Lead Data Center Technician

About Backblaze

Backblaze is the object storage leader in the open cloud movement, fueling customer success with cloud storage built purposefully to unlock budgets, unburden administrators, and unleash innovators. Together with our partners, we’re helping customers break free from the restrictive, overpriced legacy solutions that hold them back and blaze forward with the full power of the open cloud in their hands.

Founded in 2007, we scaled the business with less than $3 million in outside funding until 2021, when we did a traditional IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Today, Backblaze generates over $125m in revenue and is the leading specialized storage cloud, managing over three billion gigabytes of data storage for 500K+ customers in 175+ countries, including businesses, developers, IT professionals, and individuals.

But while there is a lot to celebrate in our past, there is almost as much opportunity ahead of us. We are seeking a Lead Data Center Technician to join our team!

About the Role

Backblaze is seeking a Lead Datacenter Technician to help guide, coordinate, and contribute directly to our datacenter operations. This role combines hands-on technical work with leadership, planning, and collaboration across engineering and operations. You’ll be joining a team of individuals with a wide range of talents, experience, and backgrounds—so strong communication and respect for team dynamics are essential. As a lead, your influence sets the tone: helping the team stay productive, stay aligned, and keep morale high—even when the unexpected hits.

What You'll Do:

Team Leadership & Coordination

• Lead and delegate daily tasks among datacenter technicians, ensuring effective execution of fallout remediation, server deployments, and ongoing projects.
• Adapt to shifting priorities and unexpected incidents with calm direction and clear communication.
• Serve as an escalation point and act on behalf of the Datacenter Technician Manager when needed.
• Participation in an on-call rotation, and availability for expedited project work or maintenance windows as required.
• Contribute to a positive, supportive team environment where respect, trust, and humor go a long way.

Technical Operations

• Oversee storage vault and core server deployments, hardware upgrades, and network infrastructure setup.
• Monitor and address fallout (e.g., drive replacements, pod repairs, server anomalies) in a timely, organized fashion.
• Maintain server cabinet layouts for optimal power, airflow, and scalability.
• Manage hardware receiving, inventorying, and lifecycle tracking from delivery through deployment or decommissioning.

Incident Response & Problem Management

• Lead incident response efforts from the datacenter side, coordinating hands-on troubleshooting and clear cross-team communication.
• Participate in post-incident reviews and root cause analysis, proposing practical corrective actions.
• Collaborate with NOC and Engineering teams on monitoring improvements and tooling feedback.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Engineering and Operations teams to plan infrastructure rollouts and validate readiness during transition-to-operations.
• Test new hardware and workflows, sharing feedback to improve automation and deployment practices.
• Help document and refine best practices and processes for scalable, repeatable execution.

Environmental & Inventory Oversight

• Ensure a clean, safe, and organized datacenter environment.
• Track and replenish inventory of critical supplies—cables, power equipment, components—before they become blockers.
• Oversee asset lifecycle tasks including RMA processing, hardware harvesting, and equipment audits.

The Right Fit:

• 5+ years in datacenter operations or infrastructure hardware support, including team leadership responsibilities.
• Strong knowledge of server hardware, physical deployments, cable management, and power systems.
• Experience coordinating technical teams and adapting to real-time operational changes.
• Calm, methodical approach to incident response and troubleshooting.
• Excellent communication skills, with an emphasis on clarity, collaboration, and team morale.
• Ability to lift up to ~50 lbs and work in rack-based physical environments.
• Willingness to work flexible or off-hours in support of the team and critical issues.

Bonus Points For:

• Solid understanding of IP networking fundamentals; familiarity with configuring switches and basic network troubleshooting.
• Comfort using Linux CLI for diagnostics or management tasks.
• Exposure to incident management workflows, ticketing systems, and structured documentation.
• Familiarity with transition-to-operations processes, hardware testing, or provisioning workflows.
• The ability to “multi-class” across deployment, planning, troubleshooting, and team leadership—bonus points if you’re the kind of person who keeps morale high during boss fights (literal or metaphorical).
• Experience working with Ansible and/or shell scripting

Backblaze Perks: 

• Healthcare for family, including dental and vision
• Competitive compensation and 401K  
• RSU grants for full-time employees 
• ESPP program  
• Flexible vacation policy 
• Maternity & paternity leave 
• MacBook Pro to use for work, plus a generous stipend to personalize your  workstation 
• Childcare bonus (human children only) 
• Fertility treatment and support 
• Learning & development program 
• Commuter benefits 
• Culture that supports a healthy work-life balance 

To provide greater transparency to candidates, we share base pay ranges for all US-based job postings regardless of state. We set standard base pay ranges for all roles based on function, level, and country location, benchmarked against similar-stage growth companies. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate location, skills, depth of work experience, and relevant licenses/credentials, and may vary from the amounts listed below.

The base pay range for this position is $78,000 - $85,000.

At Backblaze, we value being fair and good to our customers, partners, and employees. That’s why diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of our values. We are committed to fostering a workforce where all employees feel a sense of belonging regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, socio-economic status, ability, veteran status, and education. We believe that our dedication to cultivating a diverse workspace not only allows us to better serve our customers in over 175 countries but further reinforces our commitment to doing the right thing. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.

To understand more about the data we collect and process as part of your application, please view our Backblaze Employee Privacy Notice.