Senior Backup & Recovery Architect

About the role

This role focuses on delivering comprehensive backup and recovery solutions for enterprise clients. The architect will serve as a principal technical advisor, engaging with client leadership to articulate the business value and risk implications of data resiliency strategies. This involves leading workshops, discovery sessions, and strategic roadmap discussions to build trusted, long-term relationships.

A core responsibility is the design and development of enterprise-grade backup and recovery architectures across diverse environments, including on-premises, cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP), and hybrid setups. The architect will define Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO), recommend appropriate data protection platforms, and drive architecture decisions for immutable storage and cyber recovery vaulting to counter ransomware threats. This ensures protection for virtual machines, physical servers, databases, and cloud-native workloads.

Beyond strategic design, the role requires hands-on implementation and optimization of enterprise backup platforms such as Cohesity, Rubrik, Commvault, Veeam, and Veritas NetBackup. The architect will execute and validate complex backup jobs, diagnose failures, and develop automation scripts using PowerShell, Bash, or Python to enhance efficiency. Additionally, this position involves developing disaster recovery runbooks, mentoring junior engineers, and establishing best practices for backup operations at scale.

The salary for this full-time remote position ranges from $115,000 to $195,500 USD.

Skills that matter here

• backup: This role requires deep specialization in backup strategies, design, implementation, and optimization across various enterprise platforms and environments.
• recovery: The architect will lead efforts to ensure business continuity through robust recovery capabilities, including defining RTO/RPO and developing DR runbooks.
• data protection: A primary focus is on designing and implementing comprehensive data protection platforms and strategies to safeguard client data against various threats.
• cloud: The role involves designing architectures and implementing solutions for backup and recovery in cloud environments, specifically AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• automation: The architect will develop automation scripts and operational tooling to improve the efficiency and reliability of backup operations.
• scripting: Proficiency in scripting languages like PowerShell, Bash, or Python is essential for developing automation solutions and optimizing processes.

Who this role suits

• A person who thrives on being a principal technical advisor to large enterprise clients, guiding them through complex data resiliency strategies.
• Someone who enjoys both high-level architectural design and hands-on implementation, ensuring solutions are not just theoretical but effectively deployed.
• An individual who is passionate about mentoring others and elevating the technical capabilities of engineering teams through knowledge transfer and best practices.
• A professional adept at translating technical complexities into clear business value for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

From the employer

Key Responsibilities

• Client Engagement & Strategic Advisory
• Serve as the principal technical advisor to large enterprise clients on all matters related to backup, recovery, and data resiliency strategy.
• Lead executive-level workshops, discovery sessions, and strategic roadmap discussions with client CIOs, CTOs, and senior infrastructure leadership.
• Clearly articulate the business value and risk implications of backup and recovery strategies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Build trusted, long-term relationships with client stakeholders.

• Architecture & Technical Leadership
• Design and lead the development of enterprise-grade backup and recovery architectures across on-premises, cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP), and hybrid environments.
• Define and govern Recovery Time Objectives (RTO), Recovery Point Objectives (RPO), and resiliency tiers in alignment with business criticality and compliance requirements.
• Recommend best-fit data protection platforms and technologies based on client scale, complexity, regulatory obligations, and internal corporate standards.
• Drive architecture decisions around immutable storage, air-gapped environments, and cyber recovery vaulting to address ransomware and advanced threat resilience.
• Ensure architectures account for the full workload spectrum: virtual machines, physical servers, enterprise databases, NAS/SAN, cloud-native workloads, and containerized environments.

• Hands-On Implementation & Technical Execution
• Perform direct, hands-on configuration, administration, and optimization of enterprise backup platforms (e.g., Cohesity, Rubrik, Commvault, Veeam, Veritas NetBackup, Dell EMC NetWorker/Avamar, IBM Spectrum Protect).
• Execute and validate complex backup and recovery jobs, diagnose failures, and drive resolution across large-scale environments.
• Develop automation scripts and operational tooling (PowerShell, Bash, Python) to improve efficiency, reporting, and reliability of backup operations.

• Disaster Recovery & Business Resiliency
• Develop comprehensive DR runbooks, playbooks, and tabletop exercise frameworks for critical systems and applications.
• Champion a culture of resiliency helping clients understand the strategic importance of tested, reliable recovery capabilities as a core business function.

• Mentoring & Engineering Enablement
• Serve as a technical mentor and coach to junior, mid-level, and senior backup and infrastructure engineers.
• Conduct knowledge-transfer sessions, technical workshops, and training engagements to uplift engineering capability across teams.
• Establish and document best practices, standards, and frameworks for backup and recovery operations at scale.
• Review designs and configurations produced by engineering teams, providing constructive, expert feedback.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in IT infrastructure with deep specialization in backup, recovery, and data protection.
• 7+ years of hands-on experience with enterprise backup platforms (Cohesity, Commvault, Veeam, Rubrik, Veritas NetBackup, or equivalent).
• Hands-on experience with virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V) and native backup integration.
• Experience protecting enterprise databases (Oracle, SQL Server, SAP HANA, PostgreSQL, MySQL).
• Proficiency with scripting and automation (PowerShell, Bash, Python).
• Strong working knowledge of cloud-native backup and data protection in Azure, AWS, and/or GCP.

Conditions

• Full-time remote position.
• Salary range: $115,000 – $195,500 USD.