Staff Software Engineer I

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
As a Staff Software Engineer, you will be the technical lead for several key initiatives for the Stream Governance product at Confluent. The Stream Governance product portfolio is crucial to bringing Confluent's mission to put event streaming at the heart of every organization and is a core component of the Data Streaming Platform. As part of our Stream Governance offering, you will be responsible for delivering critical functionalities such as Confluent Stream Catalog, Stream Sharing, Stream Lineage and Data Portal. These products enable our customers to search, organize, understand, share and access data in a self-service way.

In this role, you will collaborate closely with the team and key stakeholders to design, architect, and develop cloud-native, multi-tenant services for Stream Governance. You will be responsible for guiding the vision, providing technical leadership, mentoring, and enabling a high-performing engineering team to tackle complex distributed data challenges at scale.

What You Will Do

• Develop a cloud-native Stream Governance platform for Kafka and real-time data, which is a multi-tenant, highly available, and scalable service
• Architect a complex engineering system from end to end
• Partner across engineering and other key stakeholders to create and execute the overall roadmap for delivering a top-notch Data Streaming Platform for our customers
• Evaluate and enhance the efficiency of our platform's technology stack, keeping pace with industry trends and adopting state-of-the-art solutions
• Solve complicated technical projects with high quality and provide technical guidance to the team in specialized areas
• As a vital member of our team, take responsibility for developing, managing, and maintaining a mission-critical service with a 99.99 SLA running on 90+ AWS, GCP, and Azure regions
• Enhance the stability, performance, scalability, and operational excellence across multiple critical systems

What You Will Bring

• 10+ years of relevant software development experience
• Technical expertise in large-scale systems engineering or distributed systems
• 5+ years of experience with designing, building, and scaling distributed systems
• Experience running production services in the cloud and being part of oncall rotation
• Expertise in cloud-native technology, including networking & security Prior experience working on AWS, GCP, or Azure and a deep understanding of cloud best practices
• Ability to influence the team, peers, and management using effective communication and collaborative techniques
• Proven experience in leading and mentoring technical teams
• Drive results by removing friction and improving the development stack with urgency and prioritization skills
• BS Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience. An advanced degree in computer science is preferred

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.