Database Engineering Manager

About the Role

The Walt Disney Company is seeking a dynamic and experienced Manager, Database Reliability Engineering (DBRE) to lead its central Database Systems Engineering team. This high-impact leadership role supports critical data services and platforms across Disney Enterprise Technologies, corporate development teams, and internal customers.

You will be responsible for shaping the vision, strategy, and execution of database infrastructure across on-premise, cloud, and hybrid environments. The role demands technical depth, strategic thinking, and strong leadership capabilities to drive operational excellence and innovation across Disney’s global data ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing DBRE team managing complex systems, infrastructure, and applications.
• Define and communicate the team’s vision and mission, fostering a culture of ownership, reliability, and technical excellence.
• Architect and oversee database infrastructure across on-premise, cloud (AWS, Azure), and hybrid environments.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging database technologies, tools, and automation platforms.
• Design and review solutions for backups, high availability (HA), disaster recovery (DR), and performance optimization.
• Lead capacity planning, performance tuning, and proactive issue resolution.
• Collaborate with application engineering, cloud DevOps, and security teams to deliver scalable and secure solutions.
• Ensure compliance with operational standards, security policies, and industry best practices.
• Provide technical analysis, effort and cost estimation, and system design recommendations.
• Coordinate project schedules, resources, and delivery milestones for database upgrades and implementations.
• Represent the DBRE function in executive and technical forums, delivering stakeholder presentations.
• Manage change communication, team budgets, and promote continuous improvement across the organization.

Basic Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands-on experience with major database platforms including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MongoDB, Cassandra, and Snowflake.
• Proven experience managing production databases in both on-premise and cloud environments (AWS RDS, Azure Managed DBs).
• Demonstrated success in leading and developing technical teams in fast-paced, matrixed environments.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including experience presenting to executive audiences.
• Proficiency in programming and scripting languages such as Python, Go, Java, C++, or Ruby.
• Experience with configuration management and automation tools (Ansible, Chef, Puppet, SaltStack).
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, AWS CloudFormation).
• Experience working in multi-cloud and hybrid environments, with a solid understanding of web application infrastructure.
• Proven ability to manage and optimize team budgets and resources.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with additional DBMS platforms such as Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2.
• Knowledge of Linux and Windows server environments.
• Familiarity with container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, or equivalent professional experience.

Why Join Us?

At Disney, we believe in the power of storytelling, innovation, and technology. As part of our Enterprise Technology team, you’ll help build and maintain the data infrastructure that supports our iconic brands and global operations. We offer a collaborative work environment, opportunities for growth, and a culture that celebrates diversity and creativity.