Senior Engineering Manager

About the teamThe Database Platform Engineering team is a core pillar of Platform Engineering at Zillow. The team builds and operates the data foundations that power critical customer-facing and internal workloads. We’re evolving from a reactive model into a modern platform engineering practice that delivers self-service, standardized “paved roads”, and automation-first capabilities for both relational and NoSQL data stores.
Our customers are product delivery teams across Zillow - we reduce their cognitive load while improving reliability, security, cost efficiency, and overall time-to-market. The team also partners closely with analytics, AI, security, and product engineering to embed guardrails and make the “right way” the easiest way.

About the role

We’re looking for a software-first leader to evolve the function to a modern database platform engineering team that delivers self-service, automation-first capabilities at scale. 

• You’ll set the technical strategy and operating model, grow engineering talent, and partner with product engineering, analytics, AI, and security to create reliable “paved roads” for relational and NoSQL workloads. 

• You’ll get a chance to develop a team into a high-leverage engineering organization that ships tools, APIs, and golden paths that developers trust. 

• Using product mindset and customer-centricity, you’ll drive measurable improvements in developer experience, reliability, security, and cost efficiency while reducing manual work and handoffs through modern tooling and AI-assisted workflows.

• You’ll attract and develop engineering talent, raise the bar on modern AI-assisted SDLC practices, and create durable partnerships across the Product and Engineering organization. 

If you’ve led a similar shift before, and love turning manual, reactive work into scalable systems, this role is for you.

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 $206,700.00 - $330,300.00 annually. This base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont the standard base pay range for this role is $196,400.00 - $313,800.00 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

• You’re a software-first leader with 5+ years of people leadership experience who has modernized data infrastructure teams from reactive operations to proactive platform engineering.

• You have a strong background in data infrastructure and/or data platforms, with solid understanding of RDBMS, NoSQL, and analytics ecosystems and think in terms of customers and adoption: you want data store capabilities to be easy to discover, easy to use, and hard to misuse.

• You bring public cloud experience (AWS and/or GCP) and a bias toward automation, APIs, and infrastructure-as-code (IaC) and familiarity with modern engineering stacks (Python/Golang)

• You’re excited to use AI tools to increase leverage by reducing manual work, cross-team handoffs, improving diagnostics, and accelerating delivery.

• A high sense of ownership, a low ego, a can-do attitude, and a sense of curiosity that is reflected in growing skills on a continual basis.

• Passionate about career development and multiplying the impact of your team members, providing mentoring and coaching to individual contributors.

• Ability to seamlessly adapt your communication style to the audience ranging from individual contributors on your team to senior leaders and executives.

• Strong commitment to operational excellence, constantly striving to uncover the underlying causes of problems, using data to guide your decision-making, and fostering a culture of ongoing improvement within your team.

• Energized by problem solving, collaboration, and technical challenges - willing to roll up your sleeves and dive into the details to ensure a thorough understanding of the work at hand.

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 customers 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 that's reshaping an industry and helping more people make home a reality.

Zillow is honored to be recognized among the best workplaces in the country. Zillow was named one of FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® in 2025, and included on the PEOPLE Companies That Care® 2025 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.