Nandan Kumar

I'm a Bangalore-based software engineer with 10+ years of experience. I consult with early-stage startups on product and engineering, build interesting stuff, and write about tech. I'm also the developer who identified a data privacy vulnerability on an airline's website using nothing but browser dev tools — a story picked up by BBC, The Hindu, and outlets worldwide.

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About

A few words about me

I'm Nandan — most people online know me as the techie who "hacked" an airline website to get his bag back. Off Twitter, I'm a software engineer with 10+ years of experience, and I consult with early-stage startups on product and engineering.

I currently lead architecture and security at Baggage Media, and I'm CEO/Director at Pawrivarik Technologies, where we help startups cut hiring turnaround time. Before that, I spent five years at o9 Solutions building UI infrastructure, dark mode, and NLP tooling for their planning platform.

My claim to fame was a 2022 Twitter thread about a data privacy flaw on an airline's website that went viral for the right reasons — covered by BBC, Times of India, Boing Boing, Lallantop, and others, and picked up by radio and podcasts around the world.

Off-screen: photography, gardening, snooker, and boxing — though my toughest sparring partner these days is a toddler boy who never taps out. I own a lot of plants and talk to them (mostly pep talks); turns out that was just practice for fatherhood.

Experience

A bit of professional insight

Work Experience

Software Architect

Baggage Media · August 2024 – Present

Responsible for overall product architecture, team direction, and security posture across Baggage Media's web marketing and development stack.

CEO / Director

Pawrivarik Technologies LLP · June 2024 – Present

Helping startups reduce hiring turnaround time with a platform for sourcing and vetting talent.

Senior Software Engineer I

o9 Solutions · April 2022 – August 2024

Senior developer in the R&D team, building and debugging core product features and leading the Natural Language Processing project.

Software Engineer II

o9 Solutions · April 2021 – April 2022

Led a UI facelift across multiple fonts and colour palettes, shipped the product's dark mode, and built widgets including Pie Chart, Gauge Chart, and KPI.

Software Engineer I

o9 Solutions · July 2019 – April 2021

Implemented and integrated TLS 1.2 (client and server side) for Redis, R-serve, Thrift, and HBase; modernised file upload, default landing workspace, and Online Meetings UI/middleware.