Sr. Storage Engineer - NetApp at AHEAD – Hyderabad
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About This Position
Incident & Problem Management
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Provide expert-level support for NetApp storage environments, including performance, capacity, data protection, and interoperability issues.
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Own NetApp incidents end-to-end from triage through resolution, including clear customer communication.
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Act as escalation point for Sev 1/2 storage incidents to rapidly restore service and protect critical business workloads.
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Perform root cause analysis for major storage incidents and implement corrective and preventive actions.
Hardware & RMA Coordination
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Lead and coordinate hardware replacement processes (RMAs, drive replacements, controllers, shelves) with NetApp and logistics partners.
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Manage end-to-end RMA lifecycle: identification, RMA creation, shipment tracking, onsite installation coordination, and post-replacement validation.
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Ensure accurate documentation of RMA activities, asset updates, and configuration changes within customer and internal systems.
Proactive Health, Capacity & Best Practice Reviews
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Use NetApp tools (e.g., Active IQ) to identify risks, configuration deviations, and performance/capacity issues.
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Conduct periodic environment health and best-practice reviews, presenting findings and remediation plans to customers.
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Recommend and support configuration optimizations, firmware/ONTAP upgrades, and data layout improvements.
Change & Upgrade Support
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Plan and support NetApp-related change windows (e.g., ONTAP upgrades, shelf additions, hardware refreshes).
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Create and review change plans, rollback procedures, and validation checklists for storage changes.
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Ensure changes are executed safely and documented thoroughly.
Customer & Cross-Vendor Collaboration
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Serve as a trusted technical advisor to customers on NetApp and storage-related architecture decisions.
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Collaborate with networking, virtualization, and backup teams to resolve multi-domain issues (e.g., VMware + NetApp, SAN fabric, backup tools).
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Coordinate with NetApp support as needed while maintaining AHEAD’s “single point of contact” for the customer.
Documentation & Continuous Improvement
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Develop and maintain runbooks, troubleshooting guides, and knowledge base articles for NetApp technologies.
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Identify opportunities to automate health checks, reporting, and common remediation tasks.
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Mentor and cross-train other engineers on NetApp storage technologies and best practices.
Technical Expertise - Strong hands-on experience with:
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NetApp AFF and FAS platforms
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ONTAP/ONTAP Select (clustered architecture, SnapMirror/SnapVault, etc.)
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E-Series and/or All SAN Arrays (as applicable)
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Storage networking concepts (Fibre Channel, iSCSI, NFS, SMB)
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Performance tuning and capacity planning in storage environments
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Familiarity with Active IQ or similar analytics tools for storage health and risk analysis.
Experience
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8+ years in storage engineering/administration/support, ideally with a heavy NetApp focus.
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Experience supporting mission-critical, 24x7 enterprise environments.
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Background in incident, problem, and change management (ITIL desirable).
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Soft Skills
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Clear, concise communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
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Ability to manage multiple incidents and projects simultaneously.
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Strong sense of ownership and accountability for customer outcomes.
Education & Certifications (Preferred)
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Relevant NetApp certifications such as:
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NetApp Certified Data Administrator (NCDA)
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NetApp Certified Implementation Engineer (NCIE)
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Other storage/virtualization certifications (e.g., VMware, Cisco) are a plus.
Success Measures (Role-Level KPIs)
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Reduction in Sev 1 incident rate per NetApp array or environment.
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RMA cycle times (initiation to fully validated replacement) meeting or beating target.
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Active IQ risk remediation rates and decline in critical/high-risk findings over time.
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Storage environment health scores (capacity, performance, configuration compliance).
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Customer satisfaction (CSAT) for NetApp-related incidents and reviews.