System Storage Architect

Job Description

Job Description

Job Summary

The System Architect - SME (Storage) provides senior technical leadership for enterprise infrastructure architecture and modernization. This role translates mission and functional requirements into scalable, secure technical solutions across on-premises and hybrid/multi-cloud environments. The architect leads cross-functional engineering and operations teams to improve reliability, automation, and service performance.

The position drives technology evaluations, proofs of concept, pilots, and demos while ensuring designs integrate with 24x7x365 enterprise operations and observability requirements. This role ensures architecture decisions align with Zero Trust, FISMA, and governance expectations. Primary Responsibilities

• Enterprise Architecture and Solution Design
  • Architect and manage enterprise IT systems across multiple functional areas, including server, platform, storage, and cloud domains.
  • Translate functional and operational requirements into technical architectures, integration patterns, and implementation roadmaps.
  • Define scalable, resilient target-state designs and transitional architectures for hybrid environments.
  • Develop and maintain architecture documentation, standards, and technical decision artifacts to support execution and governance.
  • Design, implement, and maintain enterprise SAN/NAS and storage virtualization solutions for mission-critical systems.
  • Develop storage strategies, standards, and policies aligned with organizational and federal compliance requirements.
  • Lead complex storage projects, including migrations, upgrades, and integration with cloud and on-premises environments.
  • Ensure storage platforms are engineered for high availability, data integrity, and scalability.
• Technology Evaluation and Modernization
  • Identify, assess, and recommend technologies that meet defined technical and business requirements.
  • Lead and execute proofs of concept (POCs), pilots, and demos to validate feasibility, risk, and operational fit.
  • Guide modernization efforts across virtualization, cloud integration, and enterprise infrastructure transformation initiatives.
  • Drive adoption of advanced technologies that improve efficiency, interoperability, and long-term maintainability.
• Operations Leadership and Service Reliability
  • Provide technical leadership to multi-discipline server and system operations teams in enterprise environments.
  • Establish architecture requirements for monitoring, alerting, incident response, and operational visibility for production systems.
  • Support root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and continuous improvement efforts tied to SLA and performance objectives.
  • Ensure designs are supportable in 24x7x365 operations, including change/release coordination and lifecycle management.
• Technical Leadership and Cross-Functional Delivery
  • Lead storage workstreams for migrations, technology refreshes, and modernization efforts with minimal operational disruption.
  • Collaborate with infrastructure, network, security, virtualization, and cloud teams to integrate storage services end-to-end.
  • Conduct risk assessments and recommend remediation strategies for storage resiliency, security, and operational risk.
  • Mentor junior engineers and serve as the storage SME for incident response, strategic planning, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Storage Operations, Performance, and Capacity Management
  • Administer and optimize large-scale enterprise storage environments, including proactive monitoring and health management.
  • Perform capacity planning and forecasting to maintain service continuity and prevent resource constraints.
  • Troubleshoot and resolve advanced storage incidents, including latency, throughput, replication, and platform stability issues.
  • Establish and track operational metrics and trend analysis to support service-level performance.
• Security, Compliance, and Integration Governance
  • Provide technical leadership for system integration, scalability, and security architecture across multi-vendor platforms.
  • Embed security controls and compliance requirements into infrastructure and platform designs.
  • Ensure architectural approaches support FISMA-aligned controls, vulnerability remediation, and secure configuration baselines.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to align technical solutions with policy, risk, and operational governance.
• Data Protection, Recovery, and Compliance
  • Architect and maintain enterprise backup and recovery strategies to protect mission-critical data.
  • Implement and validate disaster recovery and business continuity storage controls, including cross-site replication and recovery readiness.
  • Ensure retention, recovery, and data protection practices meet organizational policy and federal compliance requirements.
  • Support audit readiness by maintaining storage documentation, configuration baselines, and implementation evidence.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
• Experience:
  • 12 years of experience in engineering and architecting enterprise IT storage systems.
  • Proven experience managing multi-discipline server and system operations teams.
  • Demonstrated experience translating functional requirements into enterprise technical solutions and leading integration/scalability efforts.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams.
  • Hands-on experience with enterprise storage platforms and large-scale storage administration.
  • Expertise with SAN/NAS technologies, storage virtualization, and enterprise backup/recovery solutions.
  • Experience leading complex storage migrations, upgrades, and integration with cloud and on-premises environments.
  • Experience supporting storage compliance, audit readiness, and documentation in federal IT environments.
  • Advanced expertise in storage performance tuning, capacity planning, risk assessment, and disaster recovery strategies.
  • Must have experience working with Clustered Data ONTAP software.
• Technical Skills:
  • Enterprise infrastructure design and architecture
  • Multi-vendor server operating systems
  • Virtualization and cloud integration architecture
  • System integration and scalability architecture
  • Security architecture for enterprise platforms
  • Technology evaluation, POC/pilot execution, and solution validation
  • Cross-functional technical leadership and stakeholder communication
  • Cross-functional integration with infrastructure, network, and security teams
  • Enterprise SAN/NAS platforms and storage virtualization
  • Enterprise backup/recovery, replication, and disaster recovery operations
  • Storage performance monitoring, tuning, and capacity management methodologies
  • Advanced troubleshooting of mission-critical storage issues and operational risk assessment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting U.S. federal IT environments with FISMA/NIST/OMB compliance requirements.
• Experience architecting or supporting observability platforms and enterprise monitoring integrations in large environments.
• Hands-on experience with container platforms and automation frameworks (e.g., OpenShift, Kubernetes, Ansible, GitOps toolchains).
• Experience leading architecture initiatives in 24x7x365 enterprise operations organizations.
• Prior support to SEC or similarly regulated financial-sector federal agencies.
• NetApp Certified Data Administrator Certification (NCDA) or equivalent
• Proficiency in Ansible, Python, BASH
• Experience developing and enforcing storage standards, policies, and operational best practices.