Incident Manager

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

Benefits offered by this job

Equity awards

Remote work flexibility

Job summary

Zillow Group is seeking an Incident Manager to support reliability and operational excellence of production systems. You will independently manage incidents, coordinate cross-functional response, and drive post-incident improvements for minimal customer impact.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years in incident management or SRE, strong communication skills, and experience with incident workflows and RCA practices. This is a remote role with equity opportunities and distributed work flexibility.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of incident management, SRE, or technical operations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for diverse audiences.
• Familiarity with structured incident management and RCA practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead non-trivial production incidents from detection to mitigation.
• Facilitate incident calls with clear ownership and next steps.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams for timely resolution.
• Document incident timelines and post-incident reports.
• Support RCA efforts and update runbooks.

Skills

Incident management

SRE

Technical operations

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Tools

PagerDuty

Rootly

ServiceNow

Job description

About the teamZillow is strengthening how it manages and learns from production incidents, with greater focus on operational discipline, actionable data, improved tooling, and preventing repeat issues. This role offers the opportunity to directly improve system reliability and reduce customer impact.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 roleZillow 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.ResponsibilitiesOperational ExecutionLead non-trivial production incidents from detection through mitigationFacilitate incident calls, defining clear ownership, priorities, and next stepsExecute established incident management workflows, runbooks, and escalation pathsCoordinate cross-functional teams for timely resolution and minimal customer impactMaintain accurate, real-time documentation of incident timelines and actionsCommunicationDeliver clear and concise updates to all technical and non-technical stakeholdersEnsure stakeholder alignment on status, risks, and next stepsDocument incident summaries and contribute to post-incident reportingProactively escalate risks and communication gaps earlyInformation Synthesis & Continuous ImprovementSupport Root Cause Analysis (RCA) by gathering data and documenting contributing factorsIdentify trends, gaps, and opportunities for improving incident workflowsContribute to retrospectives and track follow-up actions to completionApply lessons learned to enhance future incident responseCoordination & CollaborationPartner with Engineering, Product, and Support teams during incident responseSupport Senior Incident Managers on high-severity or complex incidentsFacilitate collaboration and maintain alignment across stakeholdersOperational ExcellenceMaintain a high standard of reliability and responsiveness in on-call rotationsReinforce structured incident management practicesContribute to the improvement of runbooks, tooling, and team processesScope & ImpactOwns end-to-end execution of small to mid-scale incidentsContributes to larger, high-severity incidents with guidanceInfluences improvements within team-level processes and workflowsBuilds foundational skills in incident management, communication, and decision-makingThis 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 are5+ 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 eventsExceptional written and verbal communication skills, able to tailor updates for diverse audiencesDemonstrated sound judgment and prioritization in high-pressure or ambiguous situationsFamiliarity with structured incident management processes (triage, escalation, post-incident review) and RCA practicesComfortable collaborating with cross-functional teams (Engineering, Product, Support)Demonstrates ownership, reliability, and accountability in operational responsibilitiesPlus: Experience with incident management/on-call tooling (e.g., Rootly, PagerDuty, ServiceNow)Plus: Exposure to distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, or large-scale applicationsGet to know usAt 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 is honored to be recognized among the best workplaces in the U.S. 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.