Job Description
About You
You're looking for a challenge where you can take ownership of building and maintaining Google Cloud infrastructure for a large-scale, public-sector operational platform. You will work closely with a platform lead to stand-up Kubernetes workloads (GKE clusters and/or Helm-based deployments), CI/CD pipelines, and cloud-native monitoring.
This is a platform-focused DevOps role where strong Terraform, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and Git expertise are essential. You will work within defined Dev/QA access boundaries and contribute to a structured delivery process.
Note: This role operates under a 5-month contractor model, with at least 4 hours of daily overlap with U.S. Eastern business hours required.
You Bring to Applaudo the Following Competencies:
- Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field is desired, or equivalent professional experience.
- 5+ years of professional experience with Terraform on Google Cloud, including building and maintaining infrastructure from an existing code base of in-house built modules and developing new modules from scratch.
- Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes, including both GKE cluster setup/management and Helm chart packaging and deployment.
- Strong hands-on experience with Cloud Run, microservice architecture, and containerized workflows
- Experience deploying and maintaining Google Cloud’s Managed Service for Apache Airflow (formerly Cloud Composer), including environment configuration and workflow orchestration.Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and environment promotion workflows, using Cloud Build and Artifact Registry.
- Experience implementing robust CI/CD pipelines and environment promotion workflows, using Cloud Build and Artifact Registry.
- Experience implementing and maintaining Google Cloud-native monitoring, alerting, and logging using Cloud Monitoring and Cloud Logging.
- Strong Git fundamentals, including branching strategies, pull requests, and structured commit practices, with experience guiding development teams on branching and merge requirements.
- Experience working within structured engineering environments involving documented designs, code reviews, and ticket-based delivery.
- Experience working in security-conscious, regulated, or government environments (or comparable exposure to compliance-driven delivery processes).
- Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code or similar tools as part of daily development workflows.
- Excellent communication skills in English, required to collaborate effectively with U.S.-based teams and stakeholders.
You Will Be Accountable for the Following Responsibilities:
- Build and configure Kubernetes workloads (GKE clusters and/or Helm chart deployments) and Google Cloud project environments using an existing Terraform baseline and custom modules.
- Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines and environment promotion workflows on Cloud Build.
- Deploy and maintain Cloud Composer environments supporting the data engineering team's orchestration needs.
- Support Cloud Run deployments as part of the broader infrastructure footprint.
- Configure and maintain Google Cloud-native monitoring, alerting, and logging.
- Produce, maintain, and support deployment packages through system acceptance.
- Maintain disciplined Git practices, including branching, pull requests, and commit hygiene across infrastructure and deployment work.
- Troubleshoot infrastructure, deployment, and CI/CD pipeline issues within assigned environments.
- Collaborate with platform and engineering teams to align infrastructure implementation with broader architecture and delivery standards.
- Operate within defined Dev/QA environment access boundaries and follow applicable security and operational requirements.
- Contribute to technical documentation, code reviews, and ticket-based delivery processes.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of professional experience with Terraform on Google Cloud Platform.
- Hands-on experience with Kubernetes (GKE and/or Helm-based deployments).
- Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines on Cloud Build and environment promotion workflows.
- Experience with GCP-native Cloud Monitoring and Cloud Logging.
- Experience with Cloud Composer or Apache Airflow orchestration.
- Strong Git fundamentals, including branching, pull requests, and commit discipline.
- Conversational English proficiency.
Additional Information
About Us
We Are Engineered Different.
At Applaudo, talented people design, build, and scale meaningful, AI-powered solutions that create real business impact. As an AI-native organization, we collaborate across design, development, cloud, data, and artificial intelligence to turn ideas into scalable products that transform how companies operate, make decisions, and grow.
We are building a high-performance culture grounded in five values: Empowering Excellence, Collaborative Teamwork, Unsolicited Respect, Consistent Transparency, and Efficient Communication. These define how we work, how we support one another, and how we hold ourselves accountable.
Applaudo is a place for people who want to learn fast, take ownership, and work alongside strong teams they are proud to belong to. Joining us means being part of an organization that is evolving intentionally, investing in modern ways of working, and leading AI-native transformation at scale.
