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

Halian | Managed Services, Recruitment Agency & Contract Staffing; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 450,000 - 750,000; Full time

Job summary

Halian is seeking a Principal Cloud Operations Engineer to serve as the technical authority for our Managed Services practice in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. You will lead cloud operations architecture, automation strategy, and governance across enterprise environments.

The role combines hands-on expertise with leadership to scale a high-performing cloud operations capability, focusing on cloud-native technologies and platform engineering to drive service readiness and operational excellence.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in cloud infrastructure and operations.
• 3–5+ years in a Cloud Architect/Principal Engineer/Leadership role.
• Experience building and scaling cloud operations teams.
• 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 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.

Skills

Cloud leadership

Mentoring teams

Infrastructure as Code

Incident management

SRE principles

Tools

Kubernetes

Terraform

Ansible

CI/CD platforms

Python

Bash scripting

Cloud networking

Identity and security

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