Job at a glance
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 StewardshipManage 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 ManagementMonitor 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 & ComplianceExecute 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 & DocumentationProvide 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 CoordinationTrack 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. Spe