Senior Backup Architect / Engineer
Senior Individual Contributor / Architect
Function: IT Infrastructure — Cloud & Data Center
Experience: 10+ Years
About the Role
We are looking for a seasoned Senior Backup Architect / Engineer to lead the design, evaluation, and migration of enterprise backup and data protection solutions. This role is critical to ensuring the resilience and recoverability of our infrastructure across on-premises and cloud environments. The ideal candidate brings deep hands-on expertise with leading backup platforms, a structured approach to requirements gathering, and the executive presence to present formal recommendations to Senior Leadership.
Key Responsibilities
Architecture & Design
- Architect, design, and implement enterprise-scale backup and data protection solutions across hybrid and multi-cloud environments
- Define backup policies, retention schedules, RPO/RTO targets, and data lifecycle management strategies
- Evaluate and recommend backup platforms (Commvault, Cohesity, Veeam, Rubrik, Zerto, etc.) based on business and technical requirements
- Design solutions aligned with disaster recovery, business continuity, and compliance frameworks
Migration & Evaluation
- Lead end-to-end backup platform migrations — from discovery and assessment through cutover and validation
- Conduct thorough evaluations of existing backup environments, identifying gaps, risks, and optimization opportunities
- Develop and execute migration runbooks, test plans, and rollback procedures
- Capture and document functional and non-functional requirements from application, infrastructure, and business stakeholders
Documentation & Stakeholder Communication
- Produce formal documentation including Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), solution design documents, migration plans, and executive summary decks
- Present findings, recommendations, and migration status to Senior Leadership and IT steering committees
- Create RFP/RFI materials for vendor selection and lead proof-of-concept (PoC) evaluations
- Maintain operational runbooks, SOPs, and knowledge base articles for backup operations
Operations & Governance
- Establish and enforce backup standards, governance policies, and compliance controls (SOX, HIPAA, ISO 27001 as applicable)
- Monitor backup success rates, capacity trends, and SLA adherence; drive continuous improvement
- Collaborate with Security, Cloud, and Application teams to ensure data protection coverage across all critical workloads
- Mentor junior engineers and provide technical leadership within the infrastructure team
Required Qualifications
- 10+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise backup and data protection engineering
- Deep expertise with two or more of the following platforms:
- Commvault (IntelliSnap, Command Center)
- Cohesity DataProtect / DataSphere
- Veeam Backup & Replication
- Rubrik Security Cloud
- Zerto / Dell EMC NetWorker / Veritas NetBackup
- Proven experience leading backup platform migrations at enterprise scale
- Strong background in requirements gathering, gap analysis, and formal solution documentation
- Experience presenting technical strategies and business cases to Director / VP / C-Suite audiences
- Solid understanding of cloud backup in AWS, Azure, or GCP (S3, Azure Blob, Glacier, etc.)
- Familiarity with storage technologies: SAN, NAS, object storage, snapshots, and replication
- Understanding of disaster recovery frameworks, RTO/RPO design, and DR testing methodologies
Preferred Qualifications
- Certifications: Commvault Certified Professional, Cohesity Certified, Veeam VMCE, AWS/Azure Solutions Architect
- Experience with immutable backups, ransomware protection, and air-gapped architectures
- Exposure to Kubernetes/container data protection (Kasten by Veeam, Cohesity Helios)
- Familiarity with ITIL practices and change management processes
- Experience in regulated industries (healthcare, finance, life sciences)
Benefits:
Work Location: In person
