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5 Backup Administrator Job Description Templates and Examples

Backup Administrators are responsible for ensuring that data is securely backed up and can be restored in case of data loss or system failure. They manage backup systems, monitor backup jobs, and troubleshoot issues to ensure data integrity and availability. Junior roles focus on executing backup tasks and learning system operations, while senior roles involve designing backup strategies, optimizing processes, and leading backup and recovery initiatives.

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1. Junior Backup Administrator Job Description Template

Company Overview

[$COMPANY_OVERVIEW]

Role Overview

[$COMPANY_NAME] is hiring a Junior Backup Administrator to join our Infrastructure & Availability team. In this entry-level technical role you will operate, monitor, and validate backup and recovery systems across on-premises and cloud environments. You will work under the guidance of senior systems engineers to ensure data resiliency, implement backup policies, automate routine tasks, and execute restores for business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) exercises. This role is ideal for candidates with foundational systems administration experience, exposure to backup technologies, and a strong desire to build expertise in enterprise backup, storage, and recovery operations.

Responsibilities

  • Operate and monitor backup solutions (e.g., Veeam Backup & Replication, Veritas NetBackup, Commvault, Rubrik) to ensure scheduled jobs complete successfully and meet RPO/RTO targets
  • Perform routine restore operations for files, databases (SQL Server, Oracle RMAN), virtual machines (VMware, Hyper-V), and cloud object storage (AWS S3, Azure Blob)
  • Investigate and remediate backup failures; triage alerts from monitoring tools (e.g., Nagios, Zabbix, SolarWinds, Prometheus) and collaborate with storage, DBA, and network teams to resolve root causes
  • Maintain and update backup policies, retention schedules, lifecycle rules, and backup inventories; document runbooks and standard operating procedures (SOPs)
  • Assist in DR planning and testing: participate in disaster recovery drills, validate recovery procedures, and produce post-mortem reports
  • Automate repetitive tasks using scripting (PowerShell, Bash) and integrate backups into CI/CD pipelines where applicable
  • Manage backup storage capacity: monitor deduplication, replication jobs, tape libraries, and cloud egress/ingress costs
  • Apply security best practices for backups: encryption at-rest/in-transit, key management, access controls, and secure credential handling
  • Contribute to patching and upgrade activities for backup appliances/software under the direction of senior engineers
  • Participate in on-call rotation for backup and recovery incidents and provide timely incident documentation and RCA inputs

Required and Preferred Qualifications

Required:

  • 0–2 years of hands-on experience in systems administration, storage, or IT operations supporting backup/restore activities
  • Familiarity with at least one enterprise backup product (Veeam, NetBackup, Commvault, Rubrik) and virtualization platforms (VMware, Hyper-V)
  • Basic experience with databases and backups: Microsoft SQL Server backups/restores, familiarity with Oracle RMAN concepts
  • Comfort with scripting for automation (PowerShell or Bash) and basic Linux/Windows administration
  • Understanding of backup concepts: RPO, RTO, incremental/differential/full backups, deduplication, replication, retention policies
  • Strong troubleshooting skills and ability to follow runbooks and escalate appropriately
  • Effective written and verbal communication skills for documenting procedures and interacting with cross-functional teams

Preferred:

  • Certifications such as Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE), Veritas Certified Specialist, CompTIA Server+, Microsoft MCSA, or AWS/Azure fundamentals
  • Experience with cloud backup integrations (AWS Backup, Azure Backup, S3 lifecycle rules) and object storage
  • Exposure to tape libraries and NDMP backups
  • Familiarity with monitoring systems and log aggregation (ELK stack, Splunk, DataDog)
  • Experience with configuration management tools (Ansible, Puppet) or infrastructure-as-code (Terraform)

