Senior Backup Architect / Engineer

Job Description: Senior Backup Architect / Engineer

Level: 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)

What Success Looks Like (First 12 Months)

Completed current-state assessment of backup environment with documented findings

Delivered formal platform evaluation and recommendation to Senior Leadership

Executed migration plan with zero critical data loss events

Established backup governance framework and SLA reporting dashboard

Documented all runbooks and architecture diagrams for the new environment

Skills Summary

Category Skills

Backup Platforms - Commvault, Cohesity, Veeam, Rubrik, Veritas

Cloud - AWS, Azure, GCP — cloud-native backup services

Storage - SAN, NAS, Object Storage, Snapshots

Documentation - Solution Design, ADRs, Executive Decks, RFPs

Soft Skills - Executive Communication, Stakeholder Management, Leadership