Google Cloud Platform Architect

Launch Ventures; Glasgow; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Launch Ventures is seeking a Google Cloud Platform Architect for a 6-month on-site contract in Glasgow. You will design and implement cloud-native solutions, drive architectural decisions, and lead engineering teams to deliver secure, scalable systems.

Responsibilities include building and reviewing production code, establishing standards, and advancing CI/CD maturity while collaborating with vendors and internal teams to align with the firm's technology strategy.

Qualifications

• Formal training or certification on software engineering concepts and 5+ years applied experience in production software development.
• Advanced hands-on practical experience delivering system design at scale.
• Advanced proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (GoLang or Python) with performance and security focus.

Responsibilities

• Architects and executes complex, strategic software solutions and influences architectural decisions across teams.
• Develops secure, high-quality production code and raises engineering standards across the team.
• Leads architectural design for cloud-native systems and produces design artifacts adopted across teams.
• Owns operational excellence by identifying failure patterns and improving reliability, performance, and observability.
• Evaluates vendors/tech through deep-dive sessions to drive architecture decisions aligned with strategy.
• Leads communities of practice to drive adoption of cloud-native best practices.
• Mentors junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews and knowledge sharing.
• Contributes to strategic initiatives shaping cloud platform standards and CI/CD maturity.
• Builds and operates resilient services deployed to AWS with security/compliance in mind.

Skills

Cloud architecture

Kubernetes

GoLang

Python

CI/CD

IaC

GCP services

Security best practices

SDLC

Agile methods

Communication

Vendor evaluation

Tools

Kubebuilder

Operator SDK

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Contract Role: Google Cloud Platform Architect

Contract Location: Glasgow / On-site 5 days

Contract Duration: 6 months initially (with potential extension)

Contract Start Date: Immediate

Job Responsibilities

• Architects and executes complex, creative software solutions with ability to think strategically beyond routine or conventional approaches - breaking down ambiguous technical problems and influencing architectural decisions across teams
• Develops secure, high-quality production code and actively reviews, debugs, and improves code written by others - establishing coding standards and raising the engineering bar across the team
• Leads architectural design for cloud-native systems and services, producing comprehensive design artifacts (RFCs, ADRs, architecture diagrams) that are reviewed and adopted across multiple teams
• Owns operational excellence by proactively identifying patterns in system failures, operational metrics, and data; designing and implementing systematic improvements to system reliability, performance, and observability
• Evaluates and leads vendor/technology assessments -conducting deep-dive sessions with external vendors, startups, and internal teams to drive outcomes-oriented evaluation of architectural designs, technical credentials, and applicability to the firm's technology strategy
• Leads and grows engineering communities of practice across Software Engineering to drive awareness, adoption, and standards for emerging cloud native technologies and best practices
• Mentors and develops junior and mid-level engineers through code review, design collaboration, and knowledge-sharing activities
• Contributes to strategic initiatives that shape the firm's cloud platform standards, CI/CD maturity, and infrastructure-as-code practices
• Builds and operates resilient, highly scalable services deployed to AWS in line with firm-wide public cloud standards and security/compliance requirements

Required Qualifications, Capabilities, and Skills

• Formal training or certification on software engineering concepts and 5+ years applied experience in production software development
• Advanced hands-on practical experience delivering system design, application development, testing, and operational stability at scale
• Advanced proficiency in one or more modern programming languages with demonstrated ability to optimize for performance, maintainability, and security with GoLang or Python being preferred including performance optimization and concurrency patterns
• Advanced Kubernetes platform engineering expertise, including hands-on experience designing, developing, and operating custom Kubernetes Operators and Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) using frameworks such as Kubebuilder, Operator SDK, or equivalent.
• Demonstrated ability to extend Kubernetes APIs to automate complex platform, infrastructure, security, or application lifecycle workflows at enterprise scale.
• Proven experience building cloud-native control planes and automation frameworks on Kubernetes, including authoring reconciliation loops, admission controllers, webhooks, and custom controllers; strong understanding of Kubernetes internals, API machinery, RBAC, multi-tenancy, observability, and operational best practices for production environments.
• In-depth Google Cloud development experience -architecting, building, deploying, and operating production cloud-native workloads using core GCP services; understanding cost optimization and security best practices
• Proficiency in automation and continuous delivery -designing and implementing CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and deployment strategies
• Advanced understanding of the Software Development Life Cycle - ability to influence and improve SDLC practices across teams
• Advanced knowledge of agile methodologies -CI/CD, Application Resiliency, Security, and capacity planning
• Demonstrated expertise in a technical discipline (e.g., cloud architecture, artificial intelligence/machine learning, mobile, distributed systems, security, DevOps/platform engineering)
• In-depth knowledge of financial services industry and their IT systems, regulatory constraints, and operational requirements
• Practical experience with Al-assisted developer tools and Al agents (Copilot, Claude Code, or equivalent) to improve engineering productivity, code quality, and knowledge acquisition
• Strong communication and influence skills - ability to articulate technical decisions, trade-offs, and recommendations to both technical and non technical stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications, Capabilities, and Skills

• Advanced Infrastructure-as-Code expertise (Terraform, CloudFormation, CDK) designing reusable modules and standards across teams
• Deep observability and monitoring expertise (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, CloudWatch) - designing comprehensive observability strategies
• GCP certifications (Developer, Solutions Architect, Security Specialty)
• Experience with security practices - secure coding, threat modelling, compliance, and incident response in cloud environments
• Track record of open-source contributions or knowledge-sharing within the engineering community
• Experience architecting or leading multi-team initiatives that span infrastructure, application, and platform engineering