Technical Skills and Relevant Technologies

  • Backup and recovery tools: Veeam, Veritas NetBackup, Commvault, Rubrik
  • Virtualization: VMware vSphere, Hyper-V
  • Operating systems: Windows Server, Linux (RHEL/CentOS/Ubuntu)
  • Databases: Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle RMAN basics, PostgreSQL backups
  • Cloud: AWS (S3, Glacier, AWS Backup), Azure Blob/Recovery Services
  • Scripting and automation: PowerShell, Bash, basic Python
  • Monitoring and alerting: Nagios, Zabbix, SolarWinds, DataDog, Splunk
  • Storage: SAN/NAS fundamentals, deduplication, tape management
  • Networking basics: TCP/IP, VLANs, firewall rules as they relate to backup replication and agents

Soft Skills and Cultural Fit

  • Curiosity and eagerness to learn enterprise backup architectures and DR methodologies
  • Detail-oriented with a methodical approach to verification and documentation
  • Ability to follow and improve runbooks, SOPs, and playbooks under direction
  • Collaborative communicator who works well across storage, networking, and DBA teams
  • Dependable under incident pressure; committed to timely escalations and clear incident communication
  • Growth mindset with openness to mentorship and structured technical training

Benefits and Perks

Salary: [$SALARY_RANGE]

We offer a competitive benefits package designed for career growth and wellbeing, which may include:

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401(k) plan with company match or equivalent retirement benefits
  • Paid time off, paid parental leave, and company-observed holidays
  • Professional development stipend, certification support, and internal training programs
  • Commuter benefits and flexible work arrangements consistent with role
  • Wellness resources, EAP, and mental health support

Equal Opportunity Statement

[$COMPANY_NAME] is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We are an equal opportunity employer and consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. We actively encourage candidates from underrepresented groups to apply.

Location

This role is hybrid: a successful candidate will be expected to work from the office in [$COMPANY_LOCATION] at least 3 days per week and may work remotely for the remainder of the schedule. Candidates should be able to commute to our [$COMPANY_LOCATION] office for onboarding, team collaborations, and DR exercises.

Application Instructions

We encourage applicants at all levels who are interested in this Junior Backup Administrator role to apply—even if you do not meet every listed qualification. Please submit your resume and a brief cover note highlighting relevant experience (projects, labs, internships, coursework, or certifications). Candidates who demonstrate strong troubleshooting ability, foundational backup knowledge, and a growth mindset will be strongly considered.

2. Backup Administrator Job Description Template

Company Overview

[$COMPANY_OVERVIEW]

Role Overview

As a Backup Administrator at [$COMPANY_NAME], you will design, operate, and evolve enterprise backup and recovery systems to ensure data integrity, availability, and rapid recovery across cloud and on-premises environments. You will own backup architecture decisions, implement automation to reduce RTO/RPO, and drive continuity and compliance for production, DR, and long-term retention systems. This role requires deep hands-on experience with backup platforms (e.g., Veeam, Veritas NetBackup, Commvault, Rubrik), object and cold storage (AWS S3, S3 Glacier, Azure Blob), tape libraries and LTFS, and scripting/automation (PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible).

Responsibilities

  • Architect, deploy, and maintain backup and restore solutions across virtualized, cloud-native, and physical infrastructure (Veeam, NetBackup, Commvault, Rubrik, AWS Backup).
  • Design and validate disaster recovery (DR) processes, runbooks, and recovery point/time objectives (RPO/RTO) for critical applications and databases (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MongoDB).
  • Manage retention policies, lifecycle management, and archive strategies including integration with object stores (S3/Glacier) and tape automation (LTFS, IBM/Quantum libraries).
  • Implement and maintain backup automation and orchestration using PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible, or Terraform to reduce manual intervention and accelerate recovery.
  • Develop and execute regular backup and restore tests, tabletop exercises, and full DR failover/failback rehearsals; document lessons learned and remediation plans.
  • Monitor backup performance, capacity, and health using enterprise monitoring and observability tools (DataDog, Prometheus, Nagios) and optimize throughput, deduplication, and bandwidth usage.
  • Respond to production incidents related to backup/restore operations, perform root cause analysis, and implement long-term fixes; participate in on-call rotation.
  • Integrate backup solutions with virtualization and container platforms (VMware, Hyper-V, Kubernetes CSI snapshots) and cloud provider snapshots and replication.
  • Collaborate with platform, security, compliance, and application teams to ensure backups meet regulatory, encryption, and retention requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2).
  • Create and maintain runbooks, ADRs (Architecture Decision Records), capacity plans, and documented recovery SLAs; mentor junior team members and run knowledge-transfer sessions.

