Title: GCP Cloud Engineer / Developer
Location: Chicago, IL (Hybrid)
Employment Type: 3 Month Contract-to-Hire (W2 Only)
Work Authorization: US Citizen or Green Card Required
Overview We are seeking a
GCP Cloud Engineer / Developer who can
design, build, and scale cloud-native solutions on Google Cloud Platform.
This role is not about maintaining systems-it is about
standing up modern cloud infrastructure, automating deployments, and enabling scalable, secure application delivery.
The ideal candidate is a
hands-on builder who can operate across
cloud engineering, DevOps, and application development to deliver measurable outcomes.
Performance Objectives First 30 Days - Assess & Stabilize - Evaluate current GCP environment, architecture, and deployment pipelines
- Identify gaps across infrastructure, security, and automation
- Gain alignment with engineering and business stakeholders
60 Days - Build & Automate - Implement or enhance Infrastructure as Code (Terraform preferred)
- Establish or improve CI/CD pipelines (Cloud Build, Jenkins, GitLab)
- Begin optimizing application deployment workflows
90 Days - Scale & Optimize - Deliver scalable, production-ready cloud infrastructure
- Improve system performance, reliability, and cost efficiency
- Implement monitoring, alerting, and observability across environments
Ongoing Success - Ensure secure, compliant, and resilient cloud architecture
- Continuously optimize cost, performance, and deployment speed
- Support engineering teams with best practices and reusable patterns
Key Responsibilities - Design and deploy scalable GCP infrastructure using:
- Compute Engine
- Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
- App Engine
- Build and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using:
- Terraform (preferred)
- Google Cloud Deployment Manager
- Develop and optimize CI/CD pipelines:
- Cloud Build, Jenkins, GitLab
- Implement monitoring and observability:
- Google Cloud Operations Suite (Stackdriver)
- Manage security and compliance:
- IAM policies
- Encryption
- Network security (VPCs, firewalls, load balancers)
- Support data-driven solutions:
- BigQuery
- Cloud SQL
- Cloud Storage
Technical Requirements - Strong experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- Hands-on experience with:
- Terraform / IaC
- Docker & Kubernetes (GKE)
- CI/CD pipelines
- Programming proficiency in:
- Python, Java, Go, or Bash
- Strong understanding of:
- Networking (VPCs, firewalls, load balancing)
- Cloud security and IAM
- Experience with:
- Git (GitHub / GitLab)
- Agile development environments
What We're Really Looking We want someone who can:
- Take a cloud environment and make it scalable, automated, and production-ready
- Reduce manual work through automation and pipelines
- Improve system performance while controlling cloud costs
- Work across teams and own delivery-not just tasks
Preferred Qualifications - Google Cloud certifications:
- Professional Cloud Architect
- Professional Cloud Developer
- Experience in regulated environments (HIPAA, PCI, etc.)
- Exposure to multi-cloud environments (AWS/Azure)
This Role Is NOT - Not a support-only role
- Not a ticket-based cloud admin
- Not limited to one tool or silo
Must Have: - GCP hands-on experience
- Terraform / IaC
- CI/CD pipeline experience
- Kubernetes (GKE)