Partner Innovation Engineer

We’re not just building better tech. We’re rewriting how data moves and what the world can do with it. With Confluent, data doesn’t sit still. Our platform puts information in motion, streaming in near real-time so companies can react faster, build smarter, and deliver experiences as dynamic as the world around them.

It takes a certain kind of person to join this team. Those who ask hard questions, give honest feedback, and show up for each other. No egos, no solo acts. Just smart, curious humans pushing toward something bigger, together.

One Confluent. One Team. One Data Streaming Platform.

Role Overview

As an Engineer / Senior Engineer in the Partner Applied Solutions team, you’ll design and build internal tools, automation frameworks, and partner-facing assets that improve how partners and Confluent teams integrate, test, and operate event streaming solutions.

You’ll work across the Confluent stack — from Kafka and connectors to Confluent Cloud APIs, infrastructure automation, and validation tooling — to create durable, reusable components that streamline partner development and ensure reliability at scale.

This role sits at the intersection of engineering excellence, partner enablement, and platform maturity — ideal for an engineer who wants to build systems that multiply the impact of others.

What You’ll Do

• Design and develop robust tools and frameworks that improve how Confluent and its partners build, test, and verify integrations and solutions.

• Build automation and validation systems to ensure Kafka connectors, APIs, and partner integrations are reliable, compliant, and production-ready.

• Develop shared libraries, SDKs, or internal services that simplify repetitive engineering and testing tasks across teams.

• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Partner Engineering to identify gaps, automate pain points, and deliver solutions that stick.

• Drive the end-to-end lifecycle of your projects — from ideation and prototyping through to production readiness and adoption.

• Contribute to engineering standards, processes, and governance, ensuring PAS-built assets are maintainable and well-integrated.

• Participate in design reviews, contribute to architectural decisions, and mentor peers where appropriate.

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience developing in Java (experience in Go, Python, or similar is a plus).

• Deep understanding of Apache Kafka, event-driven architecture, and streaming systems.

• Strong engineering fundamentals — distributed systems, API design, automation, and CI/CD practices.

• Comfortable building internal products or frameworks that balance speed, reliability, and maintainability.

• Solid experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes).

• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to influence and deliver across cross-functional teams.

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience building or testing Kafka connectors or similar data integration systems.

• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, Pulumi, etc.) and automation pipelines.

• Experience contributing to open-source or building tooling that supports developer communities.

• Experience with partner or ecosystem engineering, particularly where internal tooling intersects with external users.

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

Come As You Are

Belonging isn’t a perk here. It’s the baseline. We work across time zones and backgrounds, knowing the best ideas come from different perspectives. And we make space for everyone to lead, grow, and challenge what’s possible.

We’re 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.