Required and Preferred Qualifications

Required:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent experience; or relevant industry certifications.
  • 3+ years of hands-on experience administering enterprise backup systems (Veeam, Veritas NetBackup, Commvault, Rubrik).
  • Proven experience with backup/restore testing, DR planning, and incident response for production environments.
  • Strong scripting skills in PowerShell and/or Bash and working knowledge of Python for automation and tooling.
  • Experience with storage platforms (SAN/NAS, NetApp, Dell EMC), tape libraries, and object storage (AWS S3, Azure Blob) and knowledge of lifecycle policies.
  • Familiarity with virtualization and containerized workloads: VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Kubernetes snapshot/CSI mechanics.
  • Experience with encryption-at-rest/in-transit, key management, and securing backup data stores.
  • Excellent troubleshooting skills for networking/storage/performance issues impacting backups.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years administering large-scale backup estates; prior experience in highly regulated industries (finance, healthcare, government).
  • Certifications: Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE), Veritas Certified Specialist, Commvault Certified Engineer, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator, or similar.
  • Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform) and configuration management (Ansible, Salt).
  • Knowledge of modern immutable backup strategies, ransomware-resistant architectures, and air-gapped/offline vaulting.
  • Experience integrating backup telemetry with observability platforms (DataDog, Splunk) and implementing alerting/playbooks.

Technical Skills and Relevant Technologies

  • Backup platforms: Veeam Backup & Replication, Veritas NetBackup, Commvault, Rubrik.
  • Cloud backup and archive: AWS Backup, S3, S3 Glacier/Glacier Deep Archive, Azure Recovery Services.
  • Storage and tape: SAN, NAS, NetApp, Dell EMC, LTFS, Tape robotics (IBM, Quantum).
  • Databases and apps: Oracle RMAN, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Exchange, SharePoint.
  • Virtualization/containers: VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Kubernetes (CSI snapshots), VMware snapshot technologies.
  • Scripting & automation: PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible, Terraform.
  • Monitoring & observability: DataDog, Prometheus, Nagios, Splunk.
  • Networking & security: iSCSI, NFS, SMB, encryption (KMS), IAM, VPN, firewall rules.

Soft Skills and Cultural Fit

  • Proven track record of writing clear runbooks, postmortems, and Architecture Decision Records (ADRs).
  • Strong stakeholder communication: translate technical constraints and trade-offs to engineering and business leaders.
  • Ability to lead incident response and coordinate cross-functional recovery efforts under pressure.
  • Mentorship mindset: experience upskilling junior operators and improving team runbooks and playbooks.
  • Detail-oriented with a bias for measurable outcomes (recovery time, recovery point, test pass rates).
  • Collaborative problem-solver who values security-first design and continuous improvement.

Benefits and Perks

Salary: [$SALARY_RANGE]

  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • 401(k) or local retirement plan with employer contribution or match.
  • Generous paid time off, paid parental leave, and flexible holiday policy.
  • Annual professional development stipend and certification reimbursement.
  • Home office stipend or company workstation for remote employees.
  • Wellness benefits, employee assistance program (EAP), and commuter benefits where applicable.
  • Opportunity to work on large-scale resilience projects and influence company-wide DR strategy.

Equal Opportunity Statement

[$COMPANY_NAME] is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, genetic information, or any other status protected by law. Reasonable accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Location

This is a remote position within [$COMPANY_LOCATION]. Candidates must be legally authorized to work and located within [$COMPANY_LOCATION] to be considered. Occasional travel to regional offices or datacenters may be required.

