Field CTO - Cloud Infrastructure & Modernization, Google Cloud

Position: Field CTO -  Cloud Infrastructure & Application Modernization, Google Cloud
Cloud infrastructure and application architecture are the twin engines of enterprise transformation. Google Cloud enables mid-market clients to build secure, scalable cloud foundations while modernizing monolithic legacy systems into cloud-native microservices and containerized environments. Our clients need agile, execution-focused leaders who can design production-ready platform foundations, migrate complex workloads, modernize applications, and automate delivery pipelines to rapidly unlock scale and business value.

The Role:

You are the single point of accountability for client engagement delivery, spanning cloud infrastructure, landing zones, application modernizations, and migration programs. You shape the execution strategy, guide technical teams, review PRs and IaC, and direct dedicated offshore engineering teams who build alongside you. You balance hands-on technical depth across Terraform, GKE, Apigee, VPC design, and microservices with delivery governance to ship production-grade solutions in weeks, not quarters.

What You'll Do:

+ Own delivery end-to-end:
Serve as the single point of accountability for scope, schedule, engineering quality, platform security, and business outcomes across infrastructure and application modernization work streams.

+ Design execution approaches:
Define migration waves, application refactoring patterns (e.g., strangler-fig), infrastructure deployment cadences, and team structures to minimize risk and maximize velocity.

+ Provide technical advisory:
Guide client leadership and technical teams on GCP landing zones, container orchestration, microservice architectures, API gateways, security controls, and cloud operational models.

+ Lead cross-border delivery teams:
Coordinate onshore client engagement leadership with offshore engineering teams to set priorities, clear blockers, review code/modules, and maintain delivery pace.

+ Drive rapid time-to-value:
Stand up delivery immediately post-sale to deploy platform foundations, migrate workloads, and refactor applications in weeks rather than quarters.

+ Enforce technical governance:
Establish automated deployment guardrails, CI/CD pipelines, testing strategies, SRE alerting, and operational readiness checkpoints.

Travel may be required for this role.  The amount of travel will vary from 25% to 100% depending on business need and client requirements.

What You'll Need:

+ Minimum 7+ years in hands-on, client-facing technology roles with at least 5 years architecting and delivering on Google Cloud Platform, with deep expertise in cloud infrastructure, networking, application development, microservices, and modern platform engineering.

+ Minimum 7+ experience independently owning client engagements from technical design through go-live, with strong dual mastery in technical leadership and delivery management (scope, risk, dynamic client stakeholders).

+ Minimum 3+ years experience hands-on proficiency with Terraform, VPC networking, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Apigee/API gateways, Cloud Run, compute services, and CI/CD pipelines (Cloud Build, Jenkins, Git Hub Actions)-including the ability to design landing zones, write Terraform modules, review PRs, and debug broken deployments.

+ Minimum 3+ years experience implementing security-by-design principles (IAM, org policies, encryption, network segmentation, compliance controls) alongside modern software engineering practices (clean code, testing strategies, observability, 12-factor apps).

+ Minimum 5+ years experience leading distributed global engineering teams and clear communication skills across technical whiteboarding with engineers or presenting to C-suite executives.

+ Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience (minimum 12 years of work experience if no degree; minimum 6 years of work experience required with an Associate's degree).

Preferred Qualifications:

+ Degree Background:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent 12 years of technical experience).

+ Google Cloud

Certifications:

Active Google Cloud Professional certifications (Cloud Architect, Cloud Network Engineer, Cloud Security Engineer, or Cloud Developer).

+ Large-Scale Migration Expertise:
Track record of executing large-scale cloud migrations, data center exits, workload assessment, wave planning, and legacy app decomposition using strangler-fig or domain-driven design patterns.

+ Platform Engineering Depth:
Hands-on experience building production landing zones, multi-project cloud foundations, developer self-service portals, and operating production Kubernetes platforms at scale.

+ Advanced Capabilities:

Experience with Gemini Code Assist for AI-augmented developer productivity, automated policy-as-code (OPA/Gatekeeper), and hybrid/multi-cloud configurations (Anthos, Interconnect).

Domain Expertise

Primary Domain Skills

+ Cloud Foundations & IaC: GCP Landing Zones, Terraform script automation, Cloud Foundation Toolkit, Organization Hierarchies, IAM structures, and…