Datacenter Domain Specialist

Job Summary :

Datacenter Domain Specialist SME is a senior-level expert responsible for the management, optimization, and continuous improvement of all aspects of datacenter operations, including server, storage, backup, infrastructure, and disaster recovery (DR). This role involves overseeing the technical operations of datacenter environments, project management of datacenter initiatives, ensuring compliance with internal and external standards, and managing vendor relationships. The Datacenter Domain Lead will act as a subject matter expert, providing strategic direction, ensuring operational efficiency, and supporting audits and compliance initiatives for datacenter operations.

Areas Of Responsibility :

Datacenter Operations Management:

• Lead day-to-day operations of global datacenters, ensuring all systems are running optimally, including servers, storage, backup, and associated infrastructure.
• Oversee the capacity planning, performance monitoring, and resource allocation to meet current and future business requirements.
• Manage operational procedures for incident response, disaster recovery (DR), and business continuity planning (BCP).
• Ensure that the datacenter environment is reliable, secure, and aligned with business objectives.

Datacenter Infrastructure & Technology Management:

• Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of datacenter systems, ensuring high availability, fault tolerance, scalability, and security.
• Oversee and manage technologies such as servers (physical and virtual), storage systems (SAN, NAS, DAS), networking, and backup systems, including cloud and hybrid environments.
• Continuously assess, optimize, and manage the lifecycle of IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, and firmware updates/upgrades.
• Develop and enforce best practices for server management, virtualization, and storage.

Project Management:

• Lead and manage large-scale datacenter projects, such as infrastructure upgrades, migration initiatives, and cloud adoption strategies, from inception to completion.
• Develop project plans, budgets, timelines, and resource allocation, ensuring that projects are delivered on time, within scope, and on budget.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment on project deliverables, risk management, and change control processes.
• Ensure the timely and accurate reporting of project status, issues, and risks to stakeholders.

Backup and Disaster Recovery Management:

• Oversee the design, implementation, and testing of backup and disaster recovery strategies, ensuring that recovery objectives (RPO/RTO) are met.
• Design and implement efficient, scalable backup and recovery solutions for enterprise data, ensuring business continuity and disaster recovery (DR).
• Create and enforce backup strategies to ensure timely, accurate backups of critical systems, applications, and data.
• Develop and manage backup schedules and strategies for on-premise, cloud, and hybrid environments.
• Manage the regular testing and documentation of disaster recovery plans to ensure preparedness for unplanned outages.
• Maintain comprehensive documentation of backup and recovery procedures, configurations, and policies.
• Produce regular backup performance reports and recommend improvements to senior management.
• Create and maintain internal documentation for DR testing, incident responses, and compliance audits.
• Work with internal teams and vendors to develop, refine, and execute incident response and business continuity strategies.
• Regularly assess the storage capacity and performance of backup systems, ensuring scalability as data volumes grow.
• Perform regular optimization of backup processes to reduce backup windows, improve efficiency, and enhance overall backup performance.
• Keep up to date with new releases and patches for backup software to ensure the environment is secure and up to date.

Compliance & Audit:

• Ensure compliance with regulatory, industry, and company-specific standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOX, ISO 27001).
• Assist in preparing for and supporting internal and external audits, ensuring that the datacenter environment adheres to required compliance standards.
• Review and ensure that all datacenter operations meet security, risk, and privacy requirements, including data encryption, access controls, and disaster recovery protocols.
• Act as a key point of contact during audits, liaising with auditors and business units to ensure that evidence is provided and that audit recommendations are acted upon.

Vendor Management:

• Lead vendor selection, contract negotiation, and performance management for datacenter-related services, including hardware procurement, storage, backup, and cloud service providers.
• Maintain strong relationships with third-party vendors, ensuring they meet service level agreements (SLAs), resolve issues promptly, and deliver according to agreed timelines.
• Oversee vendor risk assessments and work closely with procurement and legal teams to ensure compliance with corporate policies.
• Manage vendor escalations and dispute resolution, ensuring minimal disruption to operations.

Strategic Planning and Budget Management:

• Lead the budgeting process for datacenter operations, ensuring cost-efficient resource allocation and capital expenditures.
• Provide strategic insights and recommendations for optimizing data center operations, enhancing efficiency, and reducing costs.
• Ensure that the datacenter infrastructure is aligned with business objectives and future scalability needs.
• Collaborate with finance, procurement, and senior leadership to align on budgeting, financial planning, and cost-saving initiatives.

Process and Procedure Development:

• Develop, document, and enforce operational processes and procedures for all aspects of datacenter management (e.g., change management, incident management, patch management).
• Standardize best practices for datacenter operations, including system configuration, deployment, monitoring, and maintenance.
• Drive continuous process improvement, leveraging automation and tools to streamline operations, enhance productivity, and reduce manual intervention.

Team Leadership and Collaboration:

• Lead a team of IT professionals responsible for datacenter management, including server administrators, storage engineers, and network specialists.
• Foster a collaborative and high-performance work culture, mentoring team members and ensuring skills development through training programs and certifications.
• Work with internal teams (e.g., IT Security, Cloud, Networking) to ensure alignment and integration of datacenter strategies with overall IT strategies.
• Provide leadership and guidance during major incidents, outages, or DR events, ensuring the teams effective response and recovery.

Continuous Improvement and Innovation:

• Stay up to date on the latest trends in datacenter technologies, storage solutions, backup strategies, and disaster recovery.
• Evaluate new tools, technologies, and solutions to improve datacenter efficiency, performance, and cost-effectiveness.
• Propose and implement innovative solutions to drive operational excellence and scalability.

Educational Qualification:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent work experience).

Specific Certification :

• VMware Certified Professional (VCP), Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE), or Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA).
• ITIL v3 or ITIL 4 certification (Service Management).
• Certified Data Center Professional (CDCP), Certified Data Center Management Professional (CDCMP), or Certified Data Center Expert (CDCE).
• Project Management Professional (PMP), Prince2 or equivalent certifications.
• Either of EMC and NetApp, AND preferred at least one of HP storage, EMC Networker, Symantec NetBackup, CommVault, Cloud backup solution.

Advance Excel, Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint 2013, MS Project, MS Visio

Technical Skills:

• Storage Technologies: Expertise in EMC, NetApp, HP Storage etc.
• Storage Infrastructure Management: Experience in SAN design, LUN masking, zoning, fiber channel switches (Cisco, Dell, HP, Brocade), and storage capacity planning.
• Datacenter & Infrastructure: Strong knowledge of SAN, NAS, server architecture, and network.
• Cloud Solutions: Proficient in AWS, Azure, and hybrid datacenter environments.
• Backup & Disaster Recovery: Expertise in backup technologies (e.g., CommVault, Veeam, NetBackup, Veritas, IBM Tivoli, Cloud Backup Solutions) and disaster recovery solutions.

Project Management & Leadership:

• Solution Architecture: Skilled in designing IT solutions and backup strategies.
• Leadership: Strong leadership and team management skills, including managing cross-functional teams and large-scale projects.
• Certifications: Prince2 Practitioner, PMP Trained, ITIL V3 Certified (Service Operations, Service Transitioning).
• Vendor Management: Expertise in managing vendors, negotiating contracts, and maintaining positive stakeholder relationships.
• Project Planning & Execution: Proficient in budgeting, forecasting, and creating cost models for IT infrastructure.

Experience : 12+