Principle Systems Engineer

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, which manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Principal Systems Engineer based in India.

As a Principal Systems Engineer, you will play a key role in designing, building, and scaling a modern Azure-native cloud platform while supporting the migration of critical services from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud. You will work hands-on across cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, deployment automation, observability, and platform security. In this senior individual contributor role, you will establish engineering best practices, improve platform reliability, and deliver reusable solutions that empower multiple development teams. You will also guide junior and mid-level engineers through technical reviews, collaborative problem-solving, and mentorship. The role offers opportunities to modernize legacy systems, strengthen disaster recovery capabilities, and introduce responsible AI-driven operational improvements. You will thrive in a collaborative engineering environment that values technical excellence, continuous learning, and practical innovation.

Accountabilities

Design, build, and maintain secure, scalable Azure infrastructure using cloud-native architectures and managed services that meet reliability, performance, and cost requirements.
Lead the technical execution of on-premises-to-Azure migrations, including dependency mapping, migration planning, sequencing, cutover coordination, and risk mitigation.
Operate and enhance an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)-based platform, implementing GitOps deployment practices, namespace isolation, and policy enforcement.
Develop, maintain, and evolve reusable Terraform modules with clear interfaces and ownership boundaries between platform and application infrastructure.
Build and improve observability capabilities across infrastructure and applications, including metrics, logging, alerting, and actionable monitoring using tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and equivalent technologies.
Implement policy-as-code solutions to enforce security, compliance, and operational standards while reducing manual approval processes and improving consistency.
Design and review identity and access management strategies, including workload identity federation, least-privilege access, and secure secrets management, minimizing dependence on static credentials.
Contribute to business continuity and disaster recovery planning by defining recovery time objectives (RTOs), recovery point objectives (RPOs), failover strategies, and recovery testing procedures.
Establish and improve CI/CD pipeline standards and deployment automation practices that support multiple engineering teams and repositories.
Integrate AI-assisted engineering tools, such as GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, or equivalent solutions, into everyday development workflows, and evaluate responsible applications of AI-driven operations, including intelligent alerting and automated remediation.
Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews, architecture discussions, pairing sessions, and technical coaching, helping them develop sound engineering judgment and problem-solving skills.
Provide technical leadership through architectural decisions, engineering standards, and clear communication of technical trade-offs to engineering and business stakeholders.
Requirements
At least 8 years of experience in platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, site reliability engineering, or a related discipline, with demonstrated principal-level technical leadership without requiring formal people management.
Extensive hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure and cloud-native architecture, particularly designing solutions around managed services rather than relying primarily on infrastructure-as-a-service.
Proven production experience deploying, operating, and scaling Kubernetes environments, preferably Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
Strong experience with GitOps tools and methodologies, such as Argo CD, Flux, or equivalent, with a commitment to managing infrastructure and cluster changes through version-controlled Git workflows.
Demonstrated experience leading or significantly contributing to data center-to-cloud migrations, including migration risk management, business continuity, and disaster recovery planning.
Practical knowledge of policy-as-code tools such as Kyverno, Open Policy Agent (OPA), Gatekeeper, or equivalent technologies.
Strong identity and access management expertise, including workload identity federation, least-privilege access design, and secrets management approaches that avoid static credentials.
Experience building and maintaining observability platforms using Prometheus, Grafana, Thanos, or comparable monitoring and telemetry solutions.
Advanced Terraform skills, including designing and maintaining reusable infrastructure modules consumed by multiple engineering teams.
Current, hands-on experience using AI-assisted software development tools as part of daily engineering work.
Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, review technical designs and code, facilitate collaborative problem-solving, and influence engineering decisions without formal managerial authority.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and architectural skills, with the ability to balance security, scalability, reliability, maintainability, and cost.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to explain technical decisions and trade-offs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience designing or operating hub-and-spoke network architectures in Microsoft Azure.
Familiarity with CI/CD pipeline architecture for multi-team and multi-repository environments, including GitHub Actions and self-hosted runner infrastructure.
Exposure to developing or evaluating genuinely AI-driven operational capabilities, beyond traditional rules-based automation.
Experience communicating architectural recommendations, technical trade-offs, and engineering strategies to business stakeholders.
Benefits
Remote work: Remote working arrangement based in India, with the listed location covering Pune and Baroda.
Full-time employment: Opportunity to contribute to a long-term cloud platform engineering initiative.
Professional development: Opportunities to deepen expertise in Azure, Kubernetes, infrastructure automation, cloud security, and AI-assisted engineering.
Technical ownership: Scope to influence platform architecture, engineering standards, and cloud migration strategy as a senior individual contributor.
Mentorship opportunities: Ability to support the professional growth of other engineers while strengthening technical leadership skills.
Collaborative environment: Opportunity to work with engineering teams on challenging infrastructure modernization and platform reliability initiatives.
Employee benefits: A comprehensive benefits package and additional employee perks are indicated in the original job description; specific details have not been provided.
Learning and career growth: Opportunities to develop new skills, contribute to innovative technical solutions, and advance professional expertise.