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 Qualified — 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*

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📌 Storage patching SME (Ontario)
🏢 Cognizant
📍 Ontario