Staff Engineer, Kafka Clients

Employment Type: Full-Time Location Type: Remote

Position Overview

Confluent is revolutionizing data movement by enabling near real-time data streaming. Our platform empowers companies to react faster, build smarter, and deliver dynamic experiences. We are seeking a talented Staff Engineer to join our Kafka Clients team. This role is crucial in shaping the future of Kafka developer experience by simplifying and enhancing our open-source libraries across various programming languages. You will be instrumental in driving architectural decisions, leading product engineering, and ensuring the ease of use, reliability, and efficient development of our client interfaces.

About the Role

The Kafka Clients team is dedicated to providing an exceptional developer experience for Kafka users. As a Staff Engineer, you will:

• Design, build, and own product engineering decisions in close collaboration with the team, product managers, customers, and stakeholders.
• Drive architectural decisions and lead the shaping of client interfaces.
• Focus on improving usability, reliability, and development efficiency across popular programming languages.
• Contribute to core C/C++ capabilities that power these interface languages.

Responsibilities

• Build and enhance open-source libraries for Kafka using the low-level Kafka protocol.
• Improve various language libraries to meet higher standards and offer more usable APIs.
• Collaborate effectively across engineering, product, field teams, and other key stakeholders to create and execute an impactful roadmap for the clients team.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and foster strong teamwork.
• Integrate long-term needs from open-source and partner teams into technical plans.
• Identify and manage technical debt and long-term projects concurrently.

Requirements

• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• 12+ years of relevant software development experience.
• 3+ years of development experience involving SDKs, language libraries, or other client-side applications.
• Proficiency in C/C++.
• Deep technical knowledge of at least two programming languages.
• Ability to influence teams, peers, and management through effective communication and collaboration.
• Proven experience in leading and mentoring technical teams.

Additional Language Experience (Advantageous)

• Python
• Golang
• Javascript
• Rust
• Ruby
• .Net

What Gives You an Edge

• Strong understanding of effective and ineffective patterns for client interface APIs.
• Keen interest in understanding software users and solving their problems.
• Experience developing SaaS services on public cloud providers (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Interest in evangelism, such as giving talks at tech conferences or writing blog posts about Kafka.
• Broad exposure to programming language idioms.

Company Information

Confluent is not just building better tech; we're rewriting how data moves and what the world can do with it. Our platform ensures data is always in motion, streaming in near real-time. We foster a culture of asking hard questions, giving honest feedback, and supporting each other. We are a team of smart, curious individuals pushing toward something bigger, together.

Confluent: One Team. One Data Streaming Platform.

Our Culture

Belonging is the baseline at Confluent. We work across time zones and backgrounds, recognizing that diverse perspectives lead to the best ideas. We create an environment where everyone can lead, grow, and challenge what's possible.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Employment decisions are based on job-related criteria without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other classification protected by law.

Ready to build what's next? Let’s get in motion.