Senior Software Engineer II - Kafka Client

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.

About the Role:

The Clients team has a vision to provide a great Kafka developer experience for the user communities by aiming to simplify and improve the usability of our non java languages open source libraries. As a staff engineer, you will design, build, and own the product engineering decisions by closely working with the team, product managers, customers, and other stakeholders. You will drive architectural decisions and lead in shaping the product landscape around client interfaces through their ease of use, reliability, and efficient development. You will touch on a number of language interfaces across all popular programming languages, as well as develop and advance the core C/C++ capabilities backing those interface languages.

What You Will Do:

• Build and enhance the open source libraries around Kafka using low level Kafka protocol.

• Enhance the various language libraries to better standards and more usable APIs.

• Collaborate effectively across engineering, product, field teams and other key stakeholders to create and execute impactful roadmap for the clients team.

• Provide technical leadership, mentorship and drive strong teamwork.

• Integrate long term needs from open source and partner teams into technical plans.

• Identify and manage technical debt and long term projects equally.

What You Will Bring:

• BS or MS in computer science or a related field, or equivalent work experience.

• 7+ years of relevant software development experience.

• 3+ years of development involving SDKs, language libraries, or other client side applications.

• Deep technical knowledge of at least two programming languages.

• Proficiency in C/C++ and Java.

• Ability to influence the team, peers, and management using effective communication and collaborative techniques.

• Proven experience in leading and mentoring technical teams.

What Gives You an Edge:

• A strong understanding of good and bad patterns for client library interface APIs.

• A keen interest in understanding users of your software and solving their problems.

• Additional language (Rust, Python, Golang, Javascript or Dotnet) and/or technology migration experience using GraalVM will have an added advantage.

• Experience developing SaaS services on public clouds providers (AWS, Azure or GCP)

• Interest in evangelism (giving talks at tech conferences, writing blog posts evangelizing Kafka).

• Wide programming language idiom exposure.

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.