Overview
Data Protection & Operations Specialist
1. Cork based fully onsite.
Eir evo are seeking a proactive and detail-oriented Data Protection & Operations Specialist to work onsite with our client in Cork to manage and maintain the day-to-day operations of IT and OT data protection infrastructure.
This role is critical to ensuring the integrity, availability, and recoverability of enterprise data across backup, restore, replication, and tape management processes.
The successful candidate will support compliance efforts, contribute to documentation and reporting, and collaborate with technical teams to uphold data protection standards.
A secondary responsibility includes monitoring IT infrastructure health and completing regular operational checklists to ensure system reliability and performance.
Key Responsibilities
Backup & Restore Operations
2. Monitor daily backup jobs and investigate any errors, warnings, or failures; resolve or escalate as appropriate.
3. Perform scheduled and ad-hoc restores to validate backup integrity and support operational, disaster recovery, and cyber recovery needs.
4. Maintain and execute infrastructure operations checklists, escalating anomalies as required.
5. Ensure timely resolution of backup/restore related support tickets
6. Maintain Commvault Clients, Storage Resources, Storage Policies & Schedule Policies
7. Coordination of legacy tape restore requests with third party vendor
Documentation & Reporting
8. Develop and maintain procedural documentation and wiki articles for common data protection tasks (e.g., server onboarding, restore procedures, replication checks).
9. Build and manage Commvault dashboards and reports, including: Executive summary status reports (daily, weekly, monthly)
Capacity planning and health reports
Custom reports for specific teams (e.g., database, data warehouse)
Infrastructure & Patch Management
Coordinate regular patching and updates across:
10. Commvault Software Maintenance Releases and Feature Releases
11. Commvault Distributed Software
12. Media agent OS/BIOS/firmware
13. Tape library firmware
14. Commvault server OS patching
Commvault User Access Administration
15. Manage Commvault user accounts, including MFA configuration and access reviews.
16. Ensure licensing capacity and data ageing policies are monitored and maintained.
Replication & Virtualization
17. Monitor and report on replication jobs (RecoverPoint, Commvault Dash copies, database DR copies).
18. Perform VMware data protection tasks, including snapshots and VM restores.
Tape Library & Offsite Rotation
19. Oversee tape library operations: Cleaning cycles, tape ordering, labelling, and scratch media replenishment
Daily ejection of cyber-protect media
Hardware installation and replacement coordination
20. Managing data retention and disposal under information governance guidelines and ensuring compliance with legal requirements
21. Manage offsite tape rotation: Liaise with third-party storage providers
Maintain inventory and disposal logs
Ensure compliance with secure storage requirements
22. Liaise with staff in Disaster Recovery site regarding tape rotation process
Procurement & Vendor Coordination
23. Raise purchase requests for data protection-related items (e.g., tapes, support contracts, offsite storage).
24. Support vendor coordination for hardware and service delivery.
Infrastructure Monitoring & Checklist Execution
25. Monitor the general health of IT infrastructure components, including physical hardware, virtual environments, disk libraries, and media agents.
26. Track infrastructure metrics such as capacity, performance, and licensing.
27. Complete daily, weekly, and monthly operational checklists to ensure system reliability.
28. Escalate anomalies and issues identified during checklist execution.
29. Support continuous improvement of monitoring and checklist processes.
Key Skills & Experience
30. Proven experience in data protection operations within IT/OT environments.
31. Working knowledge of Commvault, RecoverPoint, and VMware backup technologies desirable.
32. Familiarity with Windows and Linux OS, virtualization, and networking fundamentals (OSI model, TCP/IP, IPv4, LAN/WAN).
33. Excellent documentation and reporting skills.
34. Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
35. High attention to detail and strong analytical skills.
36. Effective communication and collaboration with technical and compliance stakeholders.
REF: EVO