Collaborate with the Apache Kafka community via KIPs, code contributions, reviews, and technical discussions; represent Confluent’s interests while keeping the broader ecosystem in mind.
Drive projects that have high complexity requiring technical acumen, a high level of judgement and able to deal with ambiguity.
Be a force multiplier and show strong ability to mentor and grow the team with guidance on strong design principles and software architecture.
Insist on high standards for the quality of software the team is developing.
Communicate with product management and engineering leaders on the roadmap, understand the specs and the product interfaces.
Drive operational excellence on reliability improvements, operational events and supportability.
Demonstrate strong verbal and written communication skills to influence teams/peers beyond immediate span of control.

4+ years driving staff-level or equivalent technical initiatives across multiple teams or components.
Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity, set direction, and align multiple teams around complex technical plans.
Track record of mentoring senior engineers and enabling others to deliver on high-risk, high-impact projects.
Clear, concise technical communication, both written (design docs, KIPs) and verbal (reviews, cross-team forums).
Prior experience as a committer/PMC or core maintainer on Apache Kafka or a similar project.

Staff Software Engineer – Apache Kafka

Key skills