System Data Protection Specialist

Job Overview

The primary goal of this role is to ensure the smooth operation and integrity of IT and OT data protection systems.

This position plays a critical part in maintaining the reliability, availability, and recoverability of enterprise data across backup, restore, replication, and tape management processes.

The successful candidate will contribute to compliance efforts, develop documentation and reporting tools, and collaborate with technical teams to uphold data protection standards.

A key responsibility includes monitoring IT infrastructure health and executing regular operational checklists to ensure system performance and reliability.

• Monitor daily backup jobs and investigate any errors, warnings, or failures; resolve or escalate as required.
• Perform scheduled and ad-hoc restores to validate backup integrity and support operational, disaster recovery, and cyber recovery needs.
• Maintain and execute infrastructure operations checklists, escalating anomalies as necessary.
• Ensure timely resolution of backup/restore related support tickets.
• Manage Commvault Clients, Storage Resources, Storage Policies & Schedule Policies.
• Coordinate legacy tape restore requests with third-party vendors.

Key Responsibilities

Backup and Restore Operations

Documentation and Reporting

• Develop and maintain procedural documentation and wiki articles for common data protection tasks (e.g., server onboarding, restore procedures, replication checks).
• Build and manage Commvault dashboards and reports, including executive summary status reports (daily, weekly, monthly), capacity planning and health reports, and custom reports for specific teams (e.g., database, data warehouse).

Infrastructure and Patch Management

• Coordinate regular patching and updates across Commvault Software Maintenance Releases and Feature Releases, Commvault Distributed Software, media agent OS/BIOS/firmware, tape library firmware, and Commvault server OS patching.

Commvault User Access Administration

• Manage Commvault user accounts, including MFA configuration and access reviews.
• Ensure licensing capacity and data ageing policies are monitored and maintained.

Replication and Virtualization

• Monitor and report on replication jobs (RecoverPoint, Commvault Dash copies, database DR copies).
• Perform VMware data protection tasks, including snapshots and VM restores.

Tape Library and Offsite Rotation

• Oversee tape library operations: cleaning cycles, tape ordering, labelling, and scratch media replenishment. Daily ejection of cyber-protect media. Hardware installation and replacement coordination.
• Managing data retention and disposal under information governance guidelines and ensuring compliance with legal requirements.
• Manage offsite tape rotation: Liaise with third-party storage providers. Maintain inventory and disposal logs. Ensure compliance with secure storage requirements.
• Liaise with staff in Disaster Recovery site regarding tape rotation process.

Procurement and Vendor Coordination

• Raise purchase requests for data protection-related items (e.g., tapes, support contracts, offsite storage).
• Support vendor coordination for hardware and service delivery.

Infrastructure Monitoring and Checklist Execution

• Monitor the general health of IT infrastructure components, including physical hardware, virtual environments, disk libraries, and media agents.
• Track infrastructure metrics such as capacity, performance, and licensing.
• Complete daily, weekly, and monthly operational checklists to ensure system reliability.
• Escalate anomalies and issues identified during checklist execution.
• Support continuous improvement of monitoring and checklist processes.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Proven experience in data protection operations within IT/OT environments.
• Working knowledge of Commvault, RecoverPoint, and VMware backup technologies desirable.
• Familiarity with Windows and Linux OS, virtualization, and networking fundamentals (OSI model, TCP/IP, IPv4, LAN/WAN).
• Excellent documentation and reporting skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• High attention to detail and strong analytical skills.
• Effective communication and collaboration with technical and compliance stakeholders.