Confluent Solutions Architect

Overview

We are looking for a highly experienced Confluent Solution Architect with deep expertise in event streaming platforms to design, implement, and optimize scalable Kafka-based solutions. The role requires strong architectural ownership, hands-on technical leadership, and close collaboration with cross-functional and customer teams. The ideal candidate will bring extensive experience in Apache Kafka and the Confluent ecosystem, delivering resilient, high-performance streaming architectures aligned with modern cloud and enterprise data strategies.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, architect, and implement end-to-end event streaming solutions using Apache Kafka and Confluent Platform/Confluent Cloud.

• Act as the technical authority for Kafka-based architectures, advising on best practices, scalability, performance, and reliability.

• Collaborate with application, data, platform, and DevOps teams to enable event-driven architectures and real-time data pipelines.

• Lead solution design discussions with stakeholders and customers, translating business requirements into robust technical architectures.

• Implement and manage Kafka deployments across cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure), including multi-cloud setups.

• Guide integration using Kafka Connect, Kafka Streams, ksqlDB, Schema Registry, REST Proxy, and Flink-based streaming solutions.

• Ensure governance, security, and compliance through RBAC, audit logs, data lineage, and stream governance practices.

• Oversee CI/CD pipelines, containerized deployments (Docker, Kubernetes), and Confluent for Kubernetes (CFK).

• Support platform monitoring, observability, and performance tuning using tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and Splunk.

• Mentor engineers and contribute to architectural standards, patterns, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Required Skills

• Total experience: 10+ years in software engineering, data engineering, or platform architecture roles.
• Relevant experience: 5+ years of hands-on experience with Apache Kafka (open-source or managed distributions such as Confluent, AWS MSK, Cloudera).
• Strong programming proficiency in Java, Python, or Scala.
• Solid understanding of event-driven architecture, real-time data streaming patterns, and distributed systems.
• Experience deploying and operating Kafka on AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Hands-on experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong problem-solving skills with excellent verbal and written communication abilities.

Preferred / Added Advantage

• Proven experience with Confluent Kafka ecosystem, including Kafka Connect, Kafka Streams, ksqlDB, Schema Registry, REST Proxy, and Confluent Control Center.

• Hands-on exposure to Confluent Cloud services, including ksqlDB Cloud and Apache Flink.

• Familiarity with Stream Governance, Data Lineage, Stream Catalog, Audit Logs, and RBAC.

• Experience with Confluent Platform, managed services, multi-cloud deployments, and Confluent for Kubernetes (CFK).

• Knowledge of data mesh architectures, KRaft migration, and modern event streaming design patterns.

• Exposure to monitoring and observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and Splunk.

• Experience integrating Kafka with data lakes, data warehouses, or big data ecosystems.

• Confluent certifications (Developer, Administrator, Flink Developer) are a strong plus.

Personal Attributes

• High analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Strong initiative, adaptability, and ownership mindset.
• High customer orientation with a focus on quality and delivery excellence.