Lead Engineer - Storage and Data Protection

Core42; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 360,000 - 600,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Yearly bonus

Discount cards (Esaad, Fazaa)

Family health insurance

Learning & Development access

Job summary

Core42 is seeking a Lead Engineer for Storage and Data Protection in Abu Dhabi. You will design, implement and mentor teams across block, file, and object storage within Cloud and HPC environments, ensuring performance, security and reliability.

You will lead DR planning, observability, and collaboration with security and operations to enhance storage platforms and incident response. Strong Linux and scripting skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master in computer science, engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years designing, implementing, and managing large-scale storage and data protection platforms.
• 2+ years leading a team of engineers (3+ members).
• Strong hands-on with software-defined storage across block, file, and object storage.

Responsibilities

• Design and co-create PB-scale storage solutions for Cloud/HPC.
• Lead storage and backup service implementation and lifecycle management.
• Collaborate on technology evaluation, integration and roadmap execution.
• Provide Level 3 expert support including on-call and root-cause analysis.
• Mentor storage engineers and ensure high technical quality and delivery.

Skills

Storage design

Team leadership

Linux expertise

Storage protocols

OpenShift/Kubernetes

Automation scripting

Education

Bachelor’s or Master in CS/Engineering

Tools

Zabbix

Nagios

Prometheus

Grafana

ELK stack

Job description

Lead Engineer – Storage and Data Protection, Core42, Abu Dhabi - UAE

About Us

Core42, a leader in AI-powered cloud and digital infrastructure, is driving transformative technology solutions globally. Leveraging advanced resources and partnerships, Core42 empowers clients to harness sovereign AI infrastructure, especially in sectors with stringent regulatory needs. With a mission to redefine digital transformation, we combine sovereign capabilities with scalable, high-performance compute infrastructure, positioning itself at the forefront of AI innovation in the Middle East and beyond.

The opportunity

The Lead Engineer – Storage and Data Protection contributes to the design, leads implementation, and provides Level 3 expert support for large-scale storage infrastructure, ensuring high levels of performance, scalability, reliability and security. The role acts as a key subject matter expert and technical lead for engineers responsible for block, file, object storage, and backup across Cloud and HPC environments.

Your key responsibilities

• Co-design, implement and manage PBs-scale block, file, and object storage solutions as core components of Cloud and HPC environments.
• Lead the implementation and lifecycle management of storage and backup services across production and non-production environments.
• Collaborate with architecture and platform engineering teams on technology evaluation, selection, integration, and solution design.
• Support the execution of storage roadmaps, standards, and service improvements across the organization.
• Lead capacity planning activities to ensure storage platforms meet current and future demand.
• Improve storage platform reliability by identifying failure points, strengthening high availability, and reducing operational risk.
• Analyze and implement performance optimization strategies to improve storage efficiency, throughput, latency, and resource utilization.
• Evaluate and integrate advanced storage technologies, including software-defined storage, clustered file systems, and object storage platforms.
• Define and execute disaster recovery and data protection strategies, ensuring data integrity, availability and recoverability.
• Design and enhance storage observability, logging, and monitoring capabilities in collaboration with observability, platforms and operations teams.
• Provide level 3 expert support, including on-call support, root cause analysis, complex troubleshooting, and escalation management with vendor support.
• Lead and mentor storage engineers, ensuring technical quality, execution discipline, and knowledge sharing.
• Collaborate with security teams to ensure storage and backup platforms are secure, hardened, and compliant with cybersecurity requirements.
• Create and maintain documentation, including implementation guides, operational procedures, diagrams, and knowledge base articles.
• Work with process and operations teams to improve support models, operational workflows, and collaboration efficiency.

Other Responsibilities

• Comply with applicable laws, regulations, international standards and related G42 Policies and Procedures.
• Comply with G42 Acceptable Use Policy, attend mandatory information security, privacy, business continuity and HSE trainings.
• Report information security, HSE etc. incidents or suspect incidents through G42 established incident reporting channels.
• Maintain confidentiality of information and classify and handle information as per G42 Policies and Procedures.

What we’re looking for

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in computer science, engineering, software engineering or related technology discipline.
• 7+ years of hands‑on experience designing, implementing, and managing large-scale storage and data protection platforms.
• 2+ years of experience leading a team of 3+ engineers, with accountability for technical quality and timely delivery.
• Strong hands‑on experience with software-defined storage solutions across block, file, and object storage services.
• Deep expertise with storage platforms from vendors such as HPE, Dell, NetApp, Hitachi, IBM, Pure Storage, or VAST DATA.
• Strong knowledge of storage protocols and interfaces such as iSCSI, S3, NFS, NVMe/TCP, and related technologies.
• Proficiency in Linux administration, Linux kernel concepts, and storage stack troubleshooting.
• Advanced experience with object storage platforms such as Red Hat Ceph, Scality, MinIO, Cloudian, Qumulo S3, and Dell ECS.
• Experience with cloud-native backup and DR solutions for OpenStack, such as Trilio, Hystax, Rubrik, or Zerto, is highly desirable.
• Experience designing or managing clustered and parallel file systems such as Lustre, GPFS, or similar platforms is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with container platforms such as OpenShift, Kubernetes, and Docker, including container storage concepts such as CSI and PVC.
• Experience integrating identity, access management, and authorization solutions such as PKI, LDAP, OAuth, OpenID Connect.
• Strong knowledge of backup systems, disaster recovery principles, data protection strategies, RPO/RTO and recovery validation.
• Familiarity with load balancing technologies for object storage and highly available storage services.
• Strong knowledge of encryption, hardening, security controls, and compliance requirements for storage and backup platforms.
• Solid understanding of data center networking concepts and technologies, including the OSI model, TCP/IP, firewalls, routing, VLAN/VXLAN and related protocols.
• Hands‑on experience with monitoring and observability tools such as Zabbix, Nagios, Prometheus, Grafana, and the ELK Stack.
• Understanding of CI/CD principles, Infrastructure as Code, and software‑defined infrastructure practices.
• Advanced scripting or programming skills using Python, Go, Bash, or similar languages.

What working at Core42 offers

With a diverse team of 1,100+ employees from 68 nationalities, we foster an inclusive, innovative and collaborative environment. At Core42, we foster a culture grounded in trust, accountability and high performance. We are united by our values: Grit, where we overcome challenges with resilience and determination, Passion, which drives us to pursue excellence in everything we do, and Impact, as we aim to inspire progress and create meaningful change. Our team members thrive in an environment where each person’s contributions propel us forward, and together, we commit to achieving extraordinary results.

• Competitive Salary: We offer an attractive salary package based on your skills and experience
• Yearly Bonus: In recognition of your contributions, you will receive a performance-based annual bonus
• Exclusive Discount Cards: Access special benefits with Esaad and Fazaa cards, offering discounts across a wide range of services
• Premium Family Insurance: We provide comprehensive health coverage, including dental, vision and life insurance, ensuring the well‑being of you and your family
• Learning & Development: We offer access to top-tier learning platforms to help you grow in your career. Learn at your own pace with unlimited access to premium courses.