WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH
You’ll lead the Managed Database Platform engineering team within Nike’s Foundational Platforms group. The team partners closely with Platform Engineering, Observability, and Data Integration teams, collaborating with product, business, and operations stakeholders to deliver scalable, secure, and compliant database services across Nike’s global technology.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
Nike seeks a hands-on engineering leader with deep expertise in cloud-native platforms, Kubernetes, and Crossplane. The ideal candidate has a strong background in building and scaling managed database platforms, with direct experience in AWS, GCP, and Azure database services (DynamoDB, RDS, MySQL, Postgres, Aurora, OpenSearch, MemoryDB). You are passionate about platform-first architecture, developer experience, and operational excellence. You thrive in complex, multi-cloud environments, and have a proven track record of leading distributed teams to deliver resilient, extensible systems.
Key Qualifications:
• 15+ years in software engineering, with at least 5 years leading platform teams in large-scale, cloud-native environments (retail or tech preferred)
• Deep hands-on expertise with Kubernetes and Crossplane as universal control planes for infrastructure provisioning and lifecycle management
• Strong experience architecting, deploying, and operating managed database services: DynamoDB, RDS, MySQL, Postgres, Aurora, OpenSearch, MemoryDB
• Proven ability to build and scale platforms, including declarative APIs, composable abstractions, and self-service developer workflows
• Familiarity with GitOps, Infrastructure-as-Code, and cloud provider APIs (AWS, Azure)
• Demonstrated leadership in geographically distributed teams, mentoring, and talent development
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field (Master’s preferred); equivalent experience considered
• Professional certifications in cloud, Kubernetes, or database technologies a plus
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in engineering, 5+ in platform leadership
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s or equivalent experience preferred
• Certifications: AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Database (optional but valued)
WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON
You will architect, build, and scale Nike’s Managed Database Platform, delivering secure, compliant, and highly available database services to engineering teams worldwide. You’ll drive adoption of Kubernetes and Crossplane as the universal control plane, enabling self-service provisioning and lifecycle management of cloud databases. You’ll partner with product, business, and operations leaders to align technology strategy with commercial outcomes, and lead migration initiatives for legacy and brownfield workloads.
Your Responsibilities Include:
• Lead the engineering team responsible for Nike’s Managed Database Deployment Service (MDDS), including platform roadmap, delivery, and operational excellence
• Architect and implement scalable, declarative APIs for database provisioning and lifecycle management using Kubernetes and Crossplane
• Oversee migration of legacy and brownfield databases to modern managed services (DynamoDB, RDS, Aurora, Postgres, etc.)
• Drive compliance, security, HA/DR, and cost transparency across all platform offerings
• Foster a culture of innovation, reliability, and continuous improvement within the team
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to deliver business value and accelerate product delivery
• Mentor and develop engineering talent, promoting diversity, inclusion, and growth
Represent Nike in platform engineering forums, sharing best practices and driving industry leadership
Skills Required
- 15+ years in software engineering
- 5+ years leading platform teams in large-scale, cloud-native environments
- Hands-on expertise with Kubernetes
- Hands-on expertise with Crossplane
- Experience architecting, deploying, and operating managed database services (DynamoDB, RDS, MySQL, Postgres, Aurora, OpenSearch, MemoryDB)
- Experience with AWS, GCP, and Azure
- Familiarity with GitOps and Infrastructure-as-Code
- Familiarity with cloud provider APIs
- Proven ability to build and scale platforms, including declarative APIs and self-service developer workflows
- Demonstrated leadership in geographically distributed teams, mentoring, and talent development
- Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration skills
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field
- Master's degree or equivalent experience
- Professional certifications in cloud, Kubernetes, or database technologies
Nike Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Nike and has not been reviewed or approved by Nike.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with a company match is complemented by options such as a Mega Backdoor Roth and deferred compensation for eligible earners. Financial coaching and structured savings programs support long-term financial security.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — An Employee Stock Purchase Plan with a stock discount sits alongside broad-based equity vehicles like RSUs and non-qualified stock options. These avenues expand wealth-building opportunities beyond base pay.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave includes maternity and paternity time, recently expanded in the U.S. to 16 weeks and extended to part-time retail teammates. Additional supports include childcare assistance at select locations and family-building benefits such as fertility, surrogacy, and adoption.
Nike Insights
What We Do
At NIKE, Inc., we innovate to serve athletes*. Every teammate - from coder to creator - plays a role in making these athletes’ dreams real. Our tech, data, and digital teams push limits every day, building the future of sport and the tools that drive it. Here, curiosity is fuel. Innovation is the game plan. Different perspectives keep us on the offense. You’ll solve challenges worth tackling, grow fast and belong to a team that backs you to do the right thing. Bring your drive. Bring your bold. Let’s move the world, together. Take your first step at nike.com/careers * If you have a body, you’re an athlete.
Why Work With Us
At NIKE, Inc., your dedication fuels the future of sport. There is a sense of pride that comes from representing an iconic brand and shaping its future. Here, we treat every day as a new opportunity to push boundaries, ask tough questions and share whole-hearted convictions. We are a team – united by the belief that anything is possible.
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