I’m Nabarun Pal, also known as palnabarun or theonlynabarun, a distributed systems engineer and open source contributor with a passion for building resilient infrastructure and fostering collaborative communities. Currently, I work on Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies, contributing to the ecosystem that powers modern distributed applications.
When I’m not deep in code or community discussions, you can find me planning my next adventure, brewing different coffee concoctions, tweaking my homelab setup, or exploring new mechanical keyboards. I believe in the power of open source to democratize technology and create opportunities for everyone to contribute and learn.
A detailed view of my speaking engagements are in the /speaking page.
June 2025
Technical Lead, CNCF TAG Operational Resilience
Appointed as the Technical Lead for the CNCF Technical Advisory Group on Operational Resilience.
This role involves guiding the community in best practices for operational resilience in cloud-native
environments, contributing to the development of standards and tools that enhance the reliability and
stability of cloud-native applications.
May 2025
Moved to the Kubernetes Distribution Team for vSphere Kubernetes Service
I moved to the vSphere Kubernetes Distribution Team at Broadcom, where I primarily work on making sure the
distribution is performant at scale and introducing cutting-edge Kubernetes features to the distribution and ensuring that vSphere remains a leading platform for
running Kubernetes workloads. This role involves collaborating with various teams to integrate new features,
addressing compatibility issues, and ensuring that the distribution meets the needs of enterprise users.
January 2025
Chair, PyCon India 2025
Took over as the Chair of PyCon India 2025, the largest Python conference in Asia, held in Bengaluru.
October 2024
Co-Chair, PyCon India 2024
Co-Chaired PyCon India 2024, the largest Python conference in Asia, held in Bengaluru. This role involved
overseeing the event’s organization, coordinating with speakers and sponsors, and ensuring a successful
experience for attendees. The conference featured talks, workshops, and networking opportunities for Python
enthusiasts from around the world.
November 2023
Joined Broadcom through acquisition of VMware
VMware was acquired by Broadcom, and I transitioned to the new organization while continuing my work on Tanzu
Application Engine.
October 2023
CNCF Ambassador
Became a CNCF Ambassador, representing the cloud-native community at conferences and events worldwide. This role involves speaking at major industry conferences, mentoring new contributors, and helping spread awareness about cloud-native technologies and best practices.
Re-elected again in 2024 for a 2 year term until October 2026.
October 2023
Promoted to Staff Engineer, VMware
Promoted to Staff Engineer at VMware, recognizing my significant contributions to the Kubernetes Engineering
efforts. In addition, I moved to the Tanzu Application Engine Team to build scalable Kubernetes like control
planes for the next generation of VMware’s Kubernetes solutions. This role involves leading architectural
decisions, mentoring junior engineers, and driving the technical direction of the team. I owned the
API Machinery, Architecture, Code Organization, Scalability verticals of the product.
August 2023
Featured in The Times of India
Featured in India’s most widely read English newspaper, The Times of India, for my contributions to the cloud-native community and Kubernetes ecosystem. The article highlights my journey as an open source contributor, my role in the Kubernetes community, and my efforts to promote open source technologies in India.
April 2023
Chair of SIG Contributor Experience, Kubernetes
Became chair of SIG Contributor Experience, focusing on improving the onboarding experience for new
contributors and maintaining the health of the Kubernetes contributor community. This role involves creating
programs, tools, and processes that make it easier for people to contribute to Kubernetes.
November 2022
Kubernetes Contributor Award 2022
Received the Kubernetes Contributor Award 2022
for driving continuous improvement of community github administration.
October 2022
Elected member, Kubernetes Steering Committee
Elected to serve on the Kubernetes Steering Committee, the governing body responsible for the strategic
direction and health of the Kubernetes project. This role involves making key decisions about the project’s
future, managing community resources, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of one of the world’s most
important open source projects.
