Senior Mainframe Storage Administrator

Job Title: Senior Mainframe Storage Administrator
Location: Remote
Employment Type: Long-Term Contract
Experience: 14+ Years

Job Summary

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Mainframe Storage Administrator with 12+ years of hands-on experience supporting enterprise IBM z/OS storage environments.

The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in IBM z/OS Storage Management, Hitachi Disk Storage (HDS/VSP/USP/VSP G Series), IBM Virtual Tape Systems (VTS/VTL), DFSMS, SMS, ACS routines, DASD management, storage provisioning, migration, performance tuning, backup/recovery, and capacity planning.

The successful candidate will be responsible for administering, monitoring, optimizing, and troubleshooting enterprise mainframe storage infrastructure in a 24x7 production environment. The role will work closely with Mainframe System Programmers, application teams, infrastructure teams, and other technical stakeholders to ensure storage availability, performance, scalability, and reliability.

Key Responsibilities

Mainframe Storage Administration

• Administer and support enterprise IBM z/OS storage environments in a 24x7 production environment.
• Manage and maintain DASD storage across enterprise mainframe environments.
• Perform storage allocation, provisioning, migration, reclamation, and optimization activities.
• Monitor storage availability, utilization, capacity, and performance.
• Troubleshoot complex storage-related production incidents and implement permanent resolutions.
• Support storage standards, operational procedures, and best practices.

Hitachi Disk Storage

• Administer and support Hitachi Disk Storage environments.
• Work with Hitachi storage platforms including:
  • HDS
  • VSP
  • USP
  • VSP G Series
• Perform storage provisioning, configuration, migration, monitoring, and troubleshooting.
• Support storage subsystem upgrades and infrastructure changes.
• Analyze storage performance and identify opportunities for optimization.

DFSMS / SMS / ACS

• Administer and support DFSMS environments.
• Configure and maintain SMS policies and Storage Groups.
• Develop, maintain, and troubleshoot ACS routines.
• Support automated storage management and allocation policies.
• Monitor SMS-managed storage environments and resolve allocation or policy-related issues.
• Troubleshoot DFSMS-related storage problems and performance issues.

Virtual Tape & Physical Tape

• Administer and support IBM Virtual Tape Systems (VTS) and/or Virtual Tape Libraries (VTL).
• Support physical tape environments and tape-related storage operations.
• Monitor tape utilization and capacity.
• Troubleshoot virtual and physical tape issues.
• Support tape migration, reclamation, backup, and recovery activities.

Storage Performance & Capacity Management

• Monitor storage utilization and identify capacity requirements.
• Perform storage capacity planning, forecasting, and optimization.
• Analyze storage performance and identify bottlenecks.
• Monitor DASD utilization, I/O performance, and storage subsystem health.
• Recommend and implement performance improvements.
• Support enterprise storage growth and scalability planning.

Backup, Recovery & Disaster Recovery

• Support mainframe backup and recovery operations.
• Participate in storage replication and disaster recovery activities.
• Validate storage availability and data recoverability.
• Support disaster recovery testing and recovery procedures.
• Troubleshoot storage-related backup and recovery issues.
• Ensure storage configurations support business continuity and recovery requirements.

Storage Migration & Upgrades

• Plan and execute storage migration and provisioning activities.
• Coordinate storage hardware and software upgrades.
• Validate storage configurations before and after upgrades.
• Support migration activities with minimal impact to production workloads.
• Work with infrastructure and system programming teams to plan storage changes.

Production Support & Troubleshooting

• Provide 24x7 production support and participate in on-call rotations as required.
• Troubleshoot complex mainframe storage incidents.
• Perform root-cause analysis and implement corrective actions.
• Collaborate with Mainframe System Programmers and infrastructure teams to resolve cross-platform issues.
• Support maintenance activities, incident management, and change implementation.

Documentation & Collaboration

• Create and maintain:
  • Storage architecture and configuration documentation
  • Operational procedures
  • Troubleshooting guides
  • Storage standards
  • Migration and implementation plans
• Maintain accurate documentation for storage environments and operational processes.
• Work closely with System Programmers, Application Teams, Infrastructure Teams, Storage Engineers, and other stakeholders.
• Participate in technical discussions, project planning, and infrastructure initiatives.

Required Technical Skills

Mainframe Storage – Mandatory

• 12+ years of Mainframe Storage Administration experience
• Strong hands-on experience with IBM z/OS Storage Management
• DASD management
• Storage allocation and provisioning
• Storage migration
• Storage reclamation
• Storage monitoring
• Storage performance tuning
• Storage capacity planning

Hitachi Storage – Mandatory

Hands-on experience with one or more of the following Hitachi platforms:

• HDS
• Hitachi VSP
• USP
• VSP G Series

DFSMS / SMS – Mandatory

• DFSMS
• SMS
• ACS routines
• Storage Groups
• Storage policies and management
• Automated storage allocation and management

Virtual Tape – Required

• IBM VTS
• VTL
• Physical tape environments
• Tape management and utilization
• Backup and recovery

Performance & Operations

• Storage performance analysis
• I/O performance troubleshooting
• Capacity management
• Storage monitoring
• Production incident troubleshooting
• Root-cause analysis
• Backup/recovery processes
• Disaster recovery support

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting large-scale enterprise 24x7 mainframe environments.
• Experience with storage replication technologies.
• Experience supporting enterprise Disaster Recovery (DR) environments.
• Experience coordinating storage hardware and software upgrades.
• Experience with storage migration and modernization projects.
• Strong understanding of enterprise security, audit, compliance, and operational policies.
• Experience working with Mainframe System Programmers and infrastructure engineering teams.
• Strong technical documentation and project coordination experience.

Key Competencies

• Mainframe Storage Administration
• IBM z/OS Storage Management
• Hitachi HDS / VSP / USP / VSP G Series
• DASD Management
• DFSMS / SMS / ACS Routines
• IBM VTS / VTL
• Storage Provisioning & Migration
• Storage Performance Optimization
• Capacity Planning
• Backup & Recovery
• Disaster Recovery
• Production Support
• Root Cause Analysis
• Enterprise Storage Management
• Cross-functional Collaboration