Principal Cloud Operations Engineer (GCP - Managed Services) (m/f/d)

Halian | Managed Services, Recruitment and Contract Staffing Agency; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 420,000 - 640,000; Full time

Job summary

Halian invites applications for a Principal Cloud Operations Engineer to steer cloud operations within our Managed Services practice, driving standards, automation and governance across enterprise customers. You will shape and scale a high-performance cloud operations capability.

You will lead architecture, runbooks and escalation processes while mentoring engineers and partnering on service design to grow managed services offerings in Riyadh and beyond.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in cloud infrastructure and operations.
• 3–5+ years in Cloud Architect/Principal Engineer/Technical Leadership roles.
• Experience building and scaling cloud operations teams and processes.
• Deep expertise in at least one hyperscaler (GCP preferred).
• Experience operating mission-critical enterprise cloud environments.
• Strong background in cloud automation and Infrastructure-as-Code.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical authority for Managed Services cloud operations.
• Define cloud operations standards, reference architectures and governance.
• Lead customer onboarding, service transitions and operational readiness assessments.
• Drive Infrastructure-as-Code, automation and platform engineering initiatives.
• Establish runbooks and escalation frameworks.
• Act as the highest technical escalation point for major incidents.
• Mentor engineers and help build a world-class cloud operations capability.
• Contribute to solution design and managed services growth initiatives.

Job description

We are seeking a highly experienced Principal Cloud Operations Engineer to serve as the technical authority for our Managed Services practice. This individual will lead cloud operations architecture, automation strategy, service transitions, operational governance, and engineering excellence across enterprise customer environments.

The successful candidate will combine deep hands‑on expertise with cloud-native technologies and operational leadership, helping shape and scale a high‑performing cloud operations practice.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical authority for Managed Services cloud operations.
• Define cloud operations standards, reference architectures and operational governance.
• Lead customer onboarding, service transitions and operational readiness assessments.
• Drive Infrastructure-as-Code, automation and platform engineering initiatives.
• Establish and maintain runbooks, operational procedures and escalation frameworks.
• Act as the highest technical escalation point for major incidents and problem management.
• Mentor engineers and help build a world‑class cloud operations capability.
• Contribute to solution design, service architecture and managed services growth initiatives.

Required Experience

• 12+ years in cloud infrastructure and operations.
• 3-5+ years in a Cloud Architect, Principal Engineer, Practice Lead, or Technical Leadership role.
• Experience building and scaling cloud operations teams and processes.
• Deep expertise in at least one hyperscaler (GCP preferred).
• Experience operating mission‑critical enterprise cloud environments.
• Strong background in cloud automation and Infrastructure-as-Code.

Technical Requirements

• Kubernetes (expert level)
• Terraform (expert level)
• Ansible (expert level)
• CI/CD platforms
• Python and Bash scripting
• Cloud networking, identity and security
• SRE principles, observability and incident management

Certifications

Required

• Professional‑level GCP cloud certification
• Candidates without GCP certification but able to complete certification upon joining may be considered

Preferred

• Professional‑level cloud certification in (AWS, Azure or OCI)
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
• Additional cloud certifications

Preferred Background

• Managed Services
• Cloud Operations
• Site Reliability Engineering
• Enterprise Platform Engineering
• Multi‑cloud environments

Principal Cloud Operations Engineer (GCP - Managed Services) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia