Senior Manager, Data Platform Engineering

SolarWinds; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

SolarWinds is seeking a Senior Manager, Data Platform Engineering to build and lead the enterprise data stack. You will set technical direction, own architecture standards, and coach a small team while staying technically close to the platform.

In this player-coach role, you will balance hands-on leadership with people management, oversee dbt, Fivetran, BigQuery, Dataplex, and Tableau administration, and partner with Data Governance, Security, and BI teams to deliver reliable, scalable data

Qualifications

• Deep, hands-on background in Google Cloud Platform, BigQuery, and Dataplex.
• Hands-on experience administering dbt Cloud and Fivetran.
• Experience administering Tableau or similar BI platform.
• Strong communication and leadership abilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow the Data Platform Engineering team.
• Define architecture standards and roadmap for the stack.
• Stay hands-on to unblock the team while delegating routine work.
• Ensure platform administration and security across the stack.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners (Data Engineering, Governance, Security, BI).
• Represent the pillar in cross-team planning.

Skills

Strong communication

Technical leadership

Hands-on leadership

Tools

BigQuery

Dataplex

dbt Cloud

Fivetran

Tableau

Job description

At SolarWinds, we’re a people-first company. Our purpose is to enrich the lives of the people we serve—including our employees, customers, shareholders, partners, and communities. Join us in our mission to help customers accelerate business transformation with simple, powerful, and secure solutions.

The ideal candidate thrives in an innovative, fast-paced environment and is collaborative, accountable, ready, and empathetic. We’re looking for individuals who believe they can accomplish more as a team and create lasting growth for themselves and others. We hire based on attitude, competency, and commitment. Solarians are ready to advance our world-class solutions in a fast-paced environment and accept the challenge to lead with purpose. If you’re looking to build your career with an exceptional team, you’ve come to the right place. Join SolarWinds and grow with us!

ROLE OVERVIEW

SolarWinds is hiring a Senior Manager, Data Platform Engineering to build and lead the team responsible for administering and configuring the Enterprise Data tech stack - Fivetran, BigQuery, Dataplex, dbt, and Tableau. This person will set technical direction and architecture standards across the platform, and build, coach, and grow the team that executes day to day.

This is a working-manager (player-coach) role, not a pure people-management position: the team is small today, and this person is expected to stay technically close to the platform - setting patterns and making architecture calls, and personally covering tech-stack administration the team hasn't yet grown to cover - while delegating hands-on execution to their report(s) where it exists.
You'll balance hands-on technical leadership with people management - coaching your team, setting goals, and representing the platform in cross-functional planning with adjacent teams.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Team leadership & people management

• Lead, coach, and grow the Data Platform Engineering team - starting with one direct report, with a plan to scale as workload and budget allow.
• Run regular 1:1s, set clear goals, and manage performance and career development for direct report(s).
• Own hiring for the team as it grows, partnering with People and the hiring committee on leveling and comp.

Platform architecture & technical direction

• Own architecture standards and technical roadmap across the Enterprise Data tech stack - Fivetran, BigQuery, Dataplex, dbt, and Tableau.
• Make build-vs-buy and platform-pattern decisions that shape how the team executes day to day.
• Stay hands-on enough to unblock the team on hard technical problems, without personally owning routine operational work.
• Ensure Fivetran, BigQuery, Dataplex, dbt, and Tableau are properly administered and configured - access, environments, and platform settings across the stack.
• Own dbt Cloud platform administration (environments, scheduling, CI/CD, access); model development and transformation logic remain with Data Engineering.
• Own Tableau platform administration (user access, groups, permissions, licensing), scaling this to a dedicated hire as the team grows.
• Set and maintain configuration standards so the stack stays consistent, secure, and auditable as the team scales.

Execution oversight

• Ensure the team's reliability, cost, and governance commitments - across ingestion, BigQuery, Dataplex/PII access, dbt, and Tableau - are being met.
• Review and prioritise the team's operational backlog against the platform roadmap.

Cross-functional partnership

• Represent the Data Platform Engineering pillar in planning with Data Engineering, Data Governance, Cloud Security, and Business Intelligence.
• Negotiate priorities and dependencies with adjacent teams on the team's behalf, rather than leaving individual engineers to manage those relationships alone.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• Deep, hands-on background in Google Cloud Platform, BigQuery, and Dataplex - enough to retain technical credibility and keep setting standards for the team.
• Hands-on experience administering and configuring dbt (or a comparable transformation platform) and Fivetran (or a comparable ELT tool).
• Experience administering Tableau or a comparable BI platform - permissions, licensing, and platform configuration.
• Track record of technical leadership - driving standards, mentoring engineers, or leading initiatives - even without formal management experience.
• Experience or demonstrated readiness to lead a technical team - formal people-management experience is helpful but not required.
• Demonstrated ability to balance architecture/strategic work with hands-on operational realities.
• Strong communication skills - able to represent the team's priorities and trade-offs to peers and senior leadership.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE

• Prior experience leading or mentoring a technical team, even informally (tech lead, staff-level mentorship, project leadership).
• Experience scaling a team from one or two people to a larger group.

SolarWinds is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. SolarWinds will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

All applications are treated in accordance with the SolarWinds Privacy Notice: https://www.solarwinds.com/applicant-privacy-notice