Title:  Escalation Engineer

LOCATION REQUIREMENT

Candidates must be located in Raleigh, NC or Wichita, KS. This role follows our hybrid work model, requiring three days per week in one of the office locations listed above. Candidates not currently located or willing to relocate themselves in the listed locations will be automatically disqualified. 

JOB SUMMARY

This is an advanced technical leadership role responsible for escalation management, coaching, mentoring, and technical oversight for NetApp Cloud solutions. The Escalation Engineer provides expert support to customers, support personnel, and field teams through advanced diagnosis, troubleshooting, debugging, and resolution of complex software, hardware, networking, storage, and cloud platform issues. This role partners closely with Engineering, Product Management, Hyperscaler cloud providers, and the Critical Account Program to drive critical customer issues to resolution while serving as a technical mentor for a team of Technical Support Engineers. 

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Serve as the primary technical consultant and escalation resource for Technical Support Engineers, Technical Support Managers, and support partners.
• Mentor and guide Technical Support Engineers in advanced troubleshooting, root cause analysis, customer communication, and escalation management.
• Lead complex problem resolution efforts requiring extensive analysis, troubleshooting, root cause determination, and escalation to Product Development.
• Investigate platform, product, cloud infrastructure, networking, storage, and service-related issues across multiple technology layers.
• Conduct advanced troubleshooting of backend systems, logs, telemetry, and databases to identify and resolve customer-impacting issues.
• Respond to incoming customer cases as backup support during peak operational periods.
• Participate in an on-call rotation and provide after-hours support for urgent escalations as required.
• Analyze and resolve complex technical and functional issues requiring deviation from standard procedures and independent judgment.
• Lead customer meetings, technical bridge calls, status reviews, and executive communications throughout the escalation lifecycle.
• Identify, propose, and drive improvements to escalation processes, troubleshooting methodologies, and support workflows.
• Develop and deliver technical training, brown-bag sessions, and knowledge-sharing programs.

Troubleshooting Expertise

The right candidate will posess a strong udnerstanding of troubleshooting expertise in:

• NetApp hardware, software, ONTAP, and Cloud solutions.
• Public cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI, with the ability to troubleshoot cloud-native infrastructure and services.
• Enterprise storage and networking infrastructure in cloud and distributed environments.
• Storage protocols including iSCSI, NFS, and SMB/CIFS.
• Windows and Linux file services, operating systems, and enterprise application environments.
• Remote authentication and identity technologies such as LDAP, Active Directory, SAML, and related integrations.
• Data protection, backup, recovery, replication, and disaster recovery technologies.
• REST APIs, automation concepts, and cloud service integrations.
• Networking concepts including routing, DNS, firewalls, connectivity, latency, and performance troubleshooting.
• Debugging tools, log analysis, fault isolation, and root cause analysis methodologies.
• Multipathing software, volume managers, file systems, and backup software.
• Enterprise customer support and critical issue management in high-pressure environments.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline; or equivalent combination of education, certifications, and relevant experience.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in technical support, cloud operations, systems engineering, storage, networking, or a related technical field.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex technical escalations and cross-functional investigations.
• Proven ability to mentor and develop senior technical support engineers.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with customers, executives, engineering teams, and support partners.
• Experience working with global enterprise customers and geographically distributed teams.
• Demonstrated participation in multiple complex technical projects and initiatives.
• Strong aptitude for learning new technologies and applying them in customer-facing environments.
• Ability to apply sound engineering principles, exercise independent judgment, and take a creative approach to problem-solving.