How to Apply

We strongly encourage applicants who meet many, but not necessarily all, of the qualifications to apply. Please submit your resume and a brief cover letter outlining relevant backup/DR projects and the scale of systems you administered. Include any certifications and links to technical write-ups or runbooks you authored if available. Applicants who are excited about resilience engineering and continuous improvement are encouraged to apply even if you don’t match every bullet above.

3. Senior Backup Administrator Job Description Template

Company Overview

[$COMPANY_OVERVIEW]

Role Overview

[$COMPANY_NAME] is seeking a Senior Backup Administrator to design, implement, and operate enterprise backup, restore, and disaster recovery capabilities across on-premises and cloud platforms. You will lead strategy and execution for backup lifecycle management, meet stringent RTO/RPO targets, and modernize backup architecture using automation, infrastructure-as-code, and best-in-class data protection technologies. This role requires deep technical ownership, cross-functional leadership with platform, security, and application teams, and an ability to translate business continuity requirements into repeatable technical solutions.

Responsibilities

  • Architect and operate enterprise backup and restore solutions across vSphere, Hyper-V, physical servers, databases, and cloud workloads (AWS, Azure, GCP); evaluate and select technologies (e.g., Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, Veritas, Cohesity) for scale and compliance.
  • Define and enforce backup policies, retention, encryption-at-rest/in-transit, key management (KMS/HSM), and data lifecycle procedures in coordination with Security and Compliance.
  • Lead disaster recovery planning and execution: develop DR runbooks, orchestrate failover/failback tests, define recovery tiering, and validate RTO/RPO via scheduled table-top and live recovery exercises.
  • Design and implement backup automation and IaC for provisioning, job scheduling, verification, and reporting using tools like Terraform, Ansible, PowerShell, Python, or Bash.
  • Operate and tune deduplication, compression, replication, and snapshot strategies to optimize storage consumption and network utilization while meeting recovery objectives.
  • Create and maintain monitoring, alerting, and observability for backup jobs and storage subsystems using DataDog, Prometheus, ELK, or vendor tools; implement end-to-end telemetry and SLA reporting.
  • Drive incident management for backup/restore failures: lead RCA, implement corrective actions, and produce clear postmortems with actionable remediation and ADRs (architecture decision records).
  • Mentor junior administrators and SREs on backup best practices, runbooks, and change control; lead design reviews and approve backup-related infrastructure changes.
  • Collaborate with application owners, DBAs (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL), and platform teams to ensure consistent backup cadence, schema-aware backups, and recovery verification for critical workloads.
  • Manage vendor relationships, firmware/software lifecycle, patching, capacity planning, and procurement recommendations for backup storage targets (object storage, NAS, tape libraries).

Required Qualifications

  • 8+ years of hands-on experience designing and operating enterprise backup and disaster recovery solutions in large-scale environments.
  • Proven expertise with one or more commercial backup platforms (Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, Veritas NetBackup, Cohesity) and native cloud backup patterns (AWS Backup, Azure Backup, GCP snapshot/backup strategies).
  • Deep understanding of virtualized environments (VMware vSphere, Hyper-V), SAN/NAS storage, object storage (S3-compatible), and tape/archival systems.
  • Demonstrated experience meeting and validating RTO/RPO targets, performing DR failovers, and maintaining DR runbooks and test schedules.
  • Strong scripting/automation skills (PowerShell, Python, Bash) and experience with configuration management/IaC tools (Ansible, Terraform, CloudFormation).
  • Experience integrating backup and recovery workflows with CI/CD and ITSM processes; familiarity with ServiceNow or similar ticketing systems.
  • Solid networking fundamentals (WAN replication, VPN, bandwidth optimization) and experience optimizing backup over constrained links.
  • Excellent incident management, documentation, and cross-team communication skills; track record of producing RCA and implementing preventative fixes.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Certifications such as Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE), Commvault Certified Professional, Rubrik Certified Administrator, AWS Certified: Specialty or Azure Administrator/Architect.
  • Experience with database-aware backup solutions for Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and NoSQL systems (MongoDB, Cassandra).
  • Knowledge of encryption key management (KMS/HSM) and regulatory compliance frameworks (HIPAA, SOC2, GDPR) as they apply to backup retention and data residency.
  • Experience with large-scale object storage lifecycle policies and cost-optimization of long-term retention.
  • Familiarity with immutable backups and ransomware protection strategies.

