Principal I, Cloud & Middleware Architecture (Platform Engineering)

Alcon; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Alcon seeks a Principal Platform Engineer to lead design, engineering, automation, and operation of enterprise cloud and Kubernetes platforms across cloud, datacenter, manufacturing, and edge environments.

The role blends hands-on engineering with technical leadership, collaborating across architecture, security, and operations teams. It emphasizes cloud-native tooling, IaC, DevSecOps, GitOps, and automation to drive modernization and reliability.

Qualifications

• 5+ years total experience in related fields.
• Strong knowledge of AWS and/or Azure.
• Hands-on with Kubernetes platforms (EKS, AKS, OpenShift, RKE2).
• Experience with Terraform and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience in security, observability, and platform reliability.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate enterprise cloud and Kubernetes platform capabilities.
• Translate standards into reusable engineering patterns and platform services.
• Lead technical design and implementation for platform initiatives.
• Establish engineering best practices for deployment, lifecycle, and ops.
• Mentor engineering teams and provide technical guidance.

Skills

Platform engineering

Cloud engineering

DevOps

SRE

Kubernetes

Terraform

GitOps

CI/CD

Linux

Containers

Education

Bachelor's or Master's Degree

Tools

Argo CD

Helm

Artifactory

Jenkins

Job description

Summary of Position:

We are seeking a Principal Platform Engineer to help lead the design, engineering, automation, and operation of enterprise cloud and Kubernetes platforms supporting cloud, datacenter, manufacturing, and edge environments. The selected candidate will serve as a senior technical leader responsible for transforming architecture strategy into secure, scalable, automated, and supportable platform capabilities. The role combines deep hands‑on engineering expertise with technical leadership and close collaboration across architecture, security, infrastructure, operations, and application teams. The successful candidate will help drive modernization initiatives through cloud‑native technologies, platform engineering practices, Kubernetes, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DevSecOps, GitOps, and automation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Platform Engineering Design, build, and operate enterprise cloud and Kubernetes platform capabilities across AWS, Azure, hybrid, on‑premises, and edge environments.
• Translate architectural standards into reusable engineering patterns, automation, platform services, and operational capabilities.
• Lead technical design and implementation activities for strategic platform initiatives.
• Establish engineering best practices for platform development, deployment, lifecycle management, and operational support.
• Mentor engineering teams and provide technical guidance across platform‑related initiatives.

Kubernetes & Cloud‑Native Platforms

• Design and implement Kubernetes platform capabilities including: Cluster lifecycle management
• Worker node design and scaling
• Networking and ingress
• Storage integration
• Secrets and certificate management
• Platform observability
• Backup and recovery
• Security controls and policy enforcement
• Support deployment patterns for: Engineering & Validation environments
• Production Edge environments
• MES/SCADA‑supporting platforms
• GPU‑enabled workloads
• Guide Kubernetes version management, upgrade strategies, supportability, and operational readiness.

Infrastructure as Code & Automation

• Develop reusable infrastructure modules and deployment frameworks using Terraform and approved automation technologies.
• Implement GitOps deployment patterns using Argo CD, or approved alternatives.
• Drive automation‑first approaches for provisioning, configuration management, upgrades, compliance validation, and operational support.
• Build repeatable deployment patterns that reduce operational effort while improving consistency and quality.

DevSecOps & Platform Reliability

• Integrate security, compliance, and operational controls into platform delivery processes.
• Implement CI/CD pipelines supporting infrastructure, platform services, and Kubernetes lifecycle activities.
• Support vulnerability management, policy enforcement, secrets management, and certificate management capabilities.
• Define and improve platform reliability, availability, observability, backup, and recovery capabilities.

Qualification, Testing & Continuous Improvement

• Develop automated validation and qualification frameworks for: Kubernetes releases
• Infrastructure profiles
• Storage integrations
• Network integrations
• Security controls
• Platform services
• Edge deployments
• GPU‑enabled configurations

Contribute to platform certification and supportability programs.

Support development of platform standards, support matrices, and operational runbooks.

Drive continuous improvement through automation, standardization, measurement, and operational feedback.

Collaboration & Technical Leadership

• Partner with architects, security teams, infrastructure teams, operations teams, and application teams to deliver platform capabilities.
• Participate in architecture reviews and technology evaluations.
• Help define engineering roadmaps and implementation plans.
• Contribute to platform strategy through practical implementation experience and operational insights.

Key Responsibilities/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree with 5+ years of total experience.
• Experience in Platform Engineering, Cloud Engineering, DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Infrastructure Engineering, or related technical disciplines.
• Strong knowledge of AWS and/or Azure cloud platforms.
• Hands‑on experience with Kubernetes platforms such as Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), OpenShift, RKE2, or equivalent enterprise Kubernetes platforms.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform preferred), CI/CD pipelines, GitOps, Linux administration, Containers and container platforms, Cloud networking and security, Observability and monitoring solutions.
• Experience implementing highly available, secure, and scalable platform solutions.
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AWS Control Tower, Landing Zones, Account Governance, and Cloud Security services.
• Experience with Argo CD, Helm, and modern Kubernetes platform tooling.
• Experience with JFrog Artifactory or enterprise artifact management solutions.
• Experience with Security Hub, CloudTrail, CloudFront, Audit Manager, Azure security services, and related governance tooling.
• Experience in manufacturing, edge computing, industrial, or distributed platform environments.
• Experience supporting disconnected or intermittently connected environments.
• Experience with GPU‑enabled infrastructure and AI/ML platforms.
• Experience with platform qualification, testing, and release certification practices.
• Strong scripting and automation skills using Python, PowerShell, Bash, JavaScript, or similar technologies.
• Relevant cloud, DevOps, Terraform, Kubernetes, or security certifications.

Measures of Success

• Delivery of secure, reliable, and reusable platform capabilities.
• Successful implementation of cloud and Kubernetes platform services aligned to roadmap objectives.
• Increased automation and reduction of manual operational effort.
• Improved platform reliability, security, scalability, and supportability.
• Reduced onboarding time for applications, environments, and infrastructure consumers.
• Effective qualification, testing, and lifecycle management of platform technologies.
• Successful mentoring and technical leadership of engineering teams.
• Measurable improvement in platform adoption, operational efficiency, and delivery velocity.

This role offers an opportunity to shape the future of cloud, Kubernetes, platform engineering, and edge computing capabilities while remaining deeply engaged in hands‑on technical delivery and engineering leadership.

Work hours: 1 PM to 10 PM IST

Relocation assistance: Yes

Alcon is an Equal Opportunity Employer and takes pride in maintaining a diverse environment. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, or any other reason.

Alcon develops and manufactures innovative devices to serve the full life cycle of eye care needs. Its surgical group is one of the largest makers of equipment used for cataract removal and laser vision correction. Its consumer products include the well‑known Opti-Free line of contact lens solutions and related products. Alcon, which was founded in 1945, sells its products in 180 countries worldwide.