April 2022
Kubernetes GitHub Administrator
Appointed as a Kubernetes GitHub Administrator, responsible for managing the project’s GitHub repositories,
ensuring smooth operations, and maintaining the integrity of the codebase. This role involves overseeing
repository settings, managing access controls, and supporting contributors in their development efforts.
January 2022
Promoted to Senior Member of Technical Staff, VMware
Promoted to Senior Member of Technical Staff at VMware, recognizing my contributions to the Kubernetes
Engineering efforts for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, VMware’s enterprise Kubernetes solution, in addition to my
involvement in growing the team and mentoring junior engineers.
November 2021
Kubernetes Contributor Award 2021
Received the [Kubernetes Contributor Award 2021](https://www.kubernetes.dev/community/awards/2021/
for being a huge impact in SIG Release as the lead for the 1.21 release, as a release manager associate, as a branch
manager shadow for the 1.23 release, for bringing the CI Signal tool into a Kubernetes community repository, and for being
willing to contribute to the success of the project and the SIG.
August 2021
Elected member, Kubernetes Code of Conduct Committee
Elected to the Kubernetes Code of Conduct Committee, responsible for upholding the community’s standards
of conduct and ensuring a welcoming and inclusive environment for all contributors. This role involves
investigating reports of misconduct, providing guidance on community interactions, and promoting a culture
of respect and collaboration.
January 2021
Kubernetes 1.21 Release Lead
Led the Kubernetes 1.21 release as Release Lead, coordinating a global team of contributors to deliver
features and improvements to millions of users worldwide. This role involved managing the entire release
lifecycle, from planning to delivery, while ensuring quality and stability standards. I was the first Indian
to lead a Kubernetes release, marking a significant milestone for the Indian open source community.
December 2020
Member of Technical Staff III, Kubernetes Engineering, VMware
Joined VMware where I started working on Kubernetes Engineering efforts for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid,
VMware’s enterprise Kubernetes solution. I focused on leading upstream Kubernetes initiatives which
directly impact the business.
August 2020
Featured in The Times of India
Featured in India’s most widely read English newspaper, The Times of India,
along with Sayan Chowdhury, the chair of PyCon India 2020, for contributions to the Python
India ecosystem and organizing one of the largest Python conferences in Asia, PyCon India 2020.
January 2020
Joined Clarisights as a Software Engineer in the Infrastructure Team
Led and architected better infrastructure components and practices for a highly available SaaS BI
platform ingesting billions of rows of data every day. I laid down a lot of the groundwork for the
infrastructure that is still in use today, including the migration to Infrastructure as a Code using
Terraform and the adoption of various scalable technologies like Apache Ignite to introduce tiered
caching, effectively saving 90% costs on cache. I worked on reducing the total infrastructure costs
by half, leading to better business runway.
September 2019
Kubernetes Release Team Shadow - Enhancements
Started my journey with the Kubernetes Release Team as a Release Team Shadow, learning the intricate
processes behind delivering reliable software to a global user base. This experience provided deep insights
into large-scale project management and community coordination.
July 2019
Started Contributing to Kubernetes
Made my first contribution to the Kubernetes project, starting a journey that would lead to deep
involvement in the community. This initial contribution sparked my passion for open source collaboration
and distributed systems.
June 2018
Joined Rorodata aka Algoshelf as a Full Time Software Engineer
Joined Rorodata, a data engineering startup, as a full-time software engineer after working at the
company since May 2017 as an intern and then as a part-time engineer in the infrastructure team.
At Rorodata, I focused on building scalable data pipelines and infrastructure to support data-driven applications.
I worked on a range of technologies, including but not limited to, Python, Kubernetes, and various
data processing frameworks. I was also one of the first full time engineers at the company.
April 2018
Graduated with a Bachelor of Technology Degree, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Completed my Bachelor of Technology degree with a minor in Computer Science
and major in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from the Indian
Institute of Technology, Roorkee, one of India’s premier engineering institutions.