Google Cloud Platform Tech Lead

PA Consulting; Ealing; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consulting firm in the UK seeks a Technical Lead to drive project innovation and delivery using cutting-edge cloud technologies. You'll manage agile teams, engaging in critical discussions with clients while mentoring team members. Ideal candidates will have expertise in cloud solutions and a background in software or DevOps engineering. Key tools include Google Cloud products, Kubernetes, and CI/CD practices. Join us to make a significant impact in delivering world-class solutions.

Benefits

Private medical insurance

Interest free season ticket loan

25 days annual leave

Company pension scheme

Annual performance-based bonus

Life and income protection insurance

Qualifications

• Experience designing and delivering solutions on Google Cloud.
• Background as a software or DevOps engineer with relevant languages.
• Hands-on experience in cloud technologies and architectures.

Responsibilities

• Lead teams in successful project delivery using Agile methodologies.
• Develop AI solutions and secure PB-scale platforms.
• Engage with clients for project discussions and mentoring.

Skills

Understanding of cloud technologies

Agile development

CI/CD tools

Machine learning tools

Microservices architecture

Troubleshooting solutions

Database management

Team collaboration

Education

Google Certified Cloud Architect

Google Certified Data Engineer

Google Certified Cloud Developer

Tools

Google Cloud SDK

JIRA

Kubernetes

Terraform

Docker

PowerShell

Job description

Overview

Do you find yourself frustrated working with legacy technology or processes; constantly finding the need to innovate new and fit-for-purpose solutions? These are the problems our clients ask us to solve. You'll also need to be a pragmatist, to understand the design constraints of projects and get the job done. As a technical lead, you may operate solo or within a team, where you and your teammates are responsible for successful delivery of a project release using an agile methodology. We put a lot of trust in you and your team to meet deadlines, and to find the rhythm and ways of working that suits our clients. You get ownership and control of the processes for taking your code into production. Our teams have a mix of technology skills and work collaboratively, following DevOps (we emphasise the Dev in DevOps) and Test Automation practices.

Responsibilities and Qualifications

PA is a Google Cloud Premier Partner and we create innovative solutions using the whole spectrum of Google Cloud products and services, as well as other leading cloud platforms. One project might need you develop cutting edge AI solutions using sound engineering practices and the next might see you designing a secure PB-scale platform for analytics and AI or building a brand-new API platform to support future public services. You probably have a background as a software or DevOps engineer using languages and tools such as Java, Python, Kubernetes and Terraform, but it's your understanding of cloud technologies, architectures and techniques that are most important. You probably have experience in designing and delivering solutions on Google Cloud, perhaps using serverless products such as Cloud Run, or infrastructure such as Compute Engine and GKE, AI such as Vertex AI, ADK or Agent Engine, as well as data services such as BigQuery, Spanner, Dataflow, Composer, Bigtable or CloudSQL. Ideally you will be qualified to Google Certified Cloud Architect, Data Engineer or Cloud Developer level, although good hands‑on experience is just as valued. Working in an agile development team is highly sought after, where you are applying design and development practices such as:

• Agile sprints to deliver incremental builds.
• Defining architectural and software design patterns.
• Designing for scalability, high availability and disaster recovery requirements.
• Secure development and architectural practices, as well as knowledge of non‑functional considerations.
• Working alongside others in the team to develop, design, elaborate user stories and deliver estimates during story pointing.
• TDD and/or BDD approaches, considering outcome at design. Knowledge of test automation.
• Developing code and pipelines using CI/CD tools.
• Using tools such as JIRA for tracking progress and traceability.
• Reviewing code with your teammates to provide assurance on a release.
• Resolving root cause analysis and troubleshooting solutions.
• Using fundamental tools and languages E.G. Google Cloud SDK, SQL, Linux, PowerShell, Shell Scripting, HTML and CSS.
• Different types of database, e.G. Google Cloud Spanner, Firestore, Bigtable and BigQuery, as well as MongoDB, MySQL, Flink, Cassandra, SQL Server, Postgres. Developing schema for supporting business logic and data.
• Microservices architecture, including containers and serverless implementation. E.G. Kubernetes, Docker, OpenShift, AWS Lambda, Cloud Functions (GCP).
• Machine learning tools and techniques, e.G. Auto ML, Tensorflow, Natural Language, Vision AI.

Common Technology Components

• Cloud Run
• Cloud Functions
• Kubernetes Engine, Compute Engine, VPCs
• Cloud Spanner, Cloud SQL, BigQuery
• Dataflow, Apache Beam
• Vertex AI, DialogFlow, Auto ML

Architecture

• Microservices patterns
• Event‑driven architectures and message queues
• Relational and non‑relational databases

Languages and Frameworks

• Java 17+, JavaScript, Python, SQL
• Common frameworks and APIs such as Spring Boot, Guice, Jersey, Node.Js, Flask
• Knowledge of JVM, its limitations, weaknesses, and workarounds
• Building tools such as Maven and Gradle
• CI/CD tools, such as Jenkins and Google Cloud Build
• Using a range of technologies and libraries in the Java ecosystem.

Your Accountability

• You’ll have expertise in architecture and will feel comfortable leading higher level architectural discussions.
• Using your experience of the development process, it’s likely you’ll own the overall process across a team, or multiple teams, building strong principles and putting robust methods and patterns in place.
• You will be comfortable having conversations with the client regularly, being one of the main points of engagement between the client and the project.
• Coaching and mentoring the team will be important in the role.
• Your involvement in shaping proposals (working with a bid team) will assist to create approaches or solutions, and perhaps you may also add valuable contributions during presentations to clients in a formal selection process.
• You’ll play an active role in account management.

Benefits

• Private medical insurance
• Interest free season ticket loan
• 25 days annual leave with the opportunity to buy 5 additional days
• Company pension scheme
• Annual performance‑based bonus
• Life and Income protection insurance
• Tax efficient benefits (cycle to work, give as you earn, childcare benefits)
• Voluntary benefits (Dental, critical illness, spouse/partner life assurance)