Title:  Senior Solutions Architect

Job Summary

We’re looking for a Senior Solutions Architect to lead workload-driven performance engineering for Azure NetApp Files (ANF), one of the fastest-growing, enterprise-grade storage platforms on Microsoft Azure.

This is a high-impact, highly visible role that sits at the intersection of customer-facing architecture, deep performance engineering, and strategic product validation.
You will go beyond slideware by designing, building, and benchmarking real-world workloads at massive scale, and turning those insights into best practices that directly influence customer adoption, competitive wins, and multi-million-dollar deals.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive Performance Engineering at Scale.
• Design and execute performance benchmarks using real-world enterprise workloads.
• Build automated test frameworks and lab environments using Python, CI/CD, and benchmarking tools.
• Analyze throughput, IOPS, latency, and scaling characteristics across workload patterns.
• Deliver data-backed recommendations that shape product usage and customer outcomes.
• Partner with Customers and Accelerate Deals.
• Lead technical workshops, architecture design sessions, and proofs of concept.
• Provide sizing, configuration, and optimization guidance for production deployments.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor on large-scale multi-petabyte opportunities.
• Resolve performance challenges with evidence-based recommendations.
• Create Thought Leadership and Industry Guidance.
• Publish high-quality technical content, reference architectures, and best practices aligned to Microsoft Learn standards.
• Build reusable assets for field teams including guides, proof points, and campaign materials.
• Present at customer briefings, partner sessions, and internal enablement events.
• Collaborate Across Product and Engineering.
• Partner with Microsoft and NetApp engineering on benchmark validation and new feature readiness.
• Influence roadmap priorities through real-world performance insights.
• Help define next-generation performance standards across ANF workloads.

Job Requirements

Must Have

• 10+ years in solutions architecture, performance engineering, cloud infrastructure, or enterprise storage.
• Proven track record influencing customer decisions, accelerating deals, or driving adoption.
• Hands-on experience with performance testing and benchmarking.

Technical Expertise

• Strong Linux systems and TCP/IP networking fundamentals.
• Experience with storage protocols such as NFS, SMB, or object/S3.
• Automation skills in Python, Bash, or similar languages.
• Familiarity with performance tools such as fio, iperf, or workload-specific benchmarks.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure and/or Azure NetApp Files.

Platform Knowledge

• Experience with cloud infrastructure across compute, networking, and storage.
• Experience with VMware on Azure or similar virtualization environments.
• Ability to translate complex performance data into actionable insights.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience publishing industry benchmarks such as SPECstorage.
• Background in HPC, EDA, or large-scale distributed systems.
• Database performance experience across SQL Server, Oracle, or PostgreSQL.
• AI or machine learning workload experience.
• Experience with Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, or observability tools.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.