Cloud Lead (GCP) / DevOps Lead

DVT is one of the top software development companies on the continent. Our cloud engineers consult on cutting-edge applications at top companies in South Africa and globally. You will have the opportunity to work alongside some of the most established cloud professionals in the country, leveraging the latest technologies across the Google Cloud ecosystem.

We are looking for a Cloud Lead (GCP) to join our cloud practice, embedded within a DVT client engagement. This isn’t a “sit back and delegate” role; we need a technical powerhouse who thrives on designing cloud-native architectures, automating infrastructure at scale, and setting the gold standard for what “excellent” looks like across the Google Cloud Platform. As a Cloud Lead, you will take ownership of the cloud engineering workstream, providing technical leadership and hands-on delivery across GCP infrastructure, container orchestration, CI/CD automation, and cloud-native architecture.

The Cloud Lead’s responsibilities encompass technical leadership and hands-on management of GCP cloud infrastructure, with a focus on automation, platform engineering, DevOps practices, security compliance, and team guidance. If you are obsessed with automation, find beauty in well-orchestrated infrastructure, and want to own the cloud engineering vision for a strategic delivery engagement – leading by technical example while mentoring the next generation of cloud engineers – this is your seat.

COMPETENCIES

Experience Required

• 5+ years of experience in Cloud Engineering, DevOps, or Platform Engineering, with at least 3 years in a technical leadership role.

• Deep, hands-on expertise with GCP services including Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage, Cloud SQL, VPC, Cloud IAM, and Cloud Monitoring.

• Strong proficiency in Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform, with experience managing complex multi-environment deployments.

• The ability to take a nebulous cloud requirement and transform it into a robust, scalable, and secure technical design.

Technical Skills / Knowledge

• Expert-level proficiency in Terraform (HCL), Python, and Bash scripting. You should be a strong advocate for automation-first approaches.

• Hands-on experience with container orchestration on GKE/Kubernetes and serverless delivery via Cloud Run and Cloud Functions.

• Experience with CI/CD platforms including Cloud Build, GitHub Actions, and GitLab CI.

• Familiarity with GCP security tooling: IAM, Secret Manager, VPC Service Controls, Security Command Center.

• Experience with monitoring and observability: Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Logging, Cloud Trace.

Abilities / Behaviours

• Adaptability, achievement orientation, positive outlook, empathy, organisational awareness, influence, coaching and mentoring, conflict management, teamwork, and inspirational leadership.

• Comfortable presenting to senior technical and business stakeholders. You bridge the gap between infrastructure complexity and business value with clarity and confidence.

EDUCATION

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).

• At least one Google Cloud certification (Professional Cloud Architect, Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer, or equivalent) – Required.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Cloud Lead’s responsibilities encompass technical leadership and hands-on management of GCP cloud infrastructure, with a focus on automation, platform engineering, DevOps practices, security compliance, and team guidance.

• Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Serve as the technical lead for GCP cloud infrastructure, providing architectural guidance and ensuring alignment with Google Cloud best practices and the Well-Architected Framework.

• Make the “big” technical decisions. You’ll define how we structure cloud environments to ensure they remain secure, cost-efficient, and scalable two years from now.

• Lead technical design reviews, architecture discussions, and cloud strategy sessions with client stakeholders at all levels.

• Mentor and guide junior cloud engineers through code reviews, pair programming, and knowledge transfer workshops. You aren’t just building infrastructure; you’re building the team that maintains it.

• Define and enforce cloud engineering standards, patterns, and governance frameworks across the engagement.

Infrastructure & Automation

• Design, implement, and maintain scalable CI/CD pipelines using Cloud Build, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI to support automated testing, deployment, and infrastructure provisioning.

• Develop and maintain infrastructure-as-code using Terraform (primary) and GCP Deployment Manager, including modular configurations and multi-environment deployments (dev, staging, production).

• Implement and manage containerised workloads on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and Cloud Run.

• Design and implement GCP networking solutions including VPC architecture, firewall rules, Cloud NAT, Cloud Interconnect, and connectivity patterns.

• Automate environment provisioning and configuration management using Terraform, Cloud Build triggers, and GCP-native tooling.

Database Migration & Management

• Lead the migration of legacy databases to Cloud SQL, Cloud Spanner, or BigQuery as appropriate.

• Design and implement database migration strategies including schema conversion, data migration, and validation using GCP Database Migration Service.

• Optimise database performance, implement backup strategies, and ensure high availability configurations.

• Monitoring, Security & Compliance

• Implement comprehensive monitoring, logging, and observability solutions using Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Logging, Cloud Trace, and Error Reporting.

• Obsess over cloud cost optimisation through FinOps practices, billing analytics, and resource utilisation monitoring.

• Implement and maintain security best practices including Secret Manager, Cloud IAM, VPC Service Controls, and Security Command Center.

• Configure alerting and incident response workflows for production systems.

• Ensure compliance with industry standards relevant to client requirements (PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, POPIA).

LOCATION & WORK ARRANGEMENT

Location: As per client engagement requirements

Work Model: Remote / Hybrid – client requirements