Senior Staff Engineer - Nutanix Kubernetes Platform

Hungry, Humble, Honest, with Heart.

The Opportunity

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Nutanix is a global leader in cloud software and a pioneer in hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solutions. With a passionate team of over 6,000 employees worldwide (affectionately known as "Nutants"), we make computing invisible anywhere. Companies around the world rely on Nutanix software to manage any app, at any location, and at any scale across private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. We value intellectual curiosity, a bias for action, customer obsession, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Nutanix welcomes builders who thrive on tackling seemingly impossible challenges while celebrating what makes each of us unique.

As a senior staff engineer, you will serve as a key technical leader and architect for the NKP team. This is a high-impact, hands-on leadership role where you will look beyond single-cluster management to solve "fleet-scale" problems—designing systems that manage tens of thousands of clusters across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. You will bridge the gap between Nutanix’s core infrastructure and the evolving CNCF ecosystem.

About the Team

The Nutanix Cloud Native team is at the forefront of building the next generation of enterprise infrastructure. Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), a complete, enterprise-grade solution that simplifies Kubernetes operations across hybrid, edge, and multi-cloud environments.

Our mission is to make NKP the foundational layer for all modern workloads. We are solving complex distributed systems challenges in fleet management, multi-tenancy, and edge computing to deliver a robust, scalable control plane.

You will report to the engineering leader at Nutanix. The work setup is hybrid, allowing for flexibility and a healthy work-life balance. As a new hire, you will be expected to work from the office three days a week, ensuring face-to-face interactions with your team members and promoting a sense of camaraderie and community within the team.

Your Role

Architectural Strategy: Lead the design of critical NKP components with a focus on multi-tenancy, resilience, and  "Fleet Management". You will ensure NKP operates reliably at the Edge and in resource-constrained environments.

Force Multiplier: Act as a technical "bar-raiser". " You will lead and mentor a distributed team of 15–20 engineers, driving excellence through design reviews, coding standards, and a culture of technical curiosity.

Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with Product Management, the Data Services (NDK) team, and Core Hybrid Cloud teams to translate high-level business goals into technical roadmaps for stateful workloads and disaster recovery.

Community & Innovation: Represent Nutanix in the open-source community. Contribute to upstream CNCF projects (Cluster API, Kappa, etc.), file patents, and author white papers that define the future of hybrid cloud.

Operational Excellence: Engage with customers and support teams to resolve complex production issues, ensuring our platform meets the highest standards of scale and user experience.

What You Will Bring

Experience: 15-20+ years of software development experience within product-led companies, with a significant tenure architecting and shipping large-scale distributed systems. Technical: Rock-solid proficiency in Go, Python, or Java. While deep K8s internals (controllers, API machinery) are a plus, we value "systems thinkers" who can master new stacks quickly. 

Domain Expertise: A proven track record in cloud-native systems, Docker/containers, and large-scale control plane management is a great plus. Leadership: You can navigate ambiguity, drive consensus across multiple teams, and balance long-term innovation with short-term risk/reward trade-offs.

Education: BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science or a related field.

Work Arrangement

Hybrid: This role operates in a hybrid capacity, blending the benefits of remote work with the advantages of in-person collaboration. In locations where our workplace policy applies (i.e. San Jose, Durham, Mexico City, Bangalore, Pune, Hoofddorp, Belgrade, Barcelona, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo), employees are expected to work onsite a minimum of 3 days per week to foster collaboration, team alignment, and access to in-office resources. Workplace type may vary based on location and team requirements. Please speak with your recruiter for details. Additional team-specific guidance and norms will be provided by your manager.

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