Mentorship
Hi, I’m
Nikita Pande
Bengaluru
Summary
Engineering Manager with 13.5+ years of experience specializing in high-scale Java and distributed backend systems. Proven track record managing teams of 10+ engineers and tech leads to deliver robust, scalable products meeting strict QCD (Quality, Cost, Delivery) standards. Expert in microservices architecture, cloud-native development (AWS/GCP), and driving operational excellence through engineering metrics. Successfully led the modernization of global payment and data platforms, balancing technical vision with business priorities.
Overview
14
years of professional experience
1
year of post-secondary education
Work History
Visa IncBengaluru
Senior Engineering Manager, Data and AI Platform
08.2023 - Current
Job overview
- Manage a high-performing team of 10+ engineers and engineering leads, overseeing the development of Java-based distributed NoSQL platforms (HBase, Phoenix) and React-based Ambari modernization.
- Owned service availability, participated in on-call rotations, and resolved critical incidents swiftly, maintaining high operational standards.
- Engage with Product and Business stakeholders to define technical roadmaps, set priorities, and deliver resilient products aligned with organizational strategic objectives.
- Establish best engineering practices based on Scrum and operational metrics, leading to a 40% reduction in support escalations and consistent delivery within QCD guidelines.
- Lead talent growth and hiring, achieving 100% promotion conversion for nominated team members through active coaching and performance feedback.
- Enabled adoption of GenAI practices across engineering streams. I have built JIRA-MCP for improving developers productively. This was widely accepted and used across the organisation.
- Shift-left mindset: Developed comprehensive unit and integration testing frameworks, enabling rapid defect resolution.
- Hackathon champion: won the Visa Global GenAI Hackathon (2023) and the CreON creativity workshop (2024), leading to an invitation to represent Visa at the Global Fintech Festival (GFF) in Mumbai.
- Part of the core group of Visa-wide interviewers for top-tier college hiring.
Staff Data Engineer / Senior Consultant, Data and AI Platform
12.2021 - 07.2023
Job overview
- Developed, maintained, and supported Apache Flume ingestion tool, replacing vendor software single-handedly in 4 months.
- Productionized JanusGraph for enterprise-scale graph analytics, designing schema, indexing strategies, and backend configurations to support mission-critical customer analytics workloads.
- Developed and integrated a custom Apache TinkerPop VertexProgram into JanusGraph, implementing a distributed vertex-centric algorithm using message-passing and the Gremlin GraphComputer framework to execute large-scale graph computations efficiently.
- Implemented multi-tenancy support in Apache HBase through RegionServer Grouping (RSGroup), enhancing storage-level isolation by controlling region assignment and table placement across distributed nodes, improving workload segregation and cluster resource governance.
- Delivered REST API integrations for IBM DB2-based data mart builder as a service, enabling automated reload through APIs.
- Led end-to-end development of Grafana-based availability health dashboards with alert mail integrations to monitor dependent services.
- Automated PII scan tool development and validated ACID properties of Apache Iceberg for data consistency.
JP Morgan Chase CoBengaluru
Associate (AVP), Service Mesh
07.2020 - 12.2021
Job overview
- Implemented observability and service mesh solutions including Fluentbit, Prometheus, and Jaeger to enhance monitoring.
- Automated kubeconfig creation for OIDC-protected APIs using passwordless Kerberos sidecar for multicluster endpoint discovery.
- Participated in various hackathons exploring wasm filters, eBPF techniques, and AWS DeepRacer.
- Mentored freshers and interns, fostering skill development.
American ExpressBengaluru
Engineer 1 (SDE3), Enterprise Cloud Platform
07.2019 - 07.2020
Job overview
- Developed Hybrid Infrastructure Automation framework using GoLang and REST APIs.
- Implemented gRPC/REST client features and automated Terraform workflows for cloud resource management.
- Designed Postgres database schema and data access objects to support infrastructure automation.
WiproBengaluru
Technical Lead (Huawei Client), Cloud Platform
06.2017 - 07.2019
Job overview
- Led Blockchain-as-a-Service setup with Hyperledger Fabric, including REST API development using Beego Framework.
