Principal Cloud Infrastructure Engineer

About Nerdery and Being a “Nerd.”
Nerdery is a digital product consultancy. Much more than consultants, we’re allies and guides on our clients’ digital journey – helping them to grow their business and delight their customers through intuitive, thoughtfully designed technology. As true partners, we prepare our clients for the opportunities in front of them, help them achieve their goals, and quickly deliver value for their customers. We do this by solving problems in creative ways across strategy, design, and technology.

At Nerdery, we’re not defined by our job titles but by the impact we make. You’ll work directly and closely with some of the world’s best brands to help create innovative digital products that serve everyone. As Nerds, our insight, innovation, and expertise are celebrated, and our growth is not only encouraged but expected. Being a Nerd means stepping up and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.  We’re curious, fearless (well, not totally fearless – there are heights and spiders, after all), and always our authentic selves.

We are looking for a Principal Cloud Infrastructure Engineer to join our team!  We invite you to check out the details below and consider whether becoming a Nerd is the next step in your career journey.

As a Principal Cloud Infrastructure Engineer at Nerdery, you will be a senior technical leader shaping how we and our clients leverage Google Cloud Platform (GCP). You will lead the design, development, and management of secure, scalable, and cutting-edge GCP solutions, acting as the primary technical authority on projects. This role demands deep GCP infrastructure expertise combined with strong consulting acumen and communication skills to guide clients, mentor engineers, resolve technical challenges, manage escalations, and establish best practices. You will set technical standards, define Nerdery's approach to GCP technologies, and ensure our cloud capabilities drive client success. This is a key leadership opportunity within a growing team where you'll help define our path forward in GCP and work alongside passionate, highly skilled engineers.

Requirements

• 8+ years of hands-on cloud engineering experience, with significant focus on GCP.
• 5+ years in a Principal/Lead Cloud Infrastructure Engineer or Architect role, preferably within a consulting or client-facing environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical teams or projects.
• Undergraduate or graduate degree in a computer-related field OR a thorough demonstration of relevant technical skills.
• Deep, hands-on experience across core GCP services (Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage, VPC Networking, Load Balancing, IAM, Cloud Logging/Monitoring). GCP Professional Cloud Architect certification is strongly preferred.
• Proven expertise designing, implementing, managing, and creating reusable assets with Terraform.
• Ability to design, implement, and secure complex cloud networks. Understanding of GCP security best practices, IAM, network security controls, encryption, and familiarity with compliance frameworks (e.g., SOC2, HIPAA).
• Strong foundation in DevOps principles, CI/CD pipeline development (e.g., Cloud Build, GitLab CI), and automation scripting (e.g., Bash, Python).
• Exceptional communication skills (written/verbal) with proven ability to lead technical discovery, advise clients, present to executive audiences, negotiate technical decisions, and build trusted relationships.
• Strong analytical skills, ability to architect creative solutions, make sound technical judgments under pressure, mentor engineers, and lead technical teams effectively.
• Understanding of how to architect robust GCP infrastructure to support common data and AI workloads and services (e.g., Vertex AI, BigQuery, Dataflow, Pub/Sub), collaborating with data specialists.
• Ability to evaluate technologies, define technical standards, and contribute to the practice's technical strategy.
• A passion for technology and a demonstrated desire to continuously learn and stay current with the rapidly evolving cloud landscape.

What You'll Do:

• Lead the architecture and hands-on implementation of complex, scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud infrastructure solutions on GCP.
• Serve as the lead technical decision-maker on projects, aligning technical approaches and ensuring architectural integrity.
• Architect and standardize resilient GCP foundations, encompassing secure and efficient network designs (VPC, Load Balancing, Cloud DNS) and comprehensive observability strategies (Monitoring, Logging, Alerting) to ensure system health and performance.
• Champion and implement DevOps and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles using Terraform, driving automation and building reusable infrastructure assets.
• Establish and maintain technical standards, patterns, and preferred practices for GCP infrastructure within Nerdery.
• Evaluate GCP services and related technologies, forming and documenting Nerdery's technical viewpoints and recommendations.
• Communicate complex technical concepts effectively to diverse audiences, including client technical teams, business stakeholders, and executives.
• Lead client workshops to define technical requirements, architect solutions, and establish project roadmaps.
• Define and implement robust disaster recovery, business continuity, and security strategies on GCP (IAM, encryption, compliance).
• Mentor and guide cloud engineers (internal and client-side), fostering technical excellence and a culture of continuous learning.
• Stay current with GCP advancements and industry trends, driving innovation within the practice.

What Skills Will Help You Be A Successful Nerd?

• Strong communication skills: Able to effectively explain technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders.
• Process improvement: Experienced in identifying process pain-points and taking ownership of refining processes to completion.
• Collaborative Problem Solver: Able to take initiative to understand a problem and make critical decisions to solve for next actionable steps
• Client interaction: Comfortable interacting with clients, understanding their needs and translating them into actionable solutions.
• Risk assessment and communication: Proven ability to clearly communicate the risks, complexity, and timeline impacts of newly added product features or scope.

Are We the Right Fit For You?

The best way to get the scoop on whether Nerdery is the right place for you is to chat with current Nerds.  We would be delighted to have a conversation with you and share insight into what it’s really like to work at our organization and if it’s a place where you can thrive.  Our interview process will provide you ample opportunity to talk with other team members and assess whether the role is a good fit for your next chapter.  Take the first step and apply today – our Talent Advocates will then reach out to you to get the ball rolling!

Must be legally authorized to work within the country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status.

Nerdery is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state and local fair employment practice laws. Nerdery strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), pregnancy, marital status, familial status, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, membership or activity in a local human rights commission, status with regard to public assistance or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law. All employees, other workers and representatives of Nerdery are prohibited from engaging in unlawful discrimination. Nerdery will ensure that all employment practices are free of such discrimination. Such employment practices include, but are not limited to: hiring, promotion, demotion, transfer, recruitment or recruitment advertising, selection, layoff, disciplinary action, termination, compensation, benefits, selection for training, including apprenticeship and other terms and conditions of employment. Nerdery will also provide reasonable accommodation to applicants and employees with disabilities pursuant to all applicable laws.

Nerdery will never request a chat interview. All interviews are conducted either in person or through Google Meets. Additionally, Nerdery exclusively uses email addresses ending with @‌Nerdery.com

If you have questions about any correspondence you receive regarding an opportunity at Nerdery, please reach out to [email protected].