Technical Skills and Relevant Technologies

  • Backup Platforms: Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, Veritas NetBackup, Cohesity
  • Cloud: AWS (S3, EBS snapshots, AWS Backup), Azure (Recovery Services Vault), GCP snapshots
  • Virtualization: VMware vSphere, vCenter, Hyper-V
  • Storage: SAN/NAS, S3-compatible object storage, tape libraries (LTFS), dedupe appliances
  • Scripting & Automation: PowerShell, Python, Bash, Ansible, Terraform, CloudFormation
  • Monitoring & Observability: DataDog, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/Elastic Stack
  • Databases & Applications: SQL Server, Oracle RMAN, PostgreSQL, MongoDB; application-consistent snapshotting
  • Security & Compliance: KMS, HSM, encryption best practices, role-based access control (RBAC)

Soft Skills and Cultural Fit

  • Leadership: Proven ability to lead technical projects, mentor staff, and drive cross-functional alignment on platform and recovery strategy.
  • Communication: Ability to translate technical recovery requirements into business-impacting metrics and present status to engineering leadership and business stakeholders.
  • Operational Rigor: Strong documentation discipline, runbook ownership, and a metrics-driven approach to reduce mean time to recover (MTTR).
  • Proactiveness: Track record of identifying single points of failure, proposing pragmatic mitigations, and executing remediation plans.
  • Collaboration: Comfortable working with security, compliance, networking, and application teams in matrixed organizations.

Benefits and Perks

Salary range: [$SALARY_RANGE]

Comprehensive benefits include:

  • Competitive health, dental, and vision plans; flexible spending/HSA options
  • 401(k)/pension plan with company match or equivalent
  • Generous paid time off, sick leave, and paid parental leave
  • Annual professional development and certification stipend
  • Equipment allowance and home office support for remote work
  • Wellness programs, EAP, and mental health support
  • Paid volunteer days and diversity/inclusion initiatives

Equal Opportunity Statement

[$COMPANY_NAME] is an equal opportunity employer committed to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or other protected characteristics. We encourage candidates from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Location

This is a remote position within [$COMPANY_LOCATION]. Candidates must be authorized to work and based in [$COMPANY_LOCATION] and available to collaborate across time zones as required. Occasional on-site meetings or DR test participation may be scheduled; travel to regional offices or datacenters may be required.

How to Apply

We encourage applicants to apply even if you do not meet every listed requirement. If you are passionate about data protection, have a track record of operational excellence, and can demonstrate relevant experience, please submit your resume and a brief cover letter describing a backup/DR challenge you solved and the measurable impact. Applicants who show aptitude through problem examples or certifications are strongly encouraged to apply.

4. Lead Backup Administrator Job Description Template

Company Overview

[$COMPANY_OVERVIEW]

Role Overview

[$COMPANY_NAME] is hiring a Lead Backup Administrator to define and operate enterprise-class data protection, backup, snapshot and disaster recovery (DR) architectures across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. You will own strategy and execution for backup and recovery SLAs (RTO/RPO), lead platform selection and lifecycle management for backup technologies, and coordinate cross-functional DR exercises with infrastructure, security, and application teams. This role requires hands-on technical leadership: architecting resilient backup topologies, automating operational runbooks, and driving measurable improvements in recovery time and data durability.

