Associate Director - Data Platform Operations and Administration

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The Associate Director, Database Administration manages and maintains all production and non-production databases. Responsible for standards and design of physical data storage, maintenance, access and security administration. The Associate Director, Database Administration requires a solid understanding of how organization capabilities interrelate across department(s).

The Associate Director will lead the design, reliability, scalability, and operational excellence of Humana's enterprise data platforms across multi cloud and on-prem environments. This role is responsible for ensuring high availability, performance, security, compliance, and cost efficiency for mission-critical data systems supporting analytics, AI/ML, and customer-facing applications.

This leader will partner closely with Application, Data Engineering, Analytics, Product, Security, Finance, and Platform Engineering teams to define and operate standardized, resilient, and automated database platforms across technologies such as SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Snowflake, Databricks, and other modern data services.

In addition, this role will spearhead the application of AI and Generative AI to database operations and data platform reliability-driving predictive insights, automated remediation, intelligent observability, and operational copilots that reduce manual overhead while maintaining strict healthcare compliance (HIPAA, PHI).

Key Responsibilities:

Data Platform Strategy & Operations Leadership

• Define and execute the enterprise database and data platform operations strategy across cloud and on-prem environments.
• Provide senior-level guidance on platform standards, architectural decisions, lifecycle management, and modernization of relational and non-relational databases.
• Establish short-, mid-, and long-term roadmaps for data platform reliability, scalability, automation, and cost optimization.
• Lead the operational maturity model for data platforms, aligned with SRE and platform engineering best practices.

Reliability, Availability & SRE for Data Platforms

• Own 24/7 availability and performance of mission-critical database and analytics platforms.
• Lead escalated incident, problem, and root cause analysis for data platform outages, performance degradation, and data integrity issues (24/7/365).
• Define and improve MTTD / MTTR through proactive monitoring, automation, and AI-assisted diagnostics.
• Establish SLOs, SLIs, and error budgets for database and analytics platforms.

Database Operations & Managed Services

• Lead and govern Managed Service Providers (MSPs) supporting database operations across cloud and on-prem environments.
• Build and maintain L2/L3 SOPs for database operations, backup/recovery, patching, failover, and disaster recovery.
• Oversee change planning, release coordination, and operational readiness for database platform upgrades and migrations.
• Support and guide cloud and on-prem database migrations, including legacy modernization initiatives.

Observability, Monitoring & Automation

• Establish enterprise-grade observability for data platforms, including metrics, logs, traces, query performance, and capacity forecasting.
• Partner with observability teams to implement event correlation, anomaly detection, and intelligent alerting for databases and data pipelines.
• Identify manual operational tasks and drive automation through scripting, APIs, and platform tooling.
• Partner with DevOps and Platform Engineering on CI/CD for database changes, schema management, and infrastructure-as-code.

AI & GenAI for Database and Data Platform Operations

• Lead research, prototyping, and adoption of AI/GenAI to enhance database and data platform operations.
• Design AI-driven capabilities for:
  • Predictive capacity and performance forecasting
  • Automated incident detection and triage
  • Query and workload optimization recommendations
  • Intelligent root cause analysis and log summarization
• Develop AI copilots and natural-language tools to support database engineers and operations teams.
• Integrate LLMs and ML models into observability platforms for real-time insights and self-healing actions.

Security, Compliance & Governance

• Ensure database platforms adhere to security best practices, regulatory requirements, and healthcare compliance standards (HIPAA, PHI).
• Partner with Security and Risk teams to continuously assess vulnerabilities, access controls, encryption, and audit readiness.
• Define governance standards for data access, retention, backup, and recovery across platforms.

Cost Optimization & FinOps for Data Platforms

• Lead cost transparency, optimization, and forecasting for cloud and on-prem database platforms.
• Implement chargeback/showback models for database and analytics consumption.
• Partner with Finance and stakeholders to optimize storage, compute, licensing, and usage patterns.
• Analyze usage, utilization, and growth trends to reduce total cost of ownership.

