DevOps and Cloud Engineer job description
A DevOps and Cloud Engineer builds and runs the systems that deploy, host and monitor software. A business needs one so releases are quick and repeatable and the product stays available and secure.
Why the role exists
The DevOps and Cloud Engineer connects development with operations. In Indian startups and IT firms, this person sets up cloud accounts, build pipelines, containers and monitoring, and is often the first to be called when something goes down. They also watch cloud spend, which can grow quickly without control.
What the person does
- Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines so code is tested and deployed in a repeatable way.
- Provision cloud resources on AWS, Azure or GCP using Terraform or similar infrastructure-as-code tools.
- Run and update containers and Kubernetes clusters, or simpler managed services, for applications.
- Set up monitoring, logging and alerts so the team learns of problems before customers do.
- Respond to incidents, restore service and write short reviews that record causes and fixes.
- Manage access, secrets and backups, and test that backups can actually be restored.
- Review cloud bills with the team and remove unused or oversized resources.
- Help developers with environments, release steps and troubleshooting.
Skills and tools
- One major cloud platform in depth, such as AWS, Azure or GCP
- Linux administration and shell scripting
- Docker and Kubernetes or managed container services
- Infrastructure as code with Terraform, Ansible or CloudFormation
- CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions or GitLab CI
- Monitoring with Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch or Datadog
- Networking basics: DNS, load balancers, VPCs and firewalls
- Calm, methodical handling of incidents and clear written reports
Education and experience
Preferred, never a bar: equivalent experience counts.
- Preferred: a degree or diploma in computer science, IT or a related field, or equivalent experience.
- Preferred: a cloud certification from the platform in use, though hands-on experience matters more.
- Preferred: experience running a production system with real users and on-call duties.
- Candidates from system administration, support or development roles are welcome with proof of hands-on work.
How the work is judged
- Availability of the product and the speed at which incidents are detected and resolved.
- Reliability and speed of the release pipeline from code merge to production.
- Quality of monitoring and alerts, including how few false alarms the team receives.
- Control of cloud costs against what the business agreed to spend.
- Security hygiene of the environment, including access reviews and tested backups.
Where the role can lead
- Senior DevOps or Site Reliability Engineer, owning platform reliability.
- Cloud Architect, designing environments across teams and products.
- DevOps Lead or Engineering Manager for platform and infrastructure.
Interview questions to ask
Ask every candidate the same questions in the same order and score them against written anchors, so the decision rests on the work and not the impression.
- Describe a deployment pipeline you built. What stages did it have and what failed most often?
- The site is down at night. Walk us through your first thirty minutes.
- How do you keep secrets and access keys out of code repositories?
- Our cloud bill rose sharply this month. How would you find the reason?
- Explain how you would move a service to a new environment with little downtime.
- Tell us about a mistake you made on production. What did you change afterwards?
Hiring tips for this role
- Use a scenario test: give a broken deployment or an outage story and ask the candidate to talk through diagnosis. Process matters more than memorised commands.
- Check which platform they used hands-on. Certificates alone do not show who has handled an outage or a cost overrun.
- Ask about access control and backups. A candidate who never mentions security or restore tests may be a risk to the business.
- Be honest about on-call needs. Late-night support is common in this role, and unclear expectations lead to early exits.
Questions about hiring a devops and cloud engineer
It is both. DevOps began as a way of working in which development and operations share responsibility. Many companies also create a DevOps role to own pipelines, cloud setup and reliability for the whole team.
Not always. A small team on managed cloud services may need only part-time help or a developer with cloud skills. Hire full-time when releases, uptime and costs need constant attention.
Ask for the platform you already use. Ideas such as networking, automation and monitoring carry across clouds, so an engineer strong on one can learn another with time, but plan for a ramp-up period.
Yes. GullyHR supports permanent hiring. We agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates against it, and support the offer stage. The final choice is yours.
Hiring a devops and cloud engineer?
GullyHR runs talent acquisition for permanent roles. We agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates against it, and support the offer through to joining. We recruit permanent employees. We do not supply contract or temporary staff.