Nikita Romanovich first appears in the historical record in 1547, when, on the occasion of the Tsar's wedding with Anastasia Romanovna, he was promoted to "spalnik" and "stolnik". He participated as a "rynda" (bodyguard) of the tsar in the unlucky campaigns against the Khanate of Kazan in 1547 and in 1548. Later he became the assistant to the Princes Vasily Serebryany and Andrey Nogtev-Suzdalsky with the rank of "ololnichiy in the Livonian campaign of 1559.