Senior Storage Engineer

Experience Required: 10+ Years Level: Senior / Lead Function: Infrastructure & Cloud Engineering

6+ months contract role.

Need support till 12.30 am mid night - IST

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About the Role

We're looking for a seasoned Senior Storage Engineer who brings deep expertise across enterprise, cloud, and software-defined storage platforms. This person has spent 10+ years navigating the full spectrum of storage technology — from traditional SAN/NAS to modern cloud-native and software-defined solutions — and can lead complex initiatives independently. You'll be a go-to technical authority, driving architecture decisions, evaluating emerging vendors, and helping the organization make smart, well-informed storage investments.

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What You'll Do

Technical Leadership & Project Delivery

- Own and drive storage projects end-to-end — from requirements gathering and design through implementation and handoff — with minimal supervision
- Lead technical discussions, design reviews, and architecture decisions with stakeholders at all levels
- Conduct technology stack comparisons and evaluations — presenting clear, data-driven recommendations on storage platforms, vendors, and architectures
- Define and maintain storage standards, best practices, and runbooks
- Stay current on emerging storage vendors and technologies and bring relevant insights back to the team

Platform Engineering & Operations

- Administer, optimize, and troubleshoot enterprise storage platforms including NetApp ONTAP, Pure Storage FlashArray/FlashBlade, Dell EMC Isilon/PowerScale, VAST Data, and other emerging vendors
- Manage storage provisioning, capacity planning, performance tuning, and lifecycle management across all platforms
- Implement and maintain data protection strategies — snapshots, replication, backup integration, and disaster recovery
- Monitor storage health, respond to incidents, and drive root cause analysis for recurring issues

Cloud Storage Engineering

- Design, deploy, and manage cloud storage solutions on AWS (S3, EFS, EBS, FSx for NetApp ONTAP, FSx for Lustre, Storage Gateway) and Azure (Blob Storage, Azure Files, Azure NetApp Files, Azure Managed Disks, Data Lake Storage)
- Architect hybrid and multi-cloud storage solutions that bridge on-premises infrastructure with cloud platforms
- Optimize cloud storage for cost, performance,



and data lifecycle — including tiering, archival, and intelligent storage policies
- Implement and manage cloud-native data protection, replication, and DR strategies across AWS and Azure

Software-Defined Storage (SDS)

- Hands-on experience with software-defined storage platforms such as Ceph, MinIO, Portworx, Robin.io, Longhorn, Rook, or similar
- Understand SDS deployment models — hyperconverged, disaggregated, container-native — and when to apply each
- Manage object, block, and file storage layers delivered purely through software on commodity or cloud infrastructure
- Integrate SDS solutions with Kubernetes, OpenShift, and containerized application platforms using CSI drivers

Protocols & Integration

- Design and manage storage connectivity across multiple protocols including NFS v3/v4, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, FC/FCoE, NVMe-oF, S3/object, and HDFS
- Collaborate with network, virtualization, and cloud teams to ensure seamless integration across VMware, Kubernetes, and hybrid cloud environments
- Support large-scale data migration initiatives across heterogeneous storage environments

Technology Evaluation & Comparison

- Lead vendor assessments and bake-offs — building structured evaluation frameworks to compare storage platforms across performance, scalability, cost, data services, and operational complexity
- Produce clear technology comparison documents and recommendation reports for leadership and architecture review boards
- Evaluate and track emerging storage vendors (e.g., Hammerspace, WEKA, Lightbits, Elastifile, Qumulo) and assess their fit for current and future workloads
- Benchmark storage solutions and translate results into actionable insights for both technical and business audiences

Collaboration & Communication

- Partner with application, database, DevOps, and cloud teams to understand workload requirements and deliver right-sized storage solutions
- Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical peers and non-technical business stakeholders




- Produce high-quality documentation — solution designs, architecture comparisons, runbooks, capacity reports, and post-incident reviews
- Mentor junior engineers and actively contribute to team knowledge sharing

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What You Bring

Must-Have Experience

- 10+ years of hands-on enterprise storage engineering experience
- Deep expertise across NetApp (ONTAP, SnapMirror, SnapVault), Pure Storage (FlashArray/FlashBlade), Dell EMC Isilon/PowerScale, and VAST Data
- Strong hands-on experience with AWS storage services — S3, EFS, EBS, FSx variants, Storage Gateway
- Strong hands-on experience with Azure storage services — Blob, Azure Files, Azure NetApp Files, Data Lake, Managed Disks
- Solid understanding of software-defined storage platforms and deployment models
- Strong working knowledge of storage protocols: NFS v3/v4, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NVMe-oF, S3/object, HDFS
- Demonstrated ability to compare and evaluate storage technologies — building frameworks, running benchmarks, and presenting recommendations
- Proven track record of independently leading storage projects — migrations, refreshes, new deployments, and cloud transitions
- Experience with capacity planning, performance analysis, and storage optimization at scale

Nice to Have

- Exposure to emerging storage vendors — WEKA, Hammerspace, Lightbits, Qumulo, or similar
- Experience with GCP storage (GCS, Filestore, Persistent Disk)
- Scripting and automation skills — Python, Ansible, Terraform, PowerShell, or REST API integrations for storage orchestration
- Experience with AI/ML storage workloads — high-throughput parallel file systems, GPU-attached storage
- Certifications : NetApp NCSA/NCSE, Pure Storage PSEE, AWS Solutions Architect, Microsoft Azure Administrator, or similar

Soft Skills That Matter

- Self-starter who can drive decisions and move projects forward with minimal direction
- Robust collaboration skills — you work well across teams and know how to build consensus
- Excellent written and verbal communication — you can write a clear design doc, a vendor comparison report, and present it confidently to leadership
- Analytical mindset — you love breaking down complex trade-offs and making a well-reasoned case for your recommendations
- Comfortable navigating ambiguity and balancing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

📌 Senior Storage Engineer (India)
🏢 cmsMinds
📍 India