Vice President, Infrastructure Engineering

The Vice President, Infrastructure & Engineering provides executive leadership for the strategy, design, delivery, operation, and continuous improvement of enterprise infrastructure and technology operations. The role leads infrastructure engineering, platform engineering, cloud operations, digital workplace services, service management and design, production and support operations, and technology operations with an end-to-end systems perspective. This leader establishes multi-year priorities, service-level objectives, operating standards, and investment roadmaps that advance reliability, security, operational resilience, automation, scalability, cost effectiveness, and the employee and developer experience while aligning infrastructure decisions to enterprise business risk and value.

This role will require you to be onsite at least 3 days per week.

Behind the smile! We are dedicated to safeguarding the health and financial stability of our employees and their loved ones. This commitment extends beyond the workplace to foster personal growth and holistic wellbeing. Our life-changing rewards package includes:

• Competitive base and incentive pay
• 401(k) with robust matching and non-matching contributions
• Rich medical & pharmacy benefits
• 100% employer-paid dental and vision benefits
• Holistic wellbeing program with deep financial incentives
• Generous paid time off plus 12 paid holidays and your birthday off
• Culture of growth and learning: career development; tuition reimbursement; recognition program
• Family support: adoption assistance, fertility treatment, child, elder & pet care assistance
• Social responsibility and volunteer opportunities
• Employee discount program

Fair Chance Ordinances and Criminal Background Considerations

This position requires that the applicant undergo a background check. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with any applicable federal, state or local laws, including, but not limited to, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and/or New York Corrections Law Article 23-A.

Important Work Authorization Information

Please note, Delta Dental will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.

#LI-Hybrid

• Bachelor''s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Business, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience. Master''s degree in a related field is preferred.
• 16+ years of progressively responsible technology experience, including 10+ years of supervisory or senior leadership experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex enterprise infrastructure, engineering, cloud, platform, or technology operations functions.
• Executive-level knowledge of enterprise infrastructure and technology operations strategy, architecture, engineering, service delivery, and modernization, with the systems thinking to understand dependencies across networks, cloud, security, platforms, applications, and workplace services.
• Demonstrated reliability and operational-excellence discipline, including SLOs and SLAs, observability, incident and problem management, blameless postmortems, service improvement, and calm, transparent leadership during high-severity events.
• Expertise in operational resilience, disaster recovery, business continuity, capacity and scalability planning, change and release management, risk-based controls, and balancing stability with the pace of delivery.
• Knowledge of cloud platforms, platform engineering, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, container technologies, automation and orchestration, self-service capabilities, and approaches that reduce manual toil and improve consistency.
• Strong financial acumen and cost discipline, including portfolio and budget planning, cloud and infrastructure cost governance, licensing and capacity optimization, vendor and contract management, material escalation, and build-versus-buy analysis.
• Ability to embed security and applicable compliance considerations into infrastructure strategy, architecture, engineering, change, and operational practices in partnership with risk and control stakeholders.
• Ability to communicate a compelling technology vision, frame infrastructure investment in terms of business risk and value, set enterprise priorities, influence decisions without direct authority, and align stakeholders across technology and business functions.
• Ability to build leadership capability, mentor technical talent, sustain resilient on-call teams, create accountability and psychological safety, and foster an inclusive, collaborative culture of learning and continuous improvement.
• Discipline in operational documentation and knowledge management, including usable runbooks, architecture diagrams, change records, service ownership information, and practices that reduce dependency on individual knowledge.
• Sound judgment in ambiguous, high-impact situations and the ability to evaluate trade-offs among reliability, security, speed, cost, scalability, compliance considerations, customer needs, and business outcomes.
• Relevant cloud, infrastructure, service management, security, continuity, or program leadership certifications are preferred and nice to have.

Base Pay Information

The national base pay range at the end is a good-faith estimate of what Delta Dental may pay for new hires. Actual pay may vary based on Delta Dental's assessment of the candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), related experience, education, certifications and ability to meet required minimum job qualifications. Other factors impacting pay include prevailing wages in the work location and internal equity.

Pay Grade 27. $211,393 - $338,249

• Establish and execute the enterprise infrastructure and engineering strategy, operating model, roadmaps, standards, capacity plans, and investment priorities in alignment with business growth, risk tolerance, and technology objectives.
• Provide executive leadership across infrastructure engineering, platform engineering, cloud operations, digital workplace services, service management and design, production and support operations, and technology operations, applying end-to-end systems thinking across infrastructure, network, security, application, and cloud dependencies.
• Own operational excellence for critical services by establishing meaningful SLOs, SLAs, service-performance measures, observability, and incident and problem management practices; lead calmly through high-severity events with clear stakeholder communication, timely escalation, and accountable follow-through.
• Lead the design, delivery, operation, and continuous improvement of secure, resilient, and scalable enterprise infrastructure, infrastructure applications, next-generation platforms, and production support capabilities; embed security and applicable control requirements into architecture, engineering, and operating decisions.
• Drive infrastructure modernization through cloud and container platforms, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, automation and orchestration, self-service and self-healing capabilities, tooling consolidation, and reduction of manual operational toil to improve consistency, speed, and developer experience.
• Oversee enterprise disaster recovery and technology continuity capabilities, including critical-service prioritization, recovery objectives, architecture, documentation, and recurring tests and exercises that identify gaps and drive measurable improvement.
• Establish governance for capacity, asset and lifecycle management, service performance, change and release management, vendor risk, operational controls, runbooks, architecture documentation, change records, and knowledge management; balance the pace of change with reliability and stability.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Application Delivery, Cyber Risk Management, Data and Analytics, Product, Procurement, Finance, and business leaders to align cross-stack decisions, standards, investments, build-versus-buy choices, delivery priorities, and risk acceptance where authority is shared.
• Lead financial and resource stewardship for the function, including portfolio prioritization, budget planning, cloud and infrastructure cost governance, capacity and licensing optimization, vendor strategy, contract performance, and material vendor escalations, without compromising required reliability or security.
• Build a high-performing and resilient leadership organization through workforce and succession planning, talent development, sustainable on-call practices, performance accountability, psychological safety, and a blameless postmortem culture that converts failures into shared learning and durable corrective action.
• Communicate infrastructure strategy, priorities, risks, service performance, incident impacts, trade-offs, and investment needs to executive stakeholders and governance forums, framing recommendations in terms of business continuity, customer and employee outcomes, risk reduction, and enterprise value while monitoring relevant market and technology trends.

