Principal Engineer - Kubernetes

About the Role :

We are looking for a highly skilled Principal Engineer with strong technical expertise and proven experience in engineering leadership. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys being hands-on with coding while also managing and mentoring a small team. The candidate should bring a strong startup background, a track record of growth within previous organizations, and the ability to drive both technical excellence and team alignment.

Key Responsibilities :

- Lead, mentor, and manage a small engineering team while contributing hands-on to code development.

- Design, develop, and maintain high-quality, scalable, and secure web applications.

- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define technical roadmaps, architecture, and execution plans.

- Drive best practices in software engineering, code quality, performance optimization, and system reliability.

- Oversee implementation of modern infrastructure, orchestration tools, and database technologies.

- Provide technical leadership for complex problem-solving and innovation in product development.

- Balance team management responsibilities with active coding and design contributions.

Required Qualifications :

- 10-12 years of total engineering experience with at least 3 years in a management or team leadership role.

- Strong hands-on coding skills, with the ability to contribute directly to core development tasks.

- Experience working in startup environments (early engineer, co-founder, or similar roles).

- Demonstrated career progression within prior organizations.

- Strong educational pedigree (IITs or equivalent tier institutions preferred).

Technical Expertise :

Mandatory :

- Kubernetes

- Web application development

- Relational, non-relational, vector, and graph database experience

- Orchestration tools

- Typescript

Good to Have :

- Cloud infrastructure and VM management

- Experience in machine learning applications

What We're Looking For :

- A builder's mindset with a passion for solving complex technical challenges.

- Strong leadership and mentoring skills.

- Ability to thrive in fast-paced, high-growth startup environments.

- Excellent problem-solving, communication, and decision-making skills.

- Kubernetes and Helm are mandatory

- IIT/NIT Candidates only