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

About the Role

Halian | Managed Services, Recruitment Agency & Contract Staffing is seeking a Principal Cloud Operations Engineer to serve as the technical authority for its Managed Services practice. This full-time position is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The role involves leading cloud operations architecture, automation strategy, service transitions, operational governance, and engineering excellence across enterprise customer environments.

Role Overview

The Principal Cloud Operations Engineer will combine deep hands-on expertise with cloud-native technologies and operational leadership. This individual will be instrumental in shaping and scaling a high-performing cloud operations practice within the organization.

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 contribute to building a cloud operations capability.
• Contribute to solution design, service architecture, and managed services growth initiatives.

Required Experience and Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience 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, with GCP preferred.
• Experience operating mission-critical enterprise cloud environments.
• Strong background in cloud automation and Infrastructure-as-Code.

Preferred Background

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

Location and Compensation

This full-time position is located in Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Salary for this role will be discussed during the interview process.