Engineering Leader, Kafka

Confluent is pioneering a fundamentally new category of data infrastructure focused on data in motion. Have you ever found a new favorite series on Netflix, picked up groceries curbside at Walmart, or paid for something using Square? That's the power of data in motion in action—giving organizations instant access to the massive amounts of data that is constantly flowing throughout their business. At Confluent, we're building the foundational platform for this new paradigm of data infrastructure. Our cloud-native offering is designed to be the intelligent connective tissue enabling real-time data, from multiple sources, to constantly stream across the organization. With Confluent, organizations can create a central nervous system to innovate and win in a digital-first world.

We're looking for self-motivated team members who crave a challenge and feel energized to roll up their sleeves and help realize Confluent's enormous potential. Chart your own path and take healthy risks as we solve big problems together. We value having diverse teams and want you to grow as we grow—whether you're just starting out in your career or managing a large team, you'll be amazed at the magnitude of your impact.

At Confluent, we're creating a category that transforms how every company manages and streams data. Have you ever found a new favorite series on Netflix, picked up groceries curbside at Walmart, or paid for something using Square? That's Confluent in action—giving our customers instant access to massive amounts of real-time data, enabling them to thrive in an ever-changing digital world. As one of the fastest-growing enterprise companies in history, and with Fortune 100 customers across major industries, we have a tremendous opportunity in front of us. We also have experience on our side. Our leaders have taken companies of our size to major success before and include some of the original creators of Apache Kafka®.

We are looking for a smart, humble, and empathetic technical leader to drive key initiatives within the Kafka organization, to build and lead a strong team of amazing engineers.

Apache Kafka is the foundational technology at the core of Confluent Platform and Confluent Cloud. As a leader in the Kafka organization, you will lead strategic initiatives that will take Kafka to the next level - more scalable, more elastic, more resilient. Our engineers are keen to develop top notch distributed infrastructure - and we need leaders to drive the effort and align with Confluent's business goals.

Chart your own path and take healthy risks with the backing and support of our #OneTeam culture. Be part of inclusive initiatives like Employee Resource Groups and development programs, and take advantage of benefits that support our diverse global teams. Grow as we grow—whether you're just starting out or managing a large team, you'll be amazed at the magnitude of your impact.

What you'll do

• Lead a team of engineers - provide feedback and support their career development.
• Drive the definition, design and delivery of cutting edge features for Kafka on Confluent Cloud and Confluent Platform
• Improve performance, reliability, scalability, and elasticity of Kafka, especially as a cloud-native product
• Deliver high impact to the business by driving technical initiatives within your team and across the organization.
• Create competitive advantages for Confluent by driving technical innovation.
• Establish quality standards, design principles, and operational maturity for your team

What we are looking for:

• Experience leading teams of 5 engineers or more
• Experience running production services
• Ability to hire while ensuring a high hiring bar, keep engineers motivated, coach/mentor, and handle performance management
• Strong fundamentals in distributed systems architecture and design
• Great track record of shipping features and project execution. Ability to move fast, iterate on incremental improvements, create a sense of urgency, and excellent prioritization skills
• Ability to influence the team, peers, and upper management using effective communication and collaborative techniques; focused on building and maintaining a culture of collaboration within the team

What gives you an edge:

• Prior knowledge of cloud architecture and implementation features (multi-tenancy, elastic, networking, kubernetes)
• Prior knowledge of Apache Kafka
• Experience working with open source communities

Come As You Are

At Confluent, equality is a core tenet of our culture. We are committed to building an inclusive global team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, beliefs, and experiences. The more diverse we are, the richer our community and the broader our impact.

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