- Conducted performance benchmarking with Caliper, optimizing chaincode implementations.
- Led core Kubernetes contributions implementing advanced taints and tolerations to improve scheduler efficiency.
- Published Kubernetes blog posts on flow network and graph-based scheduling advancements.
HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited)Bengaluru/Hyderabad
Deputy Manager (Design), MCSRDC(R&D) and Avionics Division
01.2013 - 05.2017
Job overview
- Led software engineering team in end-to-end development and testing of Smart Cockpit Display System critical functions.
- Achieved first successful test flight with newly developed software, validating reliability and performance.
- Created detailed SRS, SDD, SCP, and OCV documentation using IBM Rational tools.
- Ensured MISRA C compliance in software testing and integration.
Thomson ReutersHyderabad
QA Analyst
07.2012 - 12.2012
Job overview
- Analyzed US tax return forms and converted them for e-filing software.
- Performed manual and automated testing using QTP VB Script.
Education
IIIT Bangalore
Executive Diploma from ML and AI
06.2025 - Current
NIT Raipur
B.Tech from Electronics & Telecommunication
01.2012
University Overview
GPA: 9.33 CGPA
KV NTPC, Korba
CBSE 12th
University Overview
GPA: 81.4%
KV NTPC, Korba
CBSE 10th
University Overview
GPA: 84.2%
Skills
- AWS
- GCP
- Kafka
- IBM MQ
- Redis
- IBM DB2
- NoSQL (HBase, JanusGraph, Neo4j)
- Agile Scrum
- SAFE 46 Practitioner
- REST APIs
- Microservices
- Distributed Systems
- Cloud Infrastructure
- On-call Support and Incident Management
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- Github Actions
- Jenkins
- GoLang
- Python
- Java
- C
- ReactJS
- Shell scripting, Ansible
- RDBMS(Postgres, MySQL, CockroachDB)
- GraphDB (JanusGraph, Neo4j)
- Document DB (CouchDB)
- Operating System( Linux, RTOS, Mac, Windows)
- Data Analysis and Exploration
- Foundations of ML
- Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing
- Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation)
Certification
- SAFE 4.6 Practitioner
- Neo4j Certified
- LFC101: Inclusive Speaker Orientation (Issued by Linux Foundation)
Achievements And Interests
- Represented Visa as speaker in WiBD (Women in Big Data India), 2025-09-01
- Featured at Times Square (NYC) for mentorship on Topmate platform, 2025-08-01
- Top 0.1% mentors on Topmate for interview coaching and tech guidance, 2025-02-01
- Received 10+ technical innovation awards and recognition for a utility patent and 1 defensive publication
- General Secretary of V Speakers Club (Toastmasters International), 2023-01-01
- Winner of Soda Foundation Hackathon; Speaker Open Source India, 2022-01-01
- Badminton: Three-time consecutive champion in both singles and doubles at the Visa Badminton Tournament
- Best Women Player award at Cult Fitso
Personal Information
Title: Senior Engineering Manager
Interests
Team Leader
Distributed System
Projects
ML and AI: EDA (Exploratory data analysis) - NYC Taxi
Timeline
IIIT Bangalore
Executive Diploma from ML and AI
06.2025 - Current
Senior Engineering Manager, Data and AI Platform
Visa Inc
08.2023 - Current
Staff Data Engineer / Senior Consultant, Data and AI Platform
12.2021 - 07.2023
Associate (AVP), Service Mesh
JP Morgan Chase Co
07.2020 - 12.2021
Engineer 1 (SDE3), Enterprise Cloud Platform
American Express
07.2019 - 07.2020
Technical Lead (Huawei Client), Cloud Platform
Wipro
06.2017 - 07.2019
Deputy Manager (Design), MCSRDC(R&D) and Avionics Division
HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited)
01.2013 - 05.2017
QA Analyst
Thomson Reuters
07.2012 - 12.2012
NIT Raipur
B.Tech from Electronics & Telecommunication
KV NTPC, Korba
CBSE 12th
KV NTPC, Korba
CBSE 10th