident timelines and actions

Communication

• Deliver clear and concise updates to all technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ensure stakeholder alignment on status, risks, and next steps
• Document incident summaries and contribute to post-incident reporting
• Proactively escalated risks and communication gaps early

Information Synthesis & Continuous Improvement

• Support Root Cause Analysis (RCA) by gathering data and documenting contributing factors
• Identify trends, gaps, and opportunities for improving incident workflows
• Contribute to retrospectives and track follow-up actions to completion
• Apply lessons learned to enhance future incident response

Coordination & Collaboration

• Partner with Engineering, Product, and Support teams during incident response
• Support Senior Incident Managers on high-severity or complex incidents
• Facilitate collaboration and maintain alignment across stakeholders

Operational Excellence

• Maintain a high standard of reliability and responsiveness in on‑call rotations
• Reinforce structured incident management practices
• Contribute to the improvement of runbooks, tooling, and team processes

Scope & Impact

• Owns end-to-end execution of small to mid-scale incidents
• Contributes to larger, high‑severity incidents with guidance
• Influences improvements within team-level processes and workflows
• Builds foundational skills in incident management, communication, and decision‑making

This role has been categorized as a Remote position. “Remote” employees do not have a permanent corporate office workplace and, instead, work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions. In California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington state, and Washington DC the standard base pay range for this role is $106,600.00 - $170,400.00 annually. This base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia the standard base pay range for this role is $101,300.00 - $161,900.00 annually. The base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In addition to a competitive base salary this position is also eligible for equity awards based on factors such as experience, performance and location. Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance and location. Employees in this role will not be paid below the salary threshold for exempt employees in the state where they reside.

Who you are

• 5+ years of experience in incident management, SRE, or technical operations (or 3 years with a Master's degree, or equivalent work experience)
• Proven experience coordinating responses to production incidents or operational events
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, able to tailor updates for diverse audiences
• Demonstrated sound judgment and prioritization in high‑pressure or ambiguous situations
• Familiarity with structured incident management processes (triage, escalation, post‑incident review) and RCA practices
• Comfortable collaborating with cross‑functional teams (Engineering, Product, Support)
• Demonstrates ownership, reliability, and accountability in operational responsibilities
• Plus: Experience with incident management/on‑call tooling (e.g., Rootly, PagerDuty, ServiceNow)
• Plus: Exposure to distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, or large‑scale applications

Get to know us

At Zillow, we’re reimagining how people move—through the real estate market and through their careers. As the most‑visited real estate platform in the U.S., we help people navigate buying, selling, financing and renting with greater ease and confidence. Whether you're working in tech, sales, operations, or design, you’ll be part of a company reshaping an industry and helping more people make home a reality.

How we work is a key part of that transformation. Through Cloud HQ, our strategic approach to distributed work, most employees have the flexibility to work from wherever they’re most productive—enabling us to move fast, stay connected and deliver on our people promise.

Zillow was named one of FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® in 2026, and included on TIME’s America’s Best Companies 2026 list, reflecting our commitment to creating an innovative, inclusive, and engaging culture where employees are empowered to grow.

No matter where you sit in the organization, your work will help drive innovation, support our customers, and move the industry—and your career—forward, together.

Zillow Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact your recruiter directly.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable state and local law.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.