SAN Storage SME/ Architect

Role Title: Storage Senior SAN SME / Arch

Location: Sheffield/ Hybrid - 60% office and 40% remote

Duration: 30/11/2026

Role Description:

Storage Design & Architecture (SAN Architect)

Role Overview

• We are seeking an experienced Storage / SAN Architect to lead the design and solution architecture of enterprise storage platforms. The ideal candidate will demonstrate confidence, depth, and clarity in storage solution design discussions, with the ability to articulate architectural decisions, trade-offs, and patterns across a range of storage technologies.
• The role requires strong hands-on design experience in at least one major storage domain (block, file, object, or data protection), alongside a solid high-level understanding of the others, enabling well-rounded architectural decision-making even where direct exposure is limited.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end design of enterprise storage solutions, from requirements gathering through to high-level and low-level designs.
• Act as a technical authority in architecture discussions, confidently explaining design choices, limitations, and alternatives.
• Define target-state storage architectures aligned to application, platform, performance, availability, scalability, and resilience requirements.
• Produce clear architecture documentation, including HLDs, LLDs, and design rationales.

Storage Technology Domains

• Design and advise on block, file, and object storage solutions, including suitability for different workload types.
• Contribute to architecture decisions around backup, replication, disaster recovery, and data protection strategies.
• Demonstrate awareness of how different storage paradigms integrate with compute, virtualisation, and container platforms.

While expertise across all storage domains is desirable, strong depth in a subset is acceptable, provided the candidate can demonstrate a sound architectural-level understanding of other storage technologies.

Vendor & Platform Integration

• Design storage solutions integrating with platforms such as VMware (vSphere, vCenter).
• Design solutions using enterprise SAN and NAS platforms (e.g. Pure Storage, Dell, NetApp, HPE or equivalent).
• Evaluate storage platform capabilities and limitations to ensure architectural fit.

Architecture Assurance & Best Practices

• Ensure architectures align with industry best practice for high availability, performance, security, scalability, and operational supportability.
• Review and challenge existing designs, identifying risks, improvements, and optimisation opportunities.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Engage confidently with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Provide clear guidance and design justification during workshops and design reviews.
• Mentor and support engineers on architectural principles and storage design thinking.

Required Skills & Experience

• Proven experience in a Storage Architect or senior storage engineering role with strong design responsibility.
• Demonstrated confidence answering storage solution design and architecture questions.
• Strong knowledge of SAN and enterprise storage technologies.
• In-depth experience in at least one of the following areas: block, file, object storage, or backup/data protection.
• High-level architectural understanding of storage domains beyond direct hands-on experience.
• Experience producing architecture documentation and presenting designs.
• Strong problem-solving and communication skills.

Desirable / Nice to Have

• Experience designing storage for virtualised and container platforms (e.g. OpenShift, Kubernetes).
• Exposure to hybrid or multi-platform storage designs.
• Storage or architecture-related vendor certifications.

Key Traits the Client Is Looking For

• Confidence in architecture discussions.
• Ability to clearly explain design decisions and trade-offs.
• Evidence of hands-on design ownership.
• Pragmatic understanding of multiple storage paradigms.