Lead Confluent Kafka Engineer

We are seeking a Lead Consultant – Confluent Kafka to lead Kafka platform administration, troubleshooting, maintenance, automation, and production support. The role requires strong Confluent Kafka expertise, client-facing communication, and team leadership experience. Roles and Responsibilities Administer and support Confluent Platform and Confluent Cloud environments. Troubleshoot Kafka connectivity, consumer groups, consumer lag, serialization, permissions, and AVRO schema issues. Monitor Kafka using Datadog, Prometheus, Conduktor, and related observability tools. Manage Kafka components including Replicator, Connectors, ZooKeeper, and KSQL. Automate Kafka administration using Terraform and CI/CD/DevSecOps practices. Manage Kafka configurations, including users, ACLs, topics, connectors, and application configurations. Perform platform upgrades, patching, certificate renewals, and vulnerability remediation. Troubleshoot Kafka client applications built with Java, .NET, Python, and Spring Boot. Maintain and execute DR runbooks in accordance with security and risk requirements. Collaborate with product and application teams on releases, documentation, enhancements, and automation. Coordinate with Confluent or cloud providers to resolve platform issues. Lead and mentor team members and communicate effectively with clients and stakeholders. Support AutoSys, including agent installation, maintenance, patching, upgrades, and service checkouts. Required Skills & Experience 10+ years of IT experience with strong Kafka platform experience. Hands-on experience with Confluent Kafka / Confluent Platform / Confluent Cloud. Strong Kafka administration, troubleshooting, and production support experience. Experience with Kafka monitoring and observability tools such as Datadog, Prometheus, and Conduktor. Experience with Terraform, CI/CD, and DevSecOps. Strong understanding of Kafka security, ACLs, topics, connectors, schemas, and consumer groups. Experience with DR, patching, upgrades, certificates, and vulnerability remediation. Experience troubleshooting Java, .NET, Python, and Spring Boot Kafka applications. Strong client-facing, team leadership, and communication skills.