Cloud Automation Engineer

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement automated VM image build pipelines using HashiCorp Packer for Google Cloud Compute Engine.
• Develop reusable golden images for Windows Server and Linux workloads.
• Automate VM configuration, software installation, patching, and baseline hardening using Ansible.
• Build standardized and repeatable provisioning patterns for Compute Engine instances across environments.
• Manage and optimize Google Cloud Compute Engine resources including instance templates and managed instance groups.
• Implement VM image lifecycle management best practices within Google Cloud Platform (Google Cloud Platform).
• Integrate image creation workflows with Google Cloud Platform networking, IAM, service accounts, and storage services.
• Automate configuration of Windows and Linux systems including domain join, policies, package installation, and agent deployment.
• Support OS patching, security hardening, and operational readiness of VM builds.
• Integrate Packer and Ansible workflows into CI/CD pipelines such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI.
• Maintain version-controlled infrastructure code and implement automated image testing and validation.
• Promote immutable infrastructure and image versioning practices.
• Apply security baselines and ensure compliance with enterprise security and audit requirements.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in cloud infrastructure automation, DevOps, or system engineering roles.
• Strong hands-on experience with Ansible for configuration management and provisioning.
• Strong experience with HashiCorp Packer for machine image creation.
• Experience with Google Cloud Platform, including Compute Engine, IAM, networking, and storage.
• Experience administering and automating Windows Server and Linux environments.

Required Skills:

• Automation tools: Ansible, Packer.
• Cloud platform: Google Cloud Platform (Google Cloud Platform), Compute Engine.
• Operating systems: Windows Server, Linux distributions (RHEL, CentOS, Rocky, Ubuntu).
• Scripting: PowerShell, Bash, Python.
• DevOps tools: Git, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI.
• Strong understanding of infrastructure-as-code, immutable infrastructure, and image lifecycle management.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with Terraform for Google Cloud Platform infrastructure provisioning.
• Experience building enterprise golden images and promotion pipelines.
• Familiarity with security hardening frameworks and vulnerability remediation.
• Experience with Active Directory integration and OS-level security configurations.

Additional Information:

• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills required.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative DevOps environment.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills.