Data Protection Engineer - Backup and Recovery

Job Snapshot

Role: Data Protection Engineer - Backup and Recovery
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Industry: I T and Services
Function: Computer-Network Security
Experience: Minimum 5 years

Data Protection Engineer - Backup and Recovery in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is an I T and Services opportunity focused on enterprise backup platforms, cloud data protection, disaster recovery, cyber resilience, and secure data lifecycle management. Al-Futtaim is hiring an experienced engineer to manage global backup operations across cloud and on-premises environments while improving availability, compliance, recovery readiness, and protection against ransomware.

Country: United Arab Emirates
City: Dubai
Industry: I T and Services
Function: Computer-Network Security
Salary: 18000-28000 Estimated salary range based on similar jobs in the job city; please confirm the final offer with the employer.
Gender: Any
Candidate Nationality: Any
Job Type: Full-time

The Data Protection Engineer will maintain the systems that safeguard critical business information across regional and global technology environments. The position covers backup architecture, platform administration, cloud workload protection, recovery testing, retention governance, storage optimization, and security hardening. Reliable execution will strengthen business continuity, reduce data-loss exposure, improve disaster recovery performance, and ensure backup operations remain aligned with legal, regulatory, and operational requirements.

• Design, deploy, and manage enterprise backup and recovery solutions across cloud and on-premises infrastructure.
• Maintain data protection platforms in accordance with internal security standards, regulatory obligations, and business continuity requirements.
• Administer the complete lifecycle of Veritas NetBackup, Cohesity, Veeam, or comparable enterprise backup technologies.
• Plan and execute upgrades for backup master servers, media servers, appliances, agents, and supporting software.
• Coordinate platform health checks with technology vendors and implement approved best-practice recommendations.
• Modernize cloud backup capabilities to protect platform services, managed databases, containers, and newer application workloads.
• Extend backup coverage to Azure SQL Database, Azure Kubernetes Service, and other Microsoft Azure services.
• Standardize backup platforms and operating procedures across regions to improve efficiency and service consistency.
• Reduce manual tape-handling dependencies by introducing centralized and automated protection processes.
• Monitor backup availability, system performance, security posture, storage usage, and operational health.
• Work with application owners to define retention schedules based on business, legal, audit, and regulatory needs.
• Review protected datasets periodically and adjust storage lifecycle policies when requirements change.
• Generate daily, weekly, and monthly reports covering backup success, failures, capacity, trends, and unresolved issues.
• Investigate failed backup jobs, identify root causes, and implement corrective actions within required timelines.
• Manage backed-up data from initial retention through archival, expiry, and secure disposal.
• Review orphaned, expired, and duplicated backup images to optimize storage consumption.
• Transfer long-term retention data to approved cloud archival storage.
• Ensure physical backup media is securely vaulted at authorized offsite facilities.
• Maintain accurate records for active, expired, retired, transferred, and destroyed storage media.
• Oversee secure media disposal in accordance with the organization 's Data Disposal Policy.
• Conduct scheduled restoration tests to confirm backup integrity and recoverability.
• Validate that recovery processes meet agreed Recovery Time Objectives and Recovery Point Objectives.
• Address restoration gaps, performance issues, and procedural weaknesses identified during testing.
• Lead data restoration activities following system failure, accidental deletion, corruption, or disaster.
• Document recovery procedures and ensure restoration steps remain current and repeatable.
• Track backup capacity growth and forecast future storage, licensing, hardware, and cloud requirements.
• Apply current security patches to backup servers, appliances, operating systems, and management components.
• Implement risk mitigation measures for vulnerabilities that cannot be patched immediately.
• Enforce encryption for backup data during transmission, storage, retrieval, and restoration.
• Use immutable storage technologies to protect backup data against ransomware and unauthorized alteration.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, cloud, application, security, compliance, and business continuity teams.
• Support audits and provide evidence covering backup policies, retention, recovery testing, media handling, and platform security.

The successful candidate will hold a bachelor 's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline. Applicants should have at least five years of hands‑on experience in enterprise backup, recovery, data protection, disaster recovery, or cyber resilience. A minimum of three years administering platforms such as Cohesity, Veritas NetBackup, or Veeam is required. Practical experience protecting Microsoft Azure platform services is essential, including Azure SQL Database and other managed workloads. Exposure to Azure Kubernetes Service and containerized application backup is also required. Candidates must hold an enterprise backup certification related to Cohesity, Veritas NetBackup, Veeam, or an equivalent platform. Microsoft Azure certification at AZ-104 level or higher is mandatory. The role requires strong knowledge of backup architecture, retention policies, storage lifecycle management, encryption, immutable storage, recovery testing, ransomware protection, and regulatory compliance. Applicants should communicate confidently with technical teams, business owners, vendors, auditors, and application stakeholders while enforcing compliant backup and retention practices.

• Enterprise backup administration
• Data protection engineering
• Backup architecture
• Disaster recovery
• Cyber resilience
• Veritas NetBackup
• Cohesity
• Veeam
• Microsoft Azure
• Azure SQL Database backup
• Azure Kubernetes Service backup
• Container backup
• PaaS workload protection
• Cloud backup
• On-premises backup
• Master server administration
• Media server administration
• Backup appliance management
• Backup platform upgrades
• Recovery Time Objectives
• Recovery Point Objectives
• Data restoration
• Recovery testing
• Backup integrity validation
• Storage lifecycle policies
• Retention management
• Archival storage
• Tape vaulting
• Media lifecycle management
• Secure media disposal
• Backup reporting
• Failure analysis
• Storage capacity planning
• Encryption
• Immutable storage
• Ransomware protection
• Security patching
• Regulatory compliance
• Business continuity
• Vendor coordination

This opportunity provides exposure to large-scale data protection operations across Al-Futtaim 's diversified technology environment. The engineer will work with enterprise backup platforms, Microsoft Azure services, modern container workloads, archival storage, recovery programs, and security controls that support critical business systems. Organizations increasingly depend on secure, immutable, and regularly tested backups to withstand cyber incidents, infrastructure failures, and regulatory scrutiny. Strong performance in this role can support advancement into senior data protection engineering, disaster recovery leadership, cloud resilience, infrastructure architecture, or cybersecurity operations.

Al-Futtaim is a diversified privately held regional business headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its operations span automotive, financial services, real estate, retail, and healthcare across more than 20 countries. The group continues to invest in secure digital infrastructure, cloud services, enterprise technology, and business continuity capabilities that support its customers, employees, brands, and regional operations.