Building Global Resilience and Agility: Diego Martin Costa’s Insights on Team Culture, Growth, and Multi-Cloud Strategies at Nestlé

In this episode of Cloud Currents, we sit down with Diego Costa, Cloud and Senior Platform Manager at Nestle, as he unveils the complexities of managing one of the world’s largest cloud environments. From orchestrating a team of nearly 100 across multiple time zones to navigating security challenges in the food and beverage industry, Diego shares insights and advice from his 25-year journey in tech. Learn how Nestle approaches multi-cloud strategy, vendor management, and AI adoption while maintaining stringent security measures across global operations.

Building Global Resilience and Agility: Diego Martin Costa’s Insights on Team Culture, Growth, and Multi-Cloud Strategies at Nestlé

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In a world where technology and business move at breakneck speeds, the role of a leader isn’t just to keep up—it’s to anticipate, adapt, and inspire. That’s precisely what Diego Martin Costa, Head of Global Cloud Platform at Nestlé, has mastered in his work overseeing teams and platforms that span continents and industries.

In a recent interview with Matt Pacheco, Diego opened up about how he manages a global team of over 90 people—balancing local cultures, regional complexities, and the relentless pace of digital innovation.

“It’s a struggle,” Diego admits candidly, referring to maintaining a unified team culture across such diverse geographies. His team spans Asia, North America, Latin America, Europe, and India. With different time zones and languages, communication can easily become fragmented. But Diego has built a culture of process, people, and tools—a “three pillars” approach that ensures everyone stays aligned.

At Nestlé, that means regular sync-ups, fostering a shared understanding of each other’s work, and leveraging modern collaboration tools. One example? The early adoption of Microsoft Copilot for AI-driven note-taking and knowledge sharing. This not only ensures that team members who miss late-night calls aren’t left behind but also reinforces a mindset where everyone is accountable for keeping their teammates in the loop.

But alignment isn’t just about communication—it’s also about growth. Diego believes deeply in nurturing a growth mindset among his team. In an environment where new cloud services and security demands emerge daily, nobody can be expected to know everything. Instead, Diego encourages his team to say, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” This openness to learning and failing fast is what keeps Nestlé’s cloud operations nimble.

“We try to learn by doing,” Diego explains. From certifications and exams to immersive hackathons hosted by AWS and other partners, he’s built a culture where upskilling is not an afterthought but a key part of the job. It’s no surprise that Diego has embedded training goals directly into performance reviews, ensuring that continuous learning is valued at the highest levels.

This people-first approach extends to how Nestlé tackles the global skills gap in cloud and security. Rather than simply trying to hire for every new challenge, Diego’s team collaborates closely with partners like Accenture and Wipro, bringing in specialized expertise on demand. This hybrid model of internal talent and external collaboration helps Nestlé stay agile, even as their cloud environment grows more complex.

Speaking of complexity, Diego shared a fascinating look at Nestlé’s multi-cloud strategy. Rather than consolidating onto a single cloud platform, Nestlé has embraced multiple clouds to meet the diverse needs of its 2,000 brands. From Purina to Nespresso, each brand has unique requirements—and Diego’s team ensures that all the necessary services, security guardrails, and compliance measures are ready to deploy, no matter which cloud they’re on.

“It’s like a restaurant that needs to offer different flavors,” Diego says. The goal is to have everything available—secure, compliant, and ready to launch—so the brands can focus on delighting their customers, not navigating cloud infrastructure.

What emerges from this conversation is a portrait of leadership that’s as much about empathy and communication as it is about technology. Diego Martin Costa isn’t just running cloud platforms; he’s building a culture of curiosity, adaptability, and shared purpose across a truly global team.

In a world that demands both local sensitivity and global scale, Diego’s approach at Nestlé offers a powerful blueprint: invest in your people, stay open to new ideas, and always keep the end customer in mind. Because ultimately, that’s how you turn a team of 90 into a global engine of innovation.