5-7 years of experience in data engineering or related field
Deep expertise in Google Cloud Platform, BigQuery, and Dataplex
Hands-on experience with dbt and Fivetran administration
Experience with Tableau or similar BI platforms
Proven track record of technical leadership and mentoring
Responsibilities
Lead and develop the Data Platform Engineering team, starting with one direct report
Set clear goals and manage performance for team members
Establish architecture standards and technical roadmap for the data tech stack
Make strategic decisions on build-vs-buy and platform patterns
Administer and configure Fivetran, BigQuery, Dataplex, dbt, and Tableau
Ensure team meets reliability, cost, and governance commitments
Represent the Data Platform Engineering team in cross-functional planning
Benefits
Opportunity to shape the technical direction of a growing team
Hands-on involvement in cutting-edge data technologies
Support for professional development and career growth
Collaborative work environment with cross-functional teams
Potential for team expansion and leadership opportunities
Full Job Description
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.
Data tech stack administration & configuration
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
Technical depth
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.
Leadership 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.
About SolarWinds
SolarWinds Corporation provides IT infrastructure management software products. The Company offers products that are designed to monitor and manage the performance of servers, networks, databases, applications, and storage from a single web-based dashboard. SolarWinds serves customers worldwide. SolarWinds Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
