Lead DevOps Platform Engineer

Job Location: hybrid in Bucharest Recruitment process: HR discussion Technical interview X 2 Role description: Own the technical vision and target architecture of our new GCP-based DevOps Platform, anchored on the Platform-as-a-Product principles of self-service, repeatability, and governance. Shape the SAP integration architecture on the GCP side — hybrid real-time (Pub/Sub, Apigee) and batch (Dataflow, BigQuery) — in close collaboration with the SAP Integration Specialist and SAP Public Cloud teams. Establish architecture decision processes, RFC culture, and technical standards across the platform team. Act as the senior technical counterpart to the Head of Platform, translate platform strategy into concrete engineering roadmaps, and represent the platform in technology and IT strategy discussions. Mentor and grow the hybrid platform engineering team; partner closely with developer experience colleagues to ensure golden paths actually solve developer problems. Champion the cultural shift from strict Dev/Ops separation to DevOps teams with end- to-end ownership — supported by a strong platform and clear interfaces. Profile: Several years of hands-on experience as a Tech Lead, Principal Engineer, or Lead Platform Engineer in a product-oriented engineering organization, ideally with end-to-end ownership of a developer platform on a public cloud. Deep technical expertise in Google Cloud Platform (GKE, IAM, networking, Cloud Run, Pub/Sub, BigQuery, Apigee) — or strong equivalent experience on AWS/Azure with a clear path to GCP. Proven track record of designing and operating Kubernetes-based platforms at scale, including multi-cluster and multi-region setups. Strong command of Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform) and modern cluster-API /GitOps approaches such as Crossplane, Argo CD, or Flux. Experience shaping a Platform-as-a-Product approach with golden paths, self-service capabilities, and developer portals (e.g. Backstage). Solid understanding of CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI preferred), container security, secret management, and observability stacks (e.g. Prometheus, Loki, Grafana). Familiarity with hybrid cloud topologies and event-driven integration patterns; bonus for exposure to SAP integration landscapes (SAP Integration Suite, S/4HANA). Strong architectural judgment — able to balance speed, governance, vendor lock-in, and total cost of ownership in real-world trade-offs. Demonstrated ability to lead engineers technically, mentor across seniority levels, and raise the bar through code reviews, RFCs, and architecture decision records. Excellent stakeholder communication across engineering, security, business, and external partners — comfortable presenting at C-level and pairing with developers on the same day. Fluent English required; German or Romanian is a plus. Why this job?  A green-field opportunity to shape a new GCP DevOps Platform from day one for one of Europe's largest family-owned retailers,…