Manager, Storage and Virtualization

Department

OPS ITS - Storage and Virtualization

About the Department

IT Services (ITS) collaborates with campus partners to support the mission of the University of Chicago through the consistent delivery of high-quality solutions and services. We provide secure, stable, and reliable infrastructure and applications that support the mission of the University. ITS supports and enables faculty research and teaching with the effective use of technology, simplifies the technology experience for all users, identifies, manages, and mitigates technology risks for the University.

Job Summary

The Manager, Storage and Virtualization manages and directs a team of engineers and administrators responsible for the design, implementation, operation, and lifecycle management of the University’s enterprise storage, virtualization, and data protection infrastructure. This includes storage area networks (SAN), network-attached storage (NAS), hyperconverged and converged virtualization platforms, and enterprise backup and recovery systems. This role drives infrastructure refresh initiatives, vendor evaluations, and capacity planning to ensure high availability, scalability, and cost efficiency across production environments. The Manager reports to the Deputy CTO, Infrastructure and Operations and coordinates closely with peer managers in networking, applications, and project management.

Responsibilities

• Manages the enterprise storage environment including SAN, NAS, and object storage platforms.
• Directs capacity planning, performance tuning, and lifecycle management to ensure data availability, integrity, and compliance with institutional requirements.
• Oversees the virtualization platform including VMware vSphere, vSAN, and hyperconverged infrastructure.
• Plans and executes hardware refresh cycles, platform migrations, and consolidation initiatives to optimize cost and performance.
• Directs the enterprise backup and data protection program including backup infrastructure, disaster recovery planning, and ransomware protection capabilities.
• Ensures recovery objectives are met across all production workloads.
• Leads vendor evaluation, RFP processes, and contract negotiations for storage, virtualization, and data protection technologies.
• Develops and presents business cases with total cost of ownership analysis to support.
• Manages cross-departmental infrastructure projects including platform consolidations, datacenter migrations, and workload transitions.
• Coordinates with networking, application, and project management teams to ensure timely delivery.
• Supervises, mentors, and develops a team of storage engineers and systems administrators; conducts performance evaluations, identifies skills gaps, and implements training and professional development plans.
• Establishes and maintains operational standards, procedures, and documentation for storage, virtualization, and backup environments; drives automation and process improvement to enhance reliability and reduce manual effort.
• Ensures the implementation of approved best practices and information technology policies that result in the highest quality systems administration.
• Manages the creation of standards and procedures to maintain production servers that run the operating system. Manages the installation, configuration, and maintenance of operating systems and utility software.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Experience:

• 7+ years of work experience in enterprise storage, virtualization, or data center infrastructure.
• Minimum 2 years in a supervisory or team lead capacity.
• Effective communicator able to present technical concepts and business cases to senior leadership.
• Demonstrated success leading infrastructure refresh and consolidation projects with multi-stakeholder coordination.
• ​Managing vendor relationships, conducting RFPs, and negotiating enterprise technology contracts.
• Background in higher education or research-intensive environments.

Certifications

• VMware VCP, Dell/EMC, or equivalent storage certifications.

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Deep expertise in VMware vSphere, vSAN, and hyperconverged infrastructure platforms, such as Dell VxRail.
• Strong experience with enterprise SAN and NAS platforms, including Dell Unity, PowerScale/Isilon, Pure Storage, and NetApp.
• Familiar with enterprise backup and data protection solutions, such as Dell PowerProtect, Avamar, and IDPA, including ransomware protection capabilities.
• Understanding of load balancing technologies, specifically F5, HAProxy, and infrastructure automation tools.
• Explore and adopt AI tools to enhance operational efficiency, decision-making, and team productivity.

Working Conditions

• Hybrid, on-site and remote as determined by business needs.

Application Documents

• Resume/CV (required)
• Cover Letter (required)
• References Contact Information (3)(required)

Job Family

Information Technology

Role Impact

People Manager

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type

Salary

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FLSA Status

Exempt

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Pay Range

$167,811.96

The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

 

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

 

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history.  A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment.  Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

 

The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at: http://securityreport.uchicago.edu. Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637.