Reporting, Metrics & Continuous Improvement

• Define and publish operational dashboards and executive-level reporting for data platform health, cost, and performance.
• Analyze operational data to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Drive standardization and platform consistency across teams to improve efficiency and reliability.
• Act as a trusted advisor on data platform capabilities, limitations, and best practices.

AI / GenAI & Advanced Capabilities

• Experience or strong interest in AI/ML or GenAI applications for operational intelligence.
• Familiarity with LLMs, vector databases, predictive analytics, or AI-driven monitoring solutions.

Ability to move rapidly from concept pilot production for AI-enabled operational enhancements.

Use your skills to make an impact

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree
• 10+ years of experience in database, data platform, or infrastructure engineering/operations, with 5+ years in a senior leadership role.
• Deep hands-on experience with enterprise database and analytics platforms, such as:
  • SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL
  • MongoDB or other NoSQL platforms
  • Snowflake, Databricks, or similar analytics platforms
• Strong understanding of SRE, ITIL/ITSM, and operational best practices for data platforms.
• Proven experience operating 24/7, high-availability, mission-critical systems.
• Experience applying automation and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible, scripting).
• Advanced understanding of observability for data platforms (performance, capacity, query analysis).
• Strong analytical, reporting, and stakeholder communication skills.
• Experience integrating new technologies with existing technologies
• Experience implementing technologies with enterprise-wide impact
• Must be passionate about contributing to an organization focused on continuously improving consumer experiences

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with Agile methodologies
• Healthcare industry experience
• Cloud certifications (Azure, AWS, Google Cloud Platform) and/or database platform certifications
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines for database and analytics platforms
• ITIL, SRE, or Platform Engineering certifications

Additional Information

Work-At-Home Requirements

• WAH requirements: Must have the ability to provide a high speed DSL or cable modem for a home office. Associates or contractors who live and work from home in the state of California will be provided payment for their internet expense.
• A minimum standard speed for optimal performance of 25x10 (25mpbs download x 10mpbs upload) is required.
• Satellite and Wireless Internet service is NOT allowed for this role.
• A dedicated space lacking ongoing interruptions to protect member PHI / HIPAA information
  
  #LI-Remote

Travel: While this is a remote position, occasional travel to Humana's offices for training or meetings may be required.

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Pay Range
The compensation range below reflects a good faith estimate of starting base pay for full time (40 hours per week) employment at the time of posting. The pay range may be higher or lower based on geographic location and individual pay will vary based on demonstrated job related skills, knowledge, experience, education, certifications, etc.

$142,300 - $195,700 per year

This job is eligible for a bonus incentive plan. This incentive opportunity is based upon company and/or individual performance.

Description of Benefits
Humana, Inc. and its affiliated subsidiaries (collectively, "Humana") offers competitive benefits that support whole-person well-being. Associate benefits are designed to encourage personal wellness and smart healthcare decisions for you and your family while also knowing your life extends outside of work. Among our benefits, Humana provides medical, dental and vision benefits, 401(k) retirement savings plan, time off (including paid time off, company and personal holidays, volunteer time off, paid parental and caregiver leave), short-term and long-term disability, life insurance and many other opportunities.

About us
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) is committed to putting health first - for our teammates, our customers and our company. Through our Humana insurance services and CenterWell healthcare services, we make it easier for the millions of people we serve to achieve their best health - delivering the care and service they need, when they need it. These efforts are leading to a better quality of life for people with Medicare, Medicaid, families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities at large.

Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the policy of Humana not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status. It is also the policy of Humana to take affirmative action, in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and VEVRAA, to employ and to advance in employment individuals with disability or protected veteran status, and to base all employment decisions only on valid job requirements. This policy shall apply to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, upgrading, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, recall, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation and selection for training, including apprenticeship, at all levels of employment.