Sr Cloud Engineer

Join the Cloud Platform Team as a Sr Cloud Engineer, responsible for developing and maintaining the GKE Platform for all games, supporting 260 million players. This role focuses on reliability, performance, and scalability, handling millions of requests per second. You will partner with game and platform teams to deploy services, manage and optimize GKE clusters, and automate infrastructure with Terraform and Crossplane. Key responsibilities include designing scalable systems, overseeing cloud networking, managing Istio service mesh, and various Google Cloud services. You will also build automation tools, implement security-first infrastructure, and troubleshoot incidents to ensure a smooth gaming experience.

Must Have

• Partner with game and platform teams to deploy services on GKE.
• Manage and optimize GKE clusters for high reliability and scalability.
• Automate infrastructure provisioning with Terraform and Crossplane.
• Design scalable systems for 260+ million players.
• Oversee cloud networking (Shared VPC, Cloud Armor, Firewalls, BGP/peering, IPv6, Kubernetes networking, Cloud Router/Interconnect, VPN).
• Manage Istio service mesh and Google Cloud load balancing.
• Manage cloud services like Cloud SQL, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Secret Manager, Workload Identity, Spanner.
• Automate CI/CD with CloudBuild, Jenkins, Atlantis, ArgoCD.
• Implement security-first infrastructure.
• Troubleshoot and resolve incidents to improve resilience.
• Expertise in Cloud Networking, Kubernetes, and Infrastructure as Code.
• Proficiency with CI/CD, GitOps, Monitoring, and Observability tools.
• Deep understanding of cloud security, IAM, and zero-trust networking.
• Ability to design highly scalable, resilient game infrastructure.
• Expertise in debugging distributed systems.
• Strong communication, mentoring, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Perks & Benefits

• Hybrid working model
• Private medical, dental, critical illness, and pension plans
• Generous holiday allowance with additional close-down time off
• Inspiring workspaces with free breakfast, snacks, and drinks
• Access to dedicated learning platform (LEAP), development programmes, leadership coaching
• Employee-led diversity-focused networks and community groups
• Reimbursements for physical and mental health activities
• Access to Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and mental wellbeing platforms (AbleTo, Total Brain)
• Onsite gyms (in some offices)
• Free merch through Royal Store
• Annual Community Day for good causes
• Charity donation matching
• Free and discounted Activision Blizzard games
• Royal Recognition Awards

Are you inspired by the idea of delivering a smooth gaming experience to 260 million players? Join the Cloud Platform Team! We are responsible for developing and maintaining the GKE Platform for all games. In our team, we focus on reliability, performance and scalability–our platform supports an average traffic of millions of requests per second from all our beloved games. We work closely with our teams to support game feature development, handle intense traffic events and highly concurrent data storage. In our daily work, we promote creativity and innovation by adopting the latest technologies and constantly improving and evolving our platform.

Shared Tech is the engine that powers all our live games. With the aim of providing the best possible experience for our developers and creators, as well as our hundreds of millions of players, our extensive team is integral to deliver King’s mission of Making the World Playful. Dedicated to keeping our talented game makers productive, we enable the Kingdom to create, build, launch and operate every game, across a vast number of platforms and mobile devices. We are the stage where games love to perform!

Your role within the Kingdom

• You’ll partner closely with game and platform teams to deploy games/services on our GKE platform via self-service capabilities, standard patterns, and guardrails that accelerate delivery while maintaining reliability and security
• Manage and optimize GKE clusters for high reliability, scalability, and efficiency
• Automate infrastructure provisioning with Terraform and Crossplane for repeatable deployments
• Design scalable systems for 260+ million players, ensuring performance and availability
• Oversee cloud networking (Shared VPC, Cloud Armor, Firewalls, BGP/peering, IPv6, Kubernetes networking, Cloud Router/Interconnect, VPN)
• Manage Istio service mesh, Google Cloud load balancing, and large-scale networks to support millions of requests/sec
• Manage cloud services (Cloud SQL, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Secret Manager, Workload Identity, Spanner) for game teams
• Build/extend compute platforms and automation tools to streamline game backend operations
• Automate CI/CD with CloudBuild, Jenkins, Atlantis, ArgoCD for seamless deployments
• Implement security-first infrastructure to ensure stability and compliance
• Troubleshoot and resolve incidents to improve resilience and scalability
• Support the full game backend lifecycle, from initial deployment to high-traffic live operations
• Mentor engineers, lead critical projects, and foster an open, fun, and innovative culture

Skills to create thrills

• Cloud Networking: Expertise in BGP/peering, IPv6, Kubernetes networking, Cloud Router/Interconnect, VPN, NAT, BeyondCorp, IAP
• Kubernetes & Cloud: Hands-on GKE management, cluster optimization, scaling, and troubleshooting
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Expertise with Terraform and Crossplane for automating cloud infrastructure
• CI/CD & GitOps: Proficiency with Cloud Build, CloudBees CDRO, Jenkins, Atlantis, ArgoCD for automated deployments
• Monitoring & Observability: Experience with OTel, Grafana, Prometheus for full-stack visibility
• Cloud Resource Management: Experience managing Cloud SQL, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Secret Manager, Workload Identity
• Security & Governance: Deep understanding of cloud security, IAM, zero-trust networking, and secrets management
• Scalability & Resilience: Ability to design highly scalable, resilient game infrastructure with automation
• Troubleshooting & Reliability: Expertise in debugging distributed systems, finding root causes, and enhancing reliability
• Leadership & Collaboration: Excellent communication, mentoring, and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Passion for Gaming & Innovation: Eager to leverage cutting-edge cloud technology for gaming

Our award-winning culture and sweet benefits

What makes a great place to work is our playful culture, work-life balance and a growth mindset focused on learning every day. And don’t just take our word for it – we’ve featured in both Newsweek’s Most Loved Workplaces and the Sunday Times Best Places to Work.

Our sweet benefits and perks support you to get your best work done and have fun along the way. These include:

-Hybrid working: A Team First, Hybrid Working model that provides working patterns based on the needs of the team – allowing time for connection, collaboration, and celebration, and helping Kingsters balance their personal and work lives.

-Coverage for the important life stuff: The specifics vary location to location, but benefits may include private medical, dental, critical illness, and pension plans.

-Generous holiday allowance: With additional close-down time off between 25th December and the New Year.

-Inspiring workspaces: Next level offices which provide numerous creative spaces as well as free breakfast, snacks, and drinks.

-Plentiful learning opportunities: Access to our dedicated learning platform, LEAP, plus other development programmes and leadership coaching.

-Employee networks: Four employee-led diversity-focused networks and other community groups that raise awareness and help to make the Kingdom even more inclusive.

-Wellbeing offerings: Reimbursements for both physical and mental health related activities, and access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and mental wellbeing platforms AbleTo and Total Brain. Some offices also have their own onsite gyms.

-Free merch: Through our very own Royal Store, where you can get your hands on some exclusive goodies.

-Other perks: Far more than we can list here, but we also offer an annual Community Day for you to help a good cause, charity donation matching, free and discounted Activision Blizzard games, and our Royal Recognition Awards that reward the commitment of long-serving Kingsters.