Principal, Software Engineering, ITC

Nike; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 2,400,000 - 3,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Nike is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the development of a scalable managed infrastructure stack. This role emphasizes cloud engineering expertise and requires extensive experience in architecting cloud solutions. Ideal candidates should possess strong technical skills and the ability to mentor others.

The position is based in Bengaluru, India, and offers a collaborative environment that fosters innovation and excellence in cloud technologies.

Qualifications

• Minimum 14 years in software engineering focused on cloud infrastructure.
• 6 years senior experience, 3 years at Principal level or equivalent.
• Ability to mentor and guide engineers.

Responsibilities

• Architect and lead development of scalable managed infrastructure.
• Drive roadmap delivery for Management Plane.
• Define best practices for Managed Infrastructure.

Skills

Cloud Engineering expertise

Mentoring skills

Python programming

AWS expertise

API design

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

Kubernetes

Terraform

Ansible

Databricks

Crossplane

Job description

WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH

The Cloud & Core Engineering team builds, operates, and provides full lifecycle management of Nike's fully managed, multi-cloud platform and software-defined network, the foundation that enables self-service cloud, data, and AI environments for Nike Global Technology. Cloud and Core Engineering team is part of Foundational Services, AI & Security Technology domain. You will be reporting to Software Engineering Director. You will partner closely with Engineering Managers, Principal Engineers, Engineering Directors, and Product Managers in both foundational and business facing technology domains.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer within the layer responsible for multi-cloud access and entitlement management, account lifecycle, resource attribution, cloud governance and policy guardrails, and cloud economics including unit-cost optimization. This is a high-ownership, high-visibility, hands on engineering leadership role. The ideal candidate brings deep technical expertise in Cloud Engineering to solve complex engineering problem and accelerate the scaling through AI to enable Nike’s pursuit to deliver state of the art Enterprise Cloud infrastructure to run Nike’s business and support our athletes.

• Minimum 14+ years of experience in software engineering, with a focus on cloud infrastructure engineering in a multi cloud ecosystem including architecture, deployment and management of enterprise cloud solutions.
• 6+ years of senior experience, including at least 3 years at Principal level or equivalent, driving and owning technical strategy and architecture.
• Experience co-owning a technical strategy and design for product or platform with a globalcounterpart, driving alignment on priorities, architectural deci sions, and operating model without escalation dependency.
• Ability to mentor and guide a team of engineers.
• 10+ years of hands‑on AWS experience across architecture, platform, infrastructure, and governance.
• Hands‑on experience in cloud infrastructure automation using tools like Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation.
• Hands‑on experience in designing, implementing, and managing control plane architectures for cloud environments, ensuring efficient orchestration, security, and governance of cloud resources.
• Fluency in modern software architecture: microservices, event‑driven patterns, REST/GraphQL.
• API design, domain‑driven design, and security‑by‑design at the platform layer.
• Advanced programming skills in Python, Go, Java, and JavaScript.
• Experience with front‑end web application technologies (JavaScript, CSS, html5, React).
• Experience applying AI and machine learning to accelerate automation and platform operations.
• Hands‑on with infrastructure‑as‑code and control‑plane tooling, Crossplane, Terraform, CDK, or similar.
• 2+ years experience with Databricks.
• Strong knowledge in data engineering, pipeline orchestration, and data governance is a plus.
• Strong written, verbal communication and influencing skilss across audiences.
• Agile / DevOps practitioner — experience running squads with CI/CD, SLO‑based operations, and blameless post‑mortems as standard practice, not aspirational goals.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a demonstrably equivalent technical background.
• AWS / Azure Solutions Architect certification is a plus.
• Prior experience with cloud governance, entitlements, or policy systems - IAM/RBAC design, SCP/policy guardrails or similar at enterprise scale.
• Exposure to AI‑assisted platform operations - AIOps or intelligent policy enforcement.

WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will play a crucial role in architecting, modernizing, and leading the development of scalable managed infrastructure stack. Drive roadmap delivery for the Management Plane, translating capability strategy into quarterly/Sprint plans, measurable OKRs, and clear trade‑off decisions with stakeholders. Embed AI‑native practices: champion agentic and AI‑assisted engineering patterns across your squads; identify where LLM and automation tooling can accelerate platform capabilities, not just developer productivity. Operate as a platform owner, embracing true devOps Define and enforce best practices for Managed Infrastructure and governance with right security posture. Bridge ITC and global engineering: build tight co‑ownership partnerships with US‑based counterparts, ensuring the Bangalore team is a first‑class engineering hub, focus on valuedelivery & engineering excellence.