Responsibilities

  • Define and own backup and disaster recovery strategy, roadmaps, and operational KPIs (RTO, RPO, recovery verification rates, backup success/coverage).
  • Architect and operate scalable backup/DR solutions across VMware, Hyper-V, physical servers, public cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP), and cloud-native services (EBS snapshots, Azure Recovery Services, Cloud Storage).
  • Lead the design, deployment, and optimization of backup platforms such as Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, Veritas NetBackup, Cohesity, and native cloud backup services.
  • Design retention, tiering and offsite replication strategies using object storage (S3/Glacier), tape libraries, and immutable/air-gapped repositories to meet compliance and regulatory requirements.
  • Implement and maintain encryption at-rest/in-transit, key management integration (KMS/HSM), and secure multi-tenant backup separation where applicable.
  • Automate recurring operational tasks and recovery drills using PowerShell, Python, Bash, REST APIs, Terraform, Ansible, and CI/CD pipelines to reduce manual recovery steps and error rates.
  • Develop and maintain runbooks and playbooks for incident response, recovery sequencing, and major outage scenarios; lead DR exercises and post-mortems.
  • Build observability and alerting for backup health using tools like Veeam ONE, Prometheus, Grafana, DataDog, or Splunk; own SLA reporting and continuous improvement metrics.
  • Lead, mentor, and grow a team of backup engineers and operators; establish on-call rotation, escalation policies, and training programs.
  • Collaborate with security, compliance, and application owners to validate recoverability, support legal/retention holds, and perform data discovery for e-discovery and audits.
  • Evaluate new technologies, proof-of-concepts, and vendor relationships; manage license and lifecycle budgets for backup infrastructure.

Required and Preferred Qualifications

Required:

  • 8+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise backup, storage, or systems administration with at least 3 years in a lead/architect role.
  • Proven track record designing and operating backup/DR solutions in mixed environments (virtualized, bare-metal, cloud-native).
  • Deep technical experience with at least two of: Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, Veritas NetBackup, Cohesity, or native cloud backup services.
  • Strong scripting/automation skills (PowerShell, Python, Bash) and experience integrating backup into CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code workflows.
  • Solid understanding of storage systems, SAN/NAS, snapshots, replication, deduplication, compression, and cloud object storage economics.
  • Experience defining and validating RTO/RPO, conducting recovery verification, and running full-scale DR rehearsals.
  • Excellent troubleshooting skills for complex production incidents, including log analysis and distributed system fault isolation.
  • Excellent communication skills with experience producing technical design documents, runbooks, and presenting to executive stakeholders.

Preferred:

  • Certifications such as Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE), Commvault Certified Professional, Veritas NetBackup Specialist, AWS Certified (Cloud Practitioner/Associate/Professional), or Microsoft Azure Administrator/Architect.
  • Experience with backup encryption, key management services (AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault) and immutability/air-gapped designs.
  • Familiarity with tape management, LTFS, and long-term archival strategies for regulated industries.
  • Experience integrating backup and recovery with container platforms (Kubernetes backups using Velero, restic, CSI snapshots).
  • Prior work in highly regulated environments (finance, healthcare, government) with data retention and e-discovery requirements.

Technical Skills and Relevant Technologies

  • Backup platforms: Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, Veritas NetBackup, Cohesity, Azure Recovery Services, AWS Backup
  • Cloud: AWS (S3/EBS/EFS/Glacier, KMS), Azure (Blob Storage, Recovery Services), GCP snapshot and storage services
  • Storage & virtualization: SAN/NAS, NetApp, Dell EMC, VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Nutanix
  • Automation & infra-as-code: PowerShell, Python, Bash, Terraform, Ansible, REST APIs
  • Monitoring & observability: Veeam ONE, DataDog, Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk
  • Security & compliance: encryption (at-rest/in-transit), KMS/HSM, IAM, WORM/immutability
  • Databases & applications: Oracle, SQL Server, Postgres, NoSQL systems — familiarity with application-consistent backup and recovery

Soft Skills and Cultural Fit

  • Technical leadership: demonstrated ability to make architecture decisions, write Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), and steer operational standards.
  • Mentorship: experience upskilling engineers, conducting technical interviews, and growing team capability.
  • Cross-functional collaborator: proven success coordinating with SRE, security, application owners, and vendor partners.
  • Calm under pressure: track record of leading incident response and post-incident analysis for critical outages.
  • Customer-focused: attitude of measuring success by recoverability and minimizing business impact.
  • Continuous improvement mindset: use metrics to iterate on processes, automation, and platform reliability.