Leadership Scope and Decision Authority

• Executive leadership of multiple infrastructure and operations disciplines through director-level leaders, including accountability for reliable service delivery, operational resilience, leadership capability, and sustainable operating practices.

• Accountability for translating enterprise technology strategy and anticipated business demand into an executable infrastructure roadmap, operating priorities, service-level commitments, capacity plans, and investment recommendations.

• Authority to recommend and prioritize investments, allocate resources within approved plans, establish functional standards and controls, direct major-incident response, govern vendor performance and escalation, and escalate material operational and technology risks.

• Enterprise influence across technology domains and business functions, including layers outside the role's direct ownership, where infrastructure platforms, applications, networks, cloud services, security, continuity, cost, and delivery outcomes are interdependent.

• Executive judgment in ambiguous and high-impact situations, balancing reliability, security, speed, cost, compliance considerations, customer needs, and business value through transparent, cross-functional decision-making.

• Establish and execute the enterprise infrastructure and engineering strategy, operating model, roadmaps, standards, capacity plans, and investment priorities in alignment with business growth, risk tolerance, and technology objectives.

• Provide executive leadership across infrastructure engineering, platform engineering, cloud operations, digital workplace services, service management and design, production and support operations, and technology operations, applying end-to-end systems thinking across infrastructure, network, security, application, and cloud dependencies.

• Own operational excellence for critical services by establishing meaningful SLOs, SLAs, service-performance measures, observability, and incident and problem management practices; lead calmly through high-severity events with clear stakeholder communication, timely escalation, and accountable follow-through.

• Lead the design, delivery, operation, and continuous improvement of secure, resilient, and scalable enterprise infrastructure, infrastructure applications, next-generation platforms, and production support capabilities; embed security and applicable control requirements into architecture, engineering, and operating decisions.

• Drive infrastructure modernization through cloud and container platforms, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, automation and orchestration, self-service and self-healing capabilities, tooling consolidation, and reduction of manual operational toil to improve consistency, speed, and developer experience.

• Oversee enterprise disaster recovery and technology continuity capabilities, including critical-service prioritization, recovery objectives, architecture, documentation, and recurring tests and exercises that identify gaps and drive measurable improvement.

• Establish governance for capacity, asset and lifecycle management, service performance, change and release management, vendor risk, operational controls, runbooks, architecture documentation, change records, and knowledge management; balance the pace of change with reliability and stability.

• Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Application Delivery, Cyber Risk Management, Data and Analytics, Product, Procurement, Finance, and business leaders to align cross-stack decisions, standards, investments, build-versus-buy choices, delivery priorities, and risk acceptance where authority is shared.

• Lead financial and resource stewardship for the function, including portfolio prioritization, budget planning, cloud and infrastructure cost governance, capacity and licensing optimization, vendor strategy, contract performance, and material vendor escalations, without compromising required reliability or security.

• Build a high-performing and resilient leadership organization through workforce and succession planning, talent development, sustainable on-call practices, performance accountability, psychological safety, and a blameless postmortem culture that converts failures into shared learning and durable corrective action.

• Communicate infrastructure strategy, priorities, risks, service performance, incident impacts, trade-offs, and investment needs to executive stakeholders and governance forums, framing recommendations in terms of business continuity, customer and employee outcomes, risk reduction, and enterprise value while monitoring relevant market and technology trends.

Leadership Scope and Decision Authority

• Executive leadership of multiple infrastructure and operations disciplines through director-level leaders, including accountability for reliable service delivery, operational resilience, leadership capability, and sustainable operating practices.
• Accountability for translating enterprise technology strategy and anticipated business demand into an executable infrastructure roadmap, operating priorities, service-level commitments, capacity plans, and investment recommendations.
• Authority to recommend and prioritize investments, allocate resources within approved plans, establish functional standards and controls, direct major-incident response, govern vendor performance and escalation, and escalate material operational and technology risks.
• Enterprise influence across technology domains and business functions, including layers outside the role's direct ownership, where infrastructure platforms, applications, networks, cloud services, security, continuity, cost, and delivery outcomes are interdependent.
• Executive judgment in ambiguous and high-impact situations, balancing reliability, security, speed, cost, compliance considerations, customer needs, and business value through transparent, cross-functional decision-making.