GCP DevOps Engineer

• Title: DX GCP Engineer
• Rate: £600-£620 per day
• IR35 Status: Inside IR35
• Location: London, United Kingdom
• Working Pattern: Hybrid, 2 days per week onsite in London
• Contract Length: 12 months (initial)

This contract opportunity is for an experienced DX GCP Engineer to join a high-performing Developer Experience team within a leading technology organisation. You will collaborate with Core Infrastructure and Site Reliability Engineering teams to enable the migration of applications and infrastructure from traditional data centre environments to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This role demands a strong technical grounding in cloud-native tooling, a pragmatic approach to migrations, and the ability to support and upskill engineering colleagues throughout the journey.

You will focus on infrastructure and application migration tasks, including building and refining Docker images, replicating and managing infrastructure via Terraform, and setting up effective CI/CD pipelines. Occasionally, services will require re-architecting for cloud environments, while others may be eligible for a lift‑and‑shift approach. A solid working knowledge of Java is also essential for troubleshooting runtime or build-related issues.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver pragmatic migration plans detailing scope, timelines, and success metrics.
• Build and optimise Docker images for Java applications and infrastructure services.
• Design and deploy GCP infrastructure using Terraform modules (VPCs, GKE, IAM, etc.).
• Execute migrations using CI/CD pipelines with a focus on minimal disruption and efficient resolution of dependency issues.
• Contribute to and drive enhancements within the Developer Experience backlog.
• Provide platform support via Slack for engineering teams, troubleshooting builds, pipelines and GCP services.
• Facilitate platform training workshops to promote best practices and upskill teams.

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong hands-on experience with GCP core services (Compute, VPC, IAM, Artifact Registry).
• Proven experience deploying production workloads to GKE or other managed Kubernetes services.
• Advanced use of Terraform and a solid understanding of IaC best practices.
• Excellent grasp of CI/CD principles and experience building pipelines for containerised applications.
• Familiarity with Cloud Monitoring and incident management processes.
• Working knowledge of Java build tools (Maven/Gradle) and ability to read/debug logs.
• Effective collaboration skills using GitLab, Slack and technical documentation formats (RFCs).
• Strong communication, documentation, and stakeholder management abilities.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Helm charts for Kubernetes application packaging.
• Knowledge of Argo CD for GitOps-style deployments.
• Exposure to internal developer portals such as OpsLevel.
• Familiarity with tools such as SonarQube, PACT for contract testing, policy-as-code, and Selenium Grid.
• Relevant GCP certifications including Professional Cloud Architect, DevOps or Security Engineer.