W2// Google Cloud Platform Cloud Migration Expert

Role Name: Google Cloud Platform Cloud Migration Expert

Work Location: St. Louis (100% Onsite)

Mode of Employment: Contract

Job Description:

Job Description: Google Cloud Platform Migration Expert

Role Summary

We are looking for a Google Cloud Platform Migration Expert to lead the planning and execution of migrating applications, data, and infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform.

The ideal candidate owns migration strategy end-to-end — assessment, landing zone design, migration execution, and post-migration optimization — delivering secure, cost-effective, and performant cloud environments.

Key Responsibilities

Overall 15+ years of experience, 5+ years in cloud technologies

Lead end-to-end cloud migration programs to Google Cloud Platform (assessment, strategy, execution, validation, optimization).

Assess existing on-premise/other-cloud workloads and define the right migration pattern per application (rehost, replatform, refactor, repurchase, retire, retain — the 6 R's).

Design Google Cloud Platform landing zones, organization/project hierarchy, networking (VPC, interconnect, peering), and IAM/security guardrails.

Plan and execute database and data migrations (Cloud SQL, Spanner, BigQuery, Datastream, Database Migration Service).

Migrate compute workloads (Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Run, App Engine) with minimal downtime using tools like Migrate to Virtual Machines / Migrate to Containers.

Containerize and migrate workloads to Kubernetes/GKE: cluster design, workload modernization, Helm/manifests, networking, autoscaling, and migration of existing clusters (self-managed or other-cloud) to GKE.

Define cutover plans, rollback strategies, and parity/validation testing to de-risk migrations.

Optimize cost, performance, and reliability post-migration (right-sizing, committed-use discounts, autoscaling).

Collaborate with application, security, and networking teams; document architecture and runbooks.

Required Skills & Experience

Overall 15+ years of experience, 5+ years in cloud technologies

5+ years in cloud architecture/engineering, with proven experience leading migrations to Google Cloud Platform.

Deep Google Cloud Platform knowledge: Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Run, VPC networking, Cloud IAM, Cloud Storage, Cloud SQL/Spanner, BigQuery.

Strong Kubernetes and GKE expertise: cluster administration, workloads/scheduling, networking (CNI/ingress), storage (CSI), autoscaling (HPA/VPA/Cluster Autoscaler), RBAC, and Helm — including migrating containerized workloads onto GKE.

Containerization skills: Docker, image optimization, and refactoring applications for Kubernetes.

Hands-on with Google Cloud Platform migration tooling: Migration Center, Migrate to Virtual Machines, Migrate to Containers, Database Migration Service, Datastream, Transfer Service.

Strong grasp of migration strategy frameworks (6 R's) and large-scale cutover planning.

Infrastructure as Code: Terraform (and/or Deployment Manager/Config Connector).

Networking and hybrid connectivity: Cloud Interconnect, VPN, Shared VPC, DNS, load balancing.

Security and governance: IAM, organization policies, VPC Service Controls, KMS, compliance.

Experience with cost optimization (right-sizing, CUDs/SUDs, billing analysis).

Strong understanding of source environments (on-prem VMware, AWS, or Azure) to plan accurate migrations.

Nice to Have

Google Cloud certifications: Professional Cloud Architect, Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer, or Professional Cloud Network Engineer.

Advanced GKE/Kubernetes operations: service mesh (Istio/ASM), multi-cluster, and Anthos.

Data warehouse modernization (Teradata/Oracle/Hadoop ? BigQuery) experience.

CI/CD and GitOps on Google Cloud Platform (Cloud Build, Cloud Deploy, Argo CD).

Anthos / multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud experience".