Senior Software Engineer II

Details

Confluent is building a data streaming platform that enables companies to stream information in near real time. Senior Software Engineers II take ownership of critical backend systems that support secure, highly available, and operable services across regions and clouds.

This is a general L4 backend role used across multiple teams. Depending on experience and interests, the role may focus on core platform services, governance and metadata, observability and telemetry, security and access, or customer-facing application services. Engineers act as technical leaders by setting project direction, making architecture decisions, mentoring engineers, and partnering with cross-functional stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own and lead the design and implementation of complex backend services and systems in a cloud-native, microservices-based environment.
• Make architecture and technical decisions that balance reliability, scalability, performance, and operability, and communicate the tradeoffs clearly.
• Drive projects end to end, from requirements and design through implementation, rollout, and ongoing production operation.
• Improve service reliability and operations by defining SLOs and SLAs, strengthening observability, and participating in on-call activities as needed.
• Collaborate across teams to define APIs, integration points, and data models that keep the platform coherent and evolvable.
• Drive platform and productivity improvements involving tooling, automation, and processes.
• Mentor and support engineers through code reviews, design reviews, and technical guidance.
• Contribute to continuous improvement, inclusive collaboration, and high technical standards.

Requirements

• 5+ years of industry experience building, scaling, and operating backend systems in production.
• Deep proficiency in at least one major backend programming language, such as Java, Go, C/C++, or Python.
• Strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and system design.
• Hands-on experience with distributed systems, including event-driven architectures, high-throughput services, or large-scale data pipelines.
• Understanding of consistency, fault tolerance, and performance tradeoffs.
• Strong experience running services in a public cloud such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Experience with containers and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes, as well as modern deployment practices.
• Experience with SQL and/or NoSQL databases and storage systems, including data modeling and performance optimization at scale.
• Track record of technical leadership, including driving projects, influencing architecture, and coordinating work across engineers or teams.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Experience with observability and operational excellence, including metrics, logging, tracing, incident response, and postmortems.
• BS, MS, or PhD in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Company Information

Confluent is an equal opportunity workplace. Employment decisions are based on job-related criteria without regard to protected characteristics. Confluent is an IBM subsidiary that has been acquired by IBM and will be integrated into the IBM organization.