Benefits and Perks

Salary range: [$SALARY_RANGE]

  • Competitive base salary with performance-based bonus and equity participation
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans; flexible spending accounts
  • 401(k) or local retirement plan with company match
  • Generous paid time off, parental leave, and paid volunteer days
  • Professional development stipend, certification reimbursement, and conference budget
  • Modern office environment, multi-cloud infrastructure, and budget for home-office equipment
  • Employee assistance program, mental health resources, and wellbeing initiatives

Equal Opportunity Statement

[$COMPANY_NAME] is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We strongly encourage candidates from historically underrepresented groups to apply and will provide reasonable accommodations throughout the hiring process.

Location

This is a hybrid role. A successful candidate will be expected to work from the office in [$COMPANY_LOCATION] at least three days per week to lead DR exercises, run hands-on recovery operations, and collaborate with cross-functional teams; occasional travel to data centers or vendor sites may be required.

How to Apply

We encourage applicants who meet a majority of the requirements to apply — if you do not meet every qualification but are excited about the role and can demonstrate strong adjacent experience, please submit your resume and a brief cover letter highlighting relevant projects, recovery exercises, or platform migrations you have led. Applicants may also include links to technical documentation or runbooks you authored (where permitted).

5. Backup and Recovery Manager Job Description Template

Company Overview

[$COMPANY_OVERVIEW]

Role Overview

[$COMPANY_NAME] is hiring a Backup and Recovery Manager to define, operate, and evolve enterprise-wide backup and disaster recovery (DR) strategy supporting on-premises, cloud, and hybrid workloads. You will own RTO/RPO targets, architect resilient backup topologies, lead incident and recovery response, and mature processes and automation to ensure data integrity, compliance, and rapid recoverability across VMware, Kubernetes, public cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP), databases, and file systems. This is a manager-level role with responsibility for a team of backup engineers, vendor relationships, cross-functional stakeholders, and continuous improvement of backup telemetry and runbooks.

Responsibilities

  • Define and execute enterprise backup and DR strategy aligned to business continuity objectives; set and drive measurable RTO/RPO SLAs and recovery playbooks.
  • Lead, coach, and scale a team of backup/recovery engineers; own hiring, performance management, and career development for direct reports.
  • Architect and operationalize backup solutions across platforms (Veeam, Rubrik, Commvault, Veritas NetBackup, native cloud backup services such as AWS Backup and Azure Backup) including snapshots, object storage lifecycle (S3/Glacier), and tape workflows.
  • Design and validate cross-site and cross-region disaster recovery plans for virtualized environments (VMware, Hyper-V), container platforms (Kubernetes), and major database engines (SQL Server with AlwaysOn, Oracle RMAN, PostgreSQL, MySQL).
  • Implement and maintain backup automation and CI/CD integrations (Terraform, Ansible, PowerShell, Python) to provision backup policies, schedule jobs, and perform scripted recoveries as part of testing pipelines.
  • Own backup monitoring, alerting, and observability: integrate telemetry into monitoring platforms (Splunk, DataDog, Prometheus) and maintain dashboards, KPIs, and incident runbooks for failed jobs, storage saturation, and encryption events.
  • Plan and execute periodic DR tabletop exercises and full failover/failback tests; report findings, remediate gaps, and improve procedures.
  • Manage vendor relationships, procurement, licensing, and third-party service providers for backup hardware, software, and cloud storage.
  • Ensure backup and recovery controls meet regulatory and security requirements (encryption at-rest/in-transit, key management, immutability, retention policies) and collaborate with security and compliance teams for audits.
  • Develop cost-optimized retention and archival strategies, capacity planning, and lifecycle policies for on-prem storage, object storage, and tape.

