Google Cloud Platform Cloud Migration Architect

Google Cloud Platform Cloud Migration Architect

Location: If we can find someone in Austin Tx, that would be great. Otherwise they will have to travel 3 days a week to Austin.  We need a true architect who has worked within the Google ecosystem for around 5 years or so.

Experience: 10+ years

Location: Austin, TX - must be available to work in office in Austin, Domain area for at least 3 days / week

Role Overview:

We are seeking a highly experienced Google Cloud Platform Cloud Migration Architect to lead comprehensive cloud migration initiatives. This critical role requires guiding application placement strategies across diverse enterprise infrastructures, prioritizing Google Cloud while objectively evaluating AWS Cloud and on-premises Private Cloud targets. You will drive the end-to-end lifecycle, from initial asset discovery to the establishment of a scalable migration factory.

Strategic & Architectural Responsibilities:

• Infrastructure & Application Discovery: Conduct deep-dive assessments to right-size infrastructure, optimize storage tiers, analyze licensing, and map complex application dependencies.
• Foundation & Blueprinting: Develop a Google Cloud Platform Cloud Foundation Reference & Best Practices document and perform GAP analyses against current client foundations to establish a target-state Blueprint.
• High-Level & Detailed Architecture: Design robust Target State application architectures, establishing core foundation constructs for compute, storage, networking, identity management, logging, high availability (HA), and disaster recovery (DR).

Execution & Operations (xOps):

• Migration Factory & Operating Model: Design and implement a scalable, wave-based Migration Factory, defining Pod/Squad operating structures and execution governance for automated VM and container migrations.
• xOps & Financial Governance: Develop a comprehensive xOps (CloudOps, FinOps, SecOps) Blueprint, incorporating pricing models, macro-level runtime cost estimates, and targeted adoption of Google’s RAMP program.
• Advanced CI/CD & AI Tooling: Roll out complete DevSecFinOps pipelines utilizing Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) to automate environment provisioning. Integrate modern, AI-driven testing frameworks to validate application functionality continuously throughout the migration lifecycle.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of proven enterprise experience in software engineering, delivery leadership, and global cloud infrastructure.
• Deep expertise in Google Cloud Platform cloud-native services (Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Storage, VPC, IAM, Cloud SQL/Spanner), alongside practical multi-cloud architecture mapping across AWS and Google Cloud Platform.
• Hands-on experience developing sophisticated IaC (Terraform) configurations, DevSecFinOps CI/CD pipelines, and integrating AI testing solutions.
• Google Cloud Platform Professional Cloud Architect or Cloud DevOps Engineer certification preferred; secondary multi-cloud certifications (such as the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional) are highly advantageous for application placement evaluations.
• Ability to create migration roadmaps, target architectures, and technical documentation.
• Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Before scheduling any candidates we have been asked to share their AI fitment score (as per the JD), the initial screening transcript for the following questions and their resume:
- You have 100 applications across on-prem, AWS, and OpenStack. How do you decide what moves first to Google Cloud Platform, and how do you create migration waves?
- Design the Google Cloud Platform landing zone for a large enterprise migration. Walk through Org, Folders, Projects, Shared VPC, IAM, logging, security, and Terraform structure.
- How would you connect Google Cloud Platform securely to on-prem and AWS? When would you use HA VPN, Interconnect, Cloud Router, PSC, or VPC Peering, and why?
- A GKE workload, GitHub pipeline, on-prem server, and AWS workload all need Google Cloud Platform access, but service-account keys are prohibited. Design the identity architecture.
- An application must migrate to Google Cloud Platform with less than 15 minutes downtime and cannot be modified initially. How would you design the migration, cutover, and rollback?
- You discover the existing Google Cloud Platform foundation does not meet migration security and networking requirements. How do you perform the gap assessment and decide what must be fixed first?
- You are migrating SQL Server to Google Cloud Platform. How do you choose between Cloud SQL, AlloyDB, Spanner, or another target, and how would you execute the migration with minimal downtime?
- After migration, application latency increases significantly. How do you isolate whether the issue is network, DNS, load balancing, database, application, or cross-cloud dependencies?
- When would you use Shared VPC versus separate VPCs per application or business unit? What are the trade-offs?
- How do you determine whether an application should run on Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Run, or remain on-prem?