In today’s fast-paced digital era, enterprises are navigating the complex landscape of hybrid cloud environments, containerization, and infrastructure modernization. At the forefront of this transformation is Harshad Pitkar—an accomplished IT engineering leader with a track record of delivering scalable, secure, and enterprise-grade cloud-native platforms.
Based in Columbus, Indiana, Harshad Pitkar currently leads platform engineering efforts at Cummins Inc., where he is responsible for architecting and managing Kubernetes infrastructure at an enterprise level. His leadership spans across Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, and Red Hat OpenShift clusters, ensuring high availability, performance, and security of mission-critical applications.
Championing Containerization and Cloud-Native Platforms
At Cummins, Harshad serves as the global leader for container and Kubernetes platforms. Under his guidance, the company has built and deployed cloud-native solutions that accelerate innovation and reduce operational complexity. His deep technical knowledge and strategic foresight have helped shape the organization’s platform engineering roadmap, aligning it with the latest advancements in cloud computing and DevOps best practices.
Harshad has played a pivotal role in developing robust solutions to streamline the deployment of applications using automation tools and Infrastructure as Code. His work with Terraform and Puppet Enterprise has enabled efficient provisioning and configuration management across multi-cloud environments, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
Leadership in Cloud Engineering and DevOps
Before assuming his current role, Harshad served as an IT Cloud Engineering Manager at Cummins. In this capacity, he led a high-performing team of cloud and DevOps engineers, driving initiatives related to cloud migration, automation, and continuous delivery pipelines. His leadership was crucial in executing successful application migrations—from traditional data centers to modern cloud platforms.
Harshad’s responsibilities extended beyond technology. He has demonstrated strong people management skills, overseeing the development and performance of engineers across various levels, from interns to principal engineers. His emphasis on mentorship, performance management, and collaborative culture has empowered teams to deliver impactful results.
Expertise That Delivers Business Value
Harshad’s approach blends hands-on technical expertise with strategic business thinking. His work has contributed to operational efficiency, cost optimization through FinOps practices, and enhanced application performance and reliability. With a firm grasp of Agile methodologies, cross-platform migration strategies, and observability best practices, he continues to deliver value at scale.
He is also well-versed in building foundational capabilities such as disaster recovery planning, observability frameworks, and infrastructure security—critical elements for enterprise-grade platform engineering.
In an industry where technology evolves rapidly, leaders like Harshad Pitkar stand out by combining deep technical proficiency with visionary leadership. His ability to translate business needs into scalable engineering solutions makes him a driving force behind digital transformation initiatives.
As organizations continue to embrace cloud-native technologies, Harshad’s work sets a benchmark in Kubernetes infrastructure, DevOps automation, and IT innovation. His journey serves as a powerful example of what’s possible when engineering excellence meets strategic execution.