Technology hiring
How to hire a Cloud, DevOps, SRE and Platform team
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This guide helps hiring managers clarify the distinct technical responsibilities and seniority levels required to build an effective cloud, DevOps, SRE, and platform team.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- Do I pay upfront?
- No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
- Must I give you exclusivity?
- We do not promise or require exclusivity here. Any terms are in the recruiting agreement we refer you to.
- Will you reveal my company?
- Not without your explicit consent before we disclose anything.
- What if I do not hire?
- No hire, no fee.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
- No upfront fee
- Pay only if you hire
- Technology only
- We reach engineers who aren't on job boards
- Replacement guarantee on standard searches
Hiring guidance
Start with the scope
Most hiring managers mistake DevOps for a job title rather than a culture. DevOps functions as a bridge between software development and operations, focusing on shared responsibility for the software lifecycle. If your team writes code, they need operational insight. SRE is a specific implementation of these principles, focusing on reliability metrics, error budgets, and service level objectives. You hire SREs when your application uptime directly impacts revenue and you need someone to manage the mathematical side of availability. Platform engineering represents the next evolution, focusing on building internal developer tools so that your product developers remain autonomous.
Deciding the first hire depends on your immediate bottleneck. If your developers struggle to deploy code, you need a DevOps Engineer to automate delivery pipelines. If your systems crash frequently under load, you need an SRE to harden the environment and implement observability. If you have a large team waiting on manual infrastructure tasks, you need a Platform Engineer to create self-service tools. Avoid hiring a broad architect before you have the operational base to support the infrastructure they design. A common trap is hiring a high-level manager to lead a team that does not yet exist. Build the foundation by hiring a lead engineer who still enjoys technical execution, then expand outward as the tooling matures.
Seniority in these disciplines relates to system complexity rather than years of experience. A junior Cloud Engineer manages existing resources using predefined scripts. A senior practitioner architects the entire cloud environment, secures the network, manages cost efficiency, and mentors junior staff. The Director of Platform level manages the strategy of developer productivity, moving beyond simple uptime to ensuring the platform is usable, scalable, and cost-effective. Focus on the size of the infrastructure they have managed. Someone who maintained a single-service environment will struggle when transitioned to a microservices architecture that requires complex orchestration, traffic management, and global data replication across multiple cloud regions.
Hiring guidance
Pipeline Automation Proficiency
Ask candidates to explain the exact mechanics of their CI/CD pipelines. Look for specific examples of how they handled failed deployments. A strong answer describes using automation to roll back changes without manual intervention. Weak answers describe pipelines as simple scripts and rely on manual oversight to fix broken builds.
Hiring guidance
Infrastructure as Code Implementation
Evaluate their ability to manage state in tools like Terraform or CloudFormation. Ask how they handle drift when someone manually changes a setting in the cloud console. Reliable engineers use state locking and strict code reviews to ensure the environment matches the repository. Avoid those who manually fix issues through the console.
Hiring guidance
Observability and Debugging
Query them on their process for identifying the root cause of a latency spike. Listen for mentions of distributed tracing and log correlation. A good candidate discusses looking at specific error rates across services. A poor answer focuses on restarting servers or simply increasing resource limits without understanding the underlying issue.
Hiring guidance
Kubernetes Orchestration Depth
Test their understanding of cluster security and resource scheduling. Ask how they isolate workloads or prevent a single container from hogging memory. Competent engineers discuss namespaces, resource limits, and node affinity. Those who only know how to deploy a basic container are unprepared for sensitive production management.
Hiring guidance
Cloud Cost Optimization
Question their experience with FinOps principles. Ask for a real example where they reduced monthly cloud spend. Candidates should talk about rightsizing instances, using spot instances where appropriate, and removing idle storage. Ignore candidates who think throwing more money at cloud resources is the correct solution to performance issues.