Required and Preferred Qualifications

Required:

  • 8+ years of hands-on experience in backup, recovery, or storage engineering, including 3+ years in a leadership or managerial capacity.
  • Deep technical experience with at least two enterprise backup platforms (Veeam, Rubrik, Commvault, NetBackup) and cloud-native backup solutions (AWS Backup, Azure Backup, GCP snapshots).
  • Proven track record designing and executing DR plans with demonstrated reductions in RTO/RPO and successful recovery test outcomes.
  • Strong scripting/automation skills (Python, PowerShell, Bash, Terraform, Ansible) to automate policy deployment, validation, and reporting.
  • Experience with virtualization (VMware vSphere, Hyper-V), container platforms (Kubernetes), SAN/NAS storage technologies, and database backup/recovery procedures (Oracle RMAN, SQL Server, PostgreSQL).
  • Familiarity with encryption, key management, immutable storage, and security controls relevant to backup systems.
  • Excellent stakeholder management: ability to coordinate across Infrastructure, DevOps, Security, Applications, and Business Continuity teams.

Preferred:

  • Certifications such as Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE), Rubrik Certified Engineer, NetBackup Administrator, or cloud certifications (AWS/Azure/GCP Security or Architect certifications).
  • Experience managing backup for large-scale Kubernetes deployments (Velero, restic, CSI snapshot controllers) and modern stateful workloads.
  • Background in cost modeling for backup/archival storage and experience reducing overall TCO through deduplication and tiering.
  • Prior experience in regulated industries (finance, healthcare, government) with audit-ready backup controls and evidence packaging.

Technical Skills and Relevant Technologies

  • Enterprise backup platforms: Veeam, Rubrik, Commvault, Veritas NetBackup
  • Cloud backup and snapshotting: AWS Backup, Azure Backup, GCP snapshots, S3 lifecycle, Glacier/Archive
  • Virtualization & containers: VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Kubernetes (Velero, CSI snapshots)
  • Databases: Oracle RMAN, SQL Server AlwaysOn, PostgreSQL, MySQL backups
  • Automation & scripting: Python, PowerShell, Bash, Terraform, Ansible
  • Monitoring & observability: Splunk, DataDog, Prometheus, Grafana
  • Storage technologies: SAN, NAS, object storage, tape libraries, deduplication, encryption
  • Security & compliance: KMS, HSM, immutability, role-based access control, audit logging

Soft Skills and Cultural Fit

  • Proven leader with experience driving technical decisions, architecture decision records (ADRs), and operating standards across distributed teams.
  • Excellent communicator capable of translating technical recovery plans into business-impact narratives for executives.
  • Calm, decisive incident commander during outages with experience running post-mortems and continuous improvement cycles.
  • Collaborative mindset: ability to partner with application owners, SREs, and security teams to embed recoverability into the development lifecycle.
  • Bias for measurable outcomes: defines KPIs, uses data to prioritize automation and reliability investments.

Benefits and Perks

Salary: [$SALARY_RANGE]

  • Competitive health, dental, and vision plans; comprehensive wellness benefits
  • 401(k) or local equivalent with company match
  • Generous paid time off and paid parental leave
  • Professional development allowance and certification reimbursement
  • Flexible work hours and hybrid workplace support (commuter/remote stipends)
  • Annual learning budget and conference sponsorship for technical leadership growth

Equal Opportunity Statement

[$COMPANY_NAME] is an equal opportunity employer and values a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We celebrate differences and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Location

This role is hybrid. A successful candidate will be expected to work on-site in [$COMPANY_LOCATION] at least three days per week to collaborate with infrastructure, security, and operations teams; flexible remote work arrangements are supported on remaining days. Candidates located in or willing to relocate to [$COMPANY_LOCATION] are encouraged to apply.

How to Apply

We encourage applicants who may not meet every listed requirement to apply. Please submit your resume and a brief cover letter highlighting a recent recovery you owned and the measurable impact you delivered. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

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