Sr. Storage Administrator

Job Description

Position Summary:

The Senior Storage Administrator is responsible for the reliable day-to-day operation, maintenance, and optimization of enterprise storage services across on-premises and cloud environments. The role ensures that storage platforms operate securely, efficiently, and in compliance with university standards and regulatory requirements. The Senior Storage Administrator implements established service patterns, maintains configuration baselines, performs advanced troubleshooting, and drives continuous improvement in operational processes. They provide mentorship to colleagues and coordinate with infrastructure, security, networking, and application teams to support academic, research, and administrative workloads.

About the Work Unit:

Vanderbilt University Information Technology is a human-centric organization that advances our university by delivering innovative solutions and frictionless experiences through collaboration.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:

Storage Operations & Platform Stewardship

• Manage daily operations of SAN, NAS, and cloud-based storage platforms, including provisioning, access management, zoning/masking, performance tuning, and lifecycle tasks.
• Maintain and apply operational configuration standards, runbooks, and procedure updates to ensure consistency and reliability.
• Perform routine system health checks; validate firmware and code levels; coordinate maintenance windows and system updates.
• Maintain accurate asset inventories, logical/physical mappings, and storage utilization records.

Reliability, Monitoring & Incident Management

• Monitor storage health and performance using established tools and escalation thresholds.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for complex storage incidents; lead root cause investigations within defined architecture.
• Implement corrective and preventive actions to reduce repeat incidents and improve service stability.
• Contribute to operational resilience by participating in disaster recovery testing, failover exercises, and backup validation.

Data Protection, Security & Compliance

• Execute and improve data protection processes, including snapshots, replication, and backup/restore operations aligned with RPO/RTO requirements.
• Apply and monitor security controls for storage platforms, such as access permissions, encryption policies, key management practices, and audit logs.
• Ensure compliance with applicable university policies, data classifications, and regulatory frameworks (e.g., FERPA, HIPAA when applicable).
• Assist with evidence collection for audits and security assessments.

Service Support, Collaboration & Documentation

• Provide advanced operational support to application, research computing, virtualization, and database teams for user provisioning, performance investigations, and capacity needs.
• Develop, maintain, and enhance operational documentation, SOPs, and service knowledge articles.
• Mentor junior staff, providing guidance on operational processes, troubleshooting techniques, and best practices.
• Contribute operational insights during planning or change discussions led by engineering, architecture, or leadership teams.

Capacity Management, Reporting & Vendor Coordination

• Track capacity consumption, performance trends, and system utilization to anticipate operational needs and support planning discussions.
• Generate operational reports on utilization, performance, availability, and compliance.
• Coordinate with vendors for support cases, RMA processes, code/firmware guidance, and troubleshooting assistance.
• Participate in hardware lifecycle tasks, including migrations and decommissioning following established engineering designs.

Working Conditions and Operational Requirements:

Hybrid Work Arrangement:

This position is eligible for a hybrid work schedule, combining on-campus and remote work. Employees are expected to be on site at least one day per week and for activities that require in-person presence, such as team collaboration, service delivery, or campus events. Specific on-site expectations are determined in coordination with the supervisor and must align with departmental needs and institutional policy. Remote work privileges may be revoked at any time.

On-call Responsibilities:

The position includes rotating on-call duties for after-hours incident response and requests.

Supervisory Relationships:

This position does not have supervisory responsibility. This position reports administratively and functionally to the Director of Open Systems and Storage.

Education and Certifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience is necessary
• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is preferred

Experience and Skills:

• 5-7 years of relevant, progressive experience is necessary
• Advanced SAN administration experience, including zoning and fabric management, is necessary
• Cisco SAN experience is preferred
• NAS administration experience, including CIFS/SMB, NFS, and Active Directory permissions, is necessary
• Experience with DELL/EMC, Pure, and IBM storage is strongly preferred
• Advanced knowledge of backup and recovery operations is necessary, including both on-premises and cloud-based solutions is necessary
• Linux administration experience, along with familiarity with monitoring tools (Nagios, SCOM) and automation tools (Ansible), is strongly preferred
• Strong communication and documentation skills to clearly convey technical information and collaborate effectively are necessary
• Effective multitasking and incident response skills, including the ability to prioritize and handle urgent issues professionally, are necessary
• Demonstrated commitment to VUIT's Guiding Principles is necessary

Information Technology's Guiding Principles:

• Trust and Respect- VUIT cultivates a community built on trust, mutual respect, and inclusivity, where all members feel valued and supported. We prioritize honesty, dignity, empathy, and a willingness to listen and understand.
• Professionalism- VUIT strives to maintain a culture of maturity, accountability, and integrity to best represent the University and self. Have a sense of humility and poise in your work and daily interactions.
• Collaborate- VUIT commits to being inclusive in solution design where we value sharing within and partnering across the university. We are intentional about including our colleagues and preventing silos.
• Bias-to-Action- VUIT is seen as a changemaker by exhibiting a decisive, self-starter, take-action approach with a willingness to make decisions without excessive deliberation. Personal initiative is recognized as a key part of the creative process.
• Communicate- Communication (written, verbal and non-verbal), within and outside VUIT, is open, thoughtful, welcoming, clear, proactive, concise yet complete, always honest, and delivered kindly.
• Innovate- VUIT pledges to be bold and challenge the status quo by inspiring a culture of creativity that promotes growth and advancement for the university.
• Celebrate Each Other- We are intentional in showing appreciation for the work of others by valuing and acknowledging meaningful contributions at all levels of the organization.
• Optimize- VUIT will practice continuous and thoughtful optimization of our solutions and services to increase our human and technological capacity. Capacity drives innovation.

About Us

At Vanderbilt University , our work - regardless of title or role - is in service to an important and noble mission in which every member of our community serves in advancing knowledge and transforming lives on a daily basis. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 330+ acre campus and arboretum dating back to 1873, Vanderbilt is proud to have been named as one of "America's Best Large Employers" as well as a top employer in Tennessee and the Nashville metropolitan area by Forbes for several years running. We welcome those who are interested in learning and growing professionally with an employer that strives to create, foster and sustain opportunities as an employer of choice.

We understand you have a choice when choosing where to work and pursue a career. We understand you are unique and have a story. We want to hear it. We encourage you to apply today so that you might become a part of our story.

Vanderbilt University is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.