Manager Database Reliability Engineer

Why UKG:


At UKG, the work you do matters. The code you ship, the decisions you make, and the care you show a customer all add up to real impact. Today, tens of millions of workers start and end their days with our workforce operating platform. Helping people get paid, grow in their careers, and shape the future of their industries. That's what we do.

We never stop learning. We never stop challenging the norm. We push for better, and we celebrate the wins along the way. Here, you'll get flexibility that's real, benefits you can count on, and a team that succeeds together. Because at UKG, your work matters-and so do you.

About the Team:

We are seeking an experienced DBRE Manager to lead our Database Reliability Engineering team. This role is responsible for ensuring the availability, scalability, performance, and security of critical database systems across multiple platforms and technologies. You will drive operational excellence, lead incident management, and partner closely with engineering, product, and infrastructure teams to deliver highly reliable database services.

About the Role:

• Lead and mentor a team of Database Reliability Engineers supporting multiple database technologies (e.g. SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, NoSQL platforms).
• Own end-to-end database reliability, including uptime, performance, scalability, and disaster recovery.
• Drive proactive monitoring, alerting, and automation to prevent incidents and reduce toil.
• Oversee incident response, root cause analysis (RCA), and post-incident reviews.
• Establish and enforce best practices for database operations, security, backups, and recovery.
• Collaborate with SRE, DevOps, and application teams to improve system resilience and performance.
• Manage database access controls, compliance, and governance standards.
• Lead capacity planning and performance tuning initiatives.
• Champion infrastructure as code (IaC) and automation strategies.
• Track and report key reliability metrics (SLAs, SLOs, SLIs).
• Support cloud migration and modernization efforts (GCP, AWS, Azure).
• Ensure adherence to security and regulatory requirements (SOC2, HIPAA, etc., if applicable).

About You:

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 12+ years of experience in database engineering, SRE, or production operations.
• 5+ years of experience managing or leading technical teams.
• Strong expertise in at least two major database platforms (e.g., SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL ).
• Experience with cloud-based database solutions (GCP Cloud SQL, AWS RDS/Aurora, Azure SQL etc.).
• Proven experience in incident management and production support.
• Strong understanding of high availability, replication, and disaster recovery strategies.
• Experience with monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Datadog, Splunk, Grafana).
• Familiarity with automation tools (Terraform, Ansible, scripting in Python/Shell).
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with large-scale distributed systems and microservices architectures.
• Exposure to NoSQL databases (MongoDB, Cassandra etc.).
• Prior experience in a SaaS or enterprise-scale environment.
• Certifications in cloud platforms or database technologies.
• Leadership Expectations
• Build a culture of reliability, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Drive cross-team collaboration and remove operational bottlenecks.
• Mentor team members and support career growth.
• Balance strategic initiatives with operational excellence.

Company Overview:

UKG is the Workforce Operating Platform that puts workforce understanding to work. With the world's largest collection of workforce insights, and people-first AI, our ability to reveal unseen ways to build trust, amplify productivity, and empower talent, is unmatched. It's this expertise that equips our customers with the intelligence to solve any challenge in any industry - because great organizations know their workforce is their competitive edge. Learn more at ukg.com.

Equal Opportunity Employer


UKG is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, disability, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, and other legally protected categories.

View The EEO Know Your Rights poster


UKG participates in E-Verify. View the E-Verify posters here.


It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.


Disability Accommodation in the Application and Interview Process

For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email View email address on click.appcast.io.


The pay range for this position is $145,600 to $209,300. The actual base pay offered may vary depending on skills, experience, job-related knowledge and work location. In addition to base pay, employees may be eligible to participate in a performance-based bonus plan and to receive restricted stock unit awards as part of total compensation. Learn more about UKG's benefits and rewards at