Storage patching SME

Cognizant; Toronto; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Storage Patching Tower Lead (Onshore) to own the firmware/microcode patch lifecycle across a large estate including IBM, Dell EMC, NetApp, and HPE systems. You will coordinate NDU windows, validate health, and drive compliance reporting.

English is mandatory; hybrid onshore work in Canada is required. Responsibilities include patch planning, vendor coordination, RCA, and governance reporting to the Patch Service Lead.

Qualifications

• Experience managing patch lifecycles for large storage estates (IBM, Dell EMC, NetApp, HPE).
• Knowledge of non-disruptive upgrades (NDU) and multipathing validation.
• Familiarity with ITSM processes and change management in enterprise environments.

Responsibilities

• Plan and execute firmware/microcode and array OS patches across IBM, Dell EMC, NetApp, and HPE platforms.
• Plan NDU windows; validate multipathing, failover, and health pre-checks before each window.
• Coordinate SAN/NAS and switch firmware cycles with client L2/L3 teams.
• Maintain EOL/EOS lifecycle tracking, capacity/health pre-checks, and CMDB updates.

Skills

Storage Platforms

Protocols

Patching Tools

ITSM & Vulnerability

Observability

Education

ITIL 4 Foundation

Tools

NetApp ANDU/ActiveIQ

IBM Fix Central

Dell EMC Unisphere

HPE OneView

Ansible

Job description

ROLE SUMMARY

The Storage Patching Tower Lead (Onshore) is the primary storage interface to client L2/L3 and vendor liaisons during Canada hours. This role owns the full storage firmware/microcode patch lifecycle across an 811 PB estate spanning IBM (DS8000/SVC/Storwize), Dell EMC (PowerStore/VMAX/VNX), NetApp (ONTAP), and HPE (3PAR/Primera) platforms — planning non-disruptive upgrades (NDU), validating multipathing and failover health, and owning tower compliance reporting.

ROLE IN THE OPERATING MODEL

• Tower/pod lead and SME for storage patching — primary storage interface to client L2/L3 and vendors-via-client during Canada hours and weekend windows
• Coordinates NDU windows with client L2/L3 and application teams; owns Storage tower compliance reporting
• Operates as storage execution layer under client direction; storage architecture/design remains client L2/L3 owned
• Directs offshore storage SMEs during onshore hours; manages escalation within agreed SLTs

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Plan and execute controller firmware/microcode, array OS (e.g., NetApp ONTAP), and HBA/driver patching across IBM, Dell EMC, NetApp, and HPE arrays
• Plan non-disruptive upgrades (NDU); validate multipathing, failover, and health pre-checks before each window
• Coordinate SAN/NAS and switch firmware (Brocade/Cisco MDS) cycles with client L2/L3
• Maintain EOL/EOS lifecycle tracking, capacity/health pre-checks, and compliance posture; update CMDB
• Perform RCA and rollback; elevate hardware/microcode issues to vendor (via client)
• Author RFC/CAB submissions for storage firmware windows; align with application teams for I/O freeze scheduling
• Own Storage tower compliance reporting; present KPIs to the Patch Service Lead for governance reviews

TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE SCOPE

• Execute controller firmware/microcode and array OS patches across IBM, Dell EMC, NetApp, and HPE platforms
• Plan and validate NDU procedures — multipathing health, controller failover, LUN snapshot pre-checks
• Manage NetApp ONTAP ANDU upgrades — cluster-wide non-disruptive upgrade procedures
• Execute IBM SVC/Storwize rolling node-by-node code upgrades; validate I/O continuity post-upgrade
• Coordinate SAN switch firmware (Brocade/Cisco MDS) cycles; validate fabric health pre/post-change
• Update CMDB firmware levels; close vulnerability tickets; maintain KEDB for recurring firmware issues
• Track vendor firmware advisories (IBM Fix Central, NetApp ONTAP release notes, Dell EMC security advisories)

SKILLS, TOOLS & COMPETENCIES

Primary Skills

• Storage Platforms: IBM DS8000/SVC/Storwize · Dell EMC PowerStore/VMAX/VNX · NetApp ONTAP · HPE 3PAR/Primera
• Protocols: FC SAN (Fibre Channel) · iSCSI · NFS/CIFS · NVMe-oF awareness · Multipathing (MPIO/DM-Multipath)
• Patching Tools: IBM Fix Central · NetApp ANDU/ActiveIQ · Dell EMC Unisphere · HPE OneView · Ansible
• ITSM & Vuln: ServiceNow (Change/CMDB) · Tenable · Qualys · RFC/CAB · KEDB
• Observability: IBM Spectrum Control · NetApp ActiveIQ · Splunk · Dynatrace · Moogsoft

Secondary Skills

• SAN switch (Brocade/Cisco MDS) firmware management and zoning awareness
• Backup infrastructure patching and storage automation/scripting
• Virtualisation datastore (VMware VMFS, vSAN) awareness

CERTIFICATIONS

Mandatory

• ITIL 4 Foundation

Preferred (one or more)

• NetApp Certified Data Administrator (NCDA) or NetApp Certified Implementation Engineer (NCIE)
• Dell EMC Proven Professional — Information Storage and Management (EMCISA)
• SNIA Storage Networking certification (SCSN-E) — plus
• Broadcom/Brocade (BCFP/BCFA) for SAN fabric — advantageous

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience with large enterprise SAN environments (>500 TB / 811 PB scale)
• Dell EMC Unity/PowerStore administration exposure
• Financial services storage patching with regulatory compliance requirements

WORK MODEL & COMMITMENT

• Hours: Canada business hours + weekend NDU change window coverage
• Shift Model: Hybrid onshore; scheduled firmware maintenance windows
• On-Call: Yes — emergency storage firmware events and I/O failure escalations
• Language: English (mandatory)

Compensation: We are offering between $60,000 – $85,000. Applications will be accepted until Aug 21, 2026.Cognizant will only consider applicants for this position who are legally authorized to work in Canada without requiring employer sponsorship, now or at any time in the future.

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.

*Please note, this role is not able to offer visa transfer or sponsorship now or in the future*