Cloud Automation Engineer - Charlotte, NC

Hello,

Hope you are doing well!!!

We are constantly on the lookout for professionals to fulfil the staffing needs of our clients, and we currently have a job opening that may interest you

Job Title: Cloud Automation Engineer

Location: Charlotte, NC

Position Type: Long Term Contract

Job description:

Automation Engineer with strong experience in Ansible, HashiCorp Packer, and Google Cloud Compute Engine to design, build, and maintain automated machine image and VM provisioning solutions for both Windows and Linux environments.

Key Responsibilities

Infrastructure Automation

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 multiple environments.

Google Cloud Engineering

Manage and optimize Google Cloud Compute Engine instances, instance templates, managed instance groups, and related services.

Implement best practices for VM image lifecycle management in Google Cloud Platform.

Integrate image creation and provisioning workflows with Google Cloud Platform networking, IAM, service accounts, and storage services.

Support deployment patterns for both standalone and scalable Compute Engine-based workloads.

Windows and Linux Administration

Automate configuration of Windows and Linux virtual machines using Ansible playbooks and roles.

Build and maintain OS-specific provisioning logic for: Windows Server, RHEL / CentOS / Rocky / Ubuntu or similar Linux distributions

Manage system configuration, domain join, local user/group policies, package installation, agent deployment, and OS baseline settings.

Support patching, security hardening, and operational readiness of VM builds.

CI/CD and DevOps Integration

Integrate Packer and Ansible workflows into CI/CD pipelines such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, or similar platforms.

Maintain version-controlled infrastructure and image build code in Git repositories.

Implement automated testing and validation of machine images before release.

Promote immutable infrastructure and image versioning practices.

Security and Governance

Apply secure baseline configurations and OS hardening controls to Windows and Linux images.

Ensure compliance with enterprise security, vulnerability remediation, and audit requirements.

Required Qualifications

5 years of experience in cloud infrastructure automation, system engineering, or DevOps roles.

Strong hands-on experience with Ansible for configuration management and provisioning.

Strong hands-on experience with HashiCorp Packer for machine image creation.

Experience with Google Cloud Platform, especially: Compute Engine , IAM / service accounts, VPC networking fundamentals , Cloud Storage

Experience administering and automating both: Windows Server, Linux operating systems

Strong scripting experience with one or more of the following: Bash, PowerShell, Python

Understanding of infrastructure-as-code, immutable images, and standardized build patterns.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with Terraform for Google Cloud Platform infrastructure provisioning.

Experience creating enterprise golden images and image promotion pipelines.

Familiarity with security hardening frameworks and vulnerability remediation processes.

Experience with Active Directory integration, Windows configuration automation, and Linux hardening.

Technical Skills

Automation/Provisioning: Ansible, Packer

Cloud Platform: Google Cloud Platform, Compute Engine

Operating Systems: Windows Server, Linux

Scripting: PowerShell, Bash, Python

DevOps Tools: Git, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI

Infrastructure as Code: Terraform

You may respond to me via email but please be sure to include your direct phone number so I can reach out to you quickly. In considering candidates for our various positions, time is of the essence and we are committed to responding to our clients promptly.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read and respond to this message

Thanks and Regards,

______________________________________

Vikas Mahindrakar | New York Technology Partners

120 Wood Avenue S | Suite 504 | Iselin NJ 08830

Direct: | Desk: Ext: 425

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