Sr Disaster Recovery (DR) Engineer (Azure)

Role Overview

We are seeking a highly experienced Azure Cloud Architect / Disaster Recovery (DR) Engineer to design, implement, and validate enterprise-grade Disaster Recovery (DR) solutions for predominantly VM-based workloads migrating from on-premises data centers to Microsoft Azure.

This role is hands-on and execution-focused. The ideal candidate will have deep experience in building DR solutions for infrastructure-heavy environments, ensuring systems can be recovered reliably within defined Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO).

The candidate will be responsible for translating business continuity requirements into practical DR implementations, conducting DR testing, and ensuring operational readiness.

Key Responsibilities

DR Strategy & Architecture

• Design Disaster Recovery strategies aligned to business-defined RTO and RPO requirements
• Define appropriate DR patterns such as:
• Backup & Restore
• Pilot Light
• Warm Standby
• Active-Passive
• Map applications and systems to DR tiers based on criticality and recovery requirements
• Design DR architectures for VM-based and legacy applications hosted in data centers and Azure
• Develop cross-region and hybrid DR strategies (on-prem → Azure)

Hands-On Implementation

• Implement DR solutions using Azure-native services:
• Azure Site Recovery (ASR) for VM replication
• Azure Backup and Recovery Services Vault
• Azure Storage redundancy (LRS, ZRS, GRS, RA-GRS)
• Configure replication, backup policies, and recovery vaults
• Implement automated failover and failback processes
• Build Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform, ARM, or Bicep
• Ensure application-consistent backups for stateful systems
• Support DR setup for databases (Azure SQL, VM-based databases)

DR Validation & Testing

• Plan and execute DR drills (failover and failback testing)
• Validate actual RTO and RPO against defined targets
• Develop and maintain DR runbooks and recovery procedures
• Identify gaps and continuously improve DR readiness
• Coordinate DR testing across infrastructure, application, and database layers

Networking & Connectivity

• Design and implement network failover strategies for DR environments
• Implement DNS-based failover strategies using Azure Traffic Manager
• Ensure seamless connectivity and routing during failover scenarios
• Handle IP addressing and network dependencies for replicated environments

Monitoring, Governance & Compliance

• Monitor DR readiness, replication health, and backup status using Azure Monitor and Log Analytics
• Configure alerts for backup failures, replication issues, and DR risks
• Ensure backup immutability and retention policies are enforced
• Maintain DR documentation, audit logs, and recovery evidence
• Support compliance and audit requirements (e.g., HIPAA, SOC, ISO where applicable)

Collaboration & Leadership

• Work with infrastructure, application, and database teams to onboard systems into DR
• Act as subject matter expert (SME) for DR implementation

Required Skills & Experience

Core Technical Skills

• 10+ years of experience in cloud or infrastructure engineering, with strong focus on Microsoft Azure
• Proven hands-on experience implementing DR solutions for VM-based environments
• Deep understanding of:
• RTO (Recovery Time Objective)
• RPO (Recovery Point Objective)
• Business Continuity Planning (BCP)
• Strong experience with:
• Azure Site Recovery (ASR)
• Azure Backup and Recovery Services Vault