Dev Ops Engineering Manager

Position Summary:

At Ventura Foods we are seeking an experienced DevOps Engineer with a passion for leadership to join our team as a DevOps Engineering Manager. As a DevOps Engineering Manager, you will be responsible for leading and managing a team of DevOps engineers to streamline our software deployment and operations processes. Key responsibilities of the role include directing teams in defining, building, automating, and implementing software engineering best practices, governance, controls and helping teams in remediation. This role will play a key role in defining, documenting and implementing best practices for continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automation to ensure the reliability, scalability, and security of our systems.

The DevOps Engineering Manager will work with the other leaders across the technology organization including BRM, Infrastructure, Applications and Program Management, and technology leadership and Internal Audit in designing security best practices, governance documentation and automated CI/CD security templates.

The ideal candidate will have at least 7 years of experience and a proven track record that combines technical leadership with active participation in development and operational tasks.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Leads and manages the in-house team and possibly external resources in a team of DevOps engineers in designing and building our DevOps practice. 
• Foster a collaborative and innovative environment and ensure alignment with project goals. 
• Design, build and implement secure automation solutions for production environments
• Build and mentor the careers of quality professionals, including building skills in automation. 
• Help the team with priorities and remove roadblocks to make sure releases have sufficient testing coverage.
• Direct the development of the DevOps practice to improve developer experiences for software and data engineers. This includes selection and implementation of source control tools like GitHub etc. along with built-in workflows and integrating advanced tools and technologies. Candidate should have prior hands on experience working with platform teams, especially in the DevOps and Cloud space. 
• Experience with designing and managing DevOps pipelines using GitHub and ADO is preferred.
• Solid understanding of DevOps principles and technologies and experience managing and supporting large scale implementation. 
• Has a deep understanding of Cloud platforms like Azure or AWS, automation tools, and the ability to lead cross-functional teams.
• Oversee the deployment and maintenance of applications across Linux, Windows, and Azure/AWS environments, ensuring operational efficiency.
• Liaise with specialists in Development, Software Security, Audit, data, and other domains. Incorporate the latest advancements from these fields into the DevOps platform. 
• Collaborate with engineering teams to integrate security and reliability into the software development lifecycle, ensuring best practices across all environments.
• Partner with the development team to conduct root cause analysis and implement corrective actions. 
• Lead incident response efforts, including root cause analysis (RCA), and implement post-incident solutions to prevent recurring problems.
• Collaborate with leadership to manage budgets, vendor relationships, compliance tasks, and other strategic responsibilities related to IT operations.
• Automate processes using Bash, Shell, Python, or SQL scripting to minimize manual intervention and increase productivity.
• Monitor systems using tools like Datadog, AWS CloudWatch, Prometheus, Grafana, or similar platforms to proactively identify and resolve issues.
• As a specialist, this role will also be responsible for establishing best practices, cultivating thought leadership, and developing common practices in IT environment build and software deployment related activities.
• Responsible for managing Installation, configuration, automation, performance, monitoring, Capacity planning and Availability Management of various Servers and Databases. An expert in automation skills.
• Monitor license usage and storage space available and recommend upgrades as required.
• Monitor and purchase annual software maintenance for Services software development tools. 
• Continuously monitor metrics and leverage feedback to drive continuous improvement of service practices.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree is required
• 7+ years of experience in environment management, environment build, software release and deployment, with at least 3 years in a leadership role is required
• Strong background with deploying workloads to one of the Cloud AWS or Azure or GCP is required
• In-depth knowledge of DevOps tools and technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Ansible, etc. is required
• Great knowledge in selection and implementation of source control tools like GitHub, etc. is required
• Experience with designing and managing DevOps pipelines using GitHub and ADO is required
• Proven experience in leading DevOps teams and mentoring junior engineers is required
• Deep knowledge of SDLC methodologies (Kanban, Scrum, Iterative Development) is required
• Lead and manage a team of DevOps engineers to support the development and data teams and broader business is required
• Develop and implement DevOps strategies to improve efficiency and productivity is required
• Deploying software using CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, GoCD, Azure Devops etc. is required
• Ability to travel up to 10% is required
• Bachelor's degree emphasis in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering is desired
• Master's degree is highly desired
• Experience in CPG/Foodservice industry preferred
• ERP (i.e. JDE EnterpriseOne, SAP, Oracle, etc.) experience preferred
• Knowledge of integration platforms (i.e. iPass, etc.) desired

Knowledge and Skills:

• Comprehensive knowledge of the systems development life cycle in development and/or support of production systems, conversion activities, testing methodologies, and implementation procedures  
• Experience with monitoring tools like Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana, or similar platforms to ensure system health and performance
• Relevant certifications (e.g., AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, Certified Kubernetes Administrator) are a plus 
• Ability to communicate well and demonstrate business knowledge both verbally and in writing, strong time and work management skills and the ability to resolve critical project issues 
• Strong problem-solving skills with attention to detail
• Manage daily, weekly communication on testing status to internal and external project stakeholders
• Experience in project planning and control with strong planning and organizational skills
• Must work well under pressure, meeting multiple and sometimes conflicting deadlines
• Motivational and dynamic leader, driven individual, strong work ethic 
• Thorough knowledge of and understanding business principles and business processes
• Excellent interpersonal skills at all levels
• Ability to effectively work with the IT management team towards the common goals of the department