FREELANCE ENCRYPTION, BACKUP & DISASTER RECOVERY ENGINEER

*FREELANCE ENCRYPTION, BACKUP & DISASTER RECOVERY ENGINEER*

*Engagement:* Freelance / Independent Contractor • Remote • Senior/Expert level

*Focus:* Enterprise Encryption, Backup, Disaster Recovery & Data Resiliency

Hands-on contract for someone comfortable working across enterprise encryption/key management, backup infrastructure, continuous replication, DR, virtualization, storage, and ransomware-resilient recovery. You'll work independently: analyze the environment, implement and maintain configurations, troubleshoot production issues, perform recovery testing, and own delivery end-to-end with minimal supervision. Not primarily an app-development role.

*Key Responsibilities*

*Encryption & Key Management*

* Implement/configure/maintain enterprise encryption platforms

* Encryption at rest policies (databases, filesystems, virtual infra, cloud)

* Administer centralized KMS (CipherTrust Manager or comparable, TDE)

* Key lifecycle: generation, rotation, expiration, access control, backup, recovery

* Administer Luna HSM or similar (partitions, root-key protection)

* Cryptographic operations: key storage, signing, hashing, key wrapping

* Separation of duties, audit & compliance support

*Enterprise Backup & Recovery*

* Manage/optimize enterprise backup environments (virtual, physical, cloud)

* Configure, monitor, troubleshoot backup jobs; drive failures to resolution

* Recurring restore tests; retention, replication, dedup, recovery policies

* Veeam Backup & Replication; hardened Linux repos, immutable backups

* Instant VM Recovery and rapid-restoration workflows

* Dell Avamar & Data Domain (image-level backups, dedup, proxies, restores)

* Storage utilization and repository performance monitoring

*Disaster Recovery & Continuous Replication*

* Design/configure/maintain DR and continuous data protection

* Zerto or comparable: ZVM, VRAs, VPGs, Zerto Journal, checkpoints, replication policies

* Point-in-time recovery for ransomware/corruption/operational scenarios

* Planned failover and failback; non-disruptive DR testing

* Workload mobility between data centers, hypervisors, clouds (AWS, Azure)

* VMware-to-Hyper-V recovery scenarios; validate against RTO/RPO

*Virtualization, Storage & Infrastructure*

* VMware vSphere/ESXi, Hyper-V, SAN/NAS

* Linux & Windows Server, TCP/IP, DNS, firewalls, replication networking

* Troubleshoot infrastructure dependencies affecting backup/encryption/DR

*Security & Ransomware Resilience*

* Immutable backups, hardened repositories, logical isolation

* Hardware-backed key protection; recovery testing from ransomware/corruption

* Align backup/recovery architecture with security requirements

*Required Skills*

Strong hands-on experience with several of: Veeam B&R, Zerto, Dell Avamar, Data Domain, CipherTrust Manager, enterprise KMS, database/file encryption, Luna HSM, VMware vSphere/ESXi, Hyper-V, SAN/NAS, Linux, Windows Server, TCP/IP/DNS/firewalls, DR, CDP, RTO/RPO planning, immutable backup architecture, ransomware recovery. SOC 2 / PCI DSS / HIPAA experience beneficial.

*Strongly Preferred*

Hands-on combination of Zerto + Veeam + CipherTrust/KMS + Luna HSM + Avamar/Data Domain.

*Deliverables*

1. Environment assessment (backup/replication/encryption/KMS/HSM/virtualization/storage)

2. Encryption & key management configuration

3. Backup environment stabilization

4. Immutable / ransomware-resilient backups

5. DR configuration (replication, VPGs, journals, protection policies)

6. Recovery testing (restores, controlled failover exercises)

7. RTO/RPO validation

8. Technical documentation & DR runbooks

9. Knowledge transfer

*Ideal Profile*

~5+ years enterprise infrastructure, data protection, DR, or security engineering; personally configured/troubleshot enterprise backup/DR tech (not just managed teams); investigates independently and owns problems through resolution; clear technical communication and clean documentation.

~5+ years enterprise infrastructure, data protection, DR, or security engineering; personally configured/troubleshot enterprise backup/DR tech (not just managed teams); investigates independently and owns problems through resolution; clear technical communication and clean documentation.

*When Applying, Include*

* Years of backup/DR experience

* Hands-on Veeam experience

* Hands-on Zerto experience (VPGs, VRAs, journals, failover, failback)

* Avamar & Data Domain experience

* CipherTrust Manager or other enterprise KMS experience

* Luna HSM or other HSM experience

* VMware and Hyper-V experience

* One DR or ransomware-recovery project personally implemented + your role

* Current availability and preferred engagement structure

* Distinguish tech you personally administered vs team-managed

*IMPORTANT:* Availability during US Eastern Time (EST) business hours is NON-NEGOTIABLE.