Hiring guidance
Evidence to bring into the hiring conversation
Look for talent in engineering groups that prioritize automation over manual labor. These individuals are often found in companies that release software multiple times per day. Avoid sourcing from organizations that still maintain manual server closets or rely on proprietary, non-cloud infrastructure, as these backgrounds do not translate well to modern software-defined environments. Look for engineers who contribute to open-source tooling, as this demonstrates a commitment to community-driven practices and shared problem solving.
Motivation for proven infrastructure talent often centers on solving scale. They want to work on systems that handle millions of requests because the technical challenge is higher. When vetting interest, look for those who care about the developer experience. A strong candidate wants to build tools that make their peers faster and more reliable. Avoid candidates who view their role as gatekeeping or those who are fixated on using specific, trendy tools without regard for business requirements or actual technical utility.
Hiring guidance
Problems worth catching early
Hiring an architect without requiring them to write any code. You need someone who stays grounded in current technical realities rather than drawing diagrams that are impossible to execute.
Expecting one person to perform both security auditing and infrastructure development simultaneously. These roles have conflicting goals that require dedicated focus and specific tooling.
Ignoring the transition from development to production. If you hire someone who only knows how to build environments but never monitors them, you will have stable infrastructure that nobody can support when it breaks.
Hiring guidance
Decisions to make before the search
Start by documenting your current infrastructure pain points. Be specific about whether your issues are latency, cost, security, or deployment velocity. Use these details to define the scope for the role so you do not hire a generalist when you need a specialist.
Conduct a technical screening that involves a shared code review. Do not focus on whiteboard algorithm puzzles. Review their past configuration files or scripts to see if their code is clean, documented, and modular enough for a team environment.
Evaluate their ability to communicate technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders. A high-performing lead should be able to explain why a specific database choice impacts both product performance and long-term maintenance costs.
Hiring guidance
Questions buyers ask
What is the primary difference between a DevOps Engineer and an SRE?
A DevOps Engineer typically focuses on the tooling and automation required for continuous deployment and delivery. An SRE focuses on the reliability of the system through measurement, incident response, and performance tuning.
Should I insist on industry certifications like AWS Solutions Architect?
Certifications indicate that a candidate understands the basic vocabulary and platform features. Use them as a baseline check for knowledge, but prioritize actual experience building and maintaining production environments.
How do I handle counteroffers for high-demand infrastructure roles?
Counteroffers are common in this field due to scarcity. Focus your appeal on the technical challenge, the autonomy you offer, and the impact the hire will have on the overall platform architecture.
Is remote work standard for this technical team?
The discipline is highly compatible with remote work because infrastructure is managed through code. You are more likely to attract senior talent if you provide a remote-friendly environment with strong asynchronous communication tools.
How can I ensure my shortlist isn't constrained by vanity metrics?
Ignore years of experience and prioritize the size and complexity of the systems they have personally managed. A candidate who has managed a small but complex, high-traffic environment is often more valuable than one who managed a massive but static network.
Hiring guidance
Tell us about the role
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- Do I pay upfront?
- No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
- Must I give you exclusivity?
- We do not promise or require exclusivity here. Any terms are in the recruiting agreement we refer you to.
- Will you reveal my company?
- Not without your explicit consent before we disclose anything.
- What if I do not hire?
- No hire, no fee.
Hiring guidance
Related positions and guidance
How a search runs
The Six-Step Search
- 1Search Calibration
A call about the work. You get a written search profile.
- 2Market Mapping
We identify the employer backgrounds that fit. You see where we will look.
- 3Professional Contact Intelligence
We identify individual people, not job board applicants.
- 4Persistent Personalized Outreach
Personal outreach and direct follow-through. You get search updates.
- 5Live Candidate Qualification
A recruiter checks stack, scope and motivation in conversation.
- 6Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You receive a written brief on every person you meet.
Working with Technology Headhunters
When is the recruiting fee due?
There is no upfront fee for our contingency search. You pay only if you hire someone we present, under the terms of the signed agreement.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What don't you do in a permanent search?
We do not bill by the hour for permanent search or charge a retainer unless one is agreed. We do not treat reposting your job advertisement as headhunting.