confluent - Senior Software Engineer II - Stream Governance

• 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 clearly communicate the tradeoffs. • Drive projects end to end: from requirements and design through implementation, rollout, and ongoing operation in production. • Improve service reliability and operations by defining SLOs/SLAs, strengthening observability, and participating in on-call as needed. • Collaborate across teams to define APIs, integration points, and data models that keep the platform coherent and evolvable. • Identify and drive platform and productivity improvements (tooling, automation, process) that raise the bar for the broader engineering organization. • Mentor and support other engineers through code reviews, design reviews, and technical guidance, helping grow the team’s capabilities. • Contribute to a culture of continuous improvement, inclusive collaboration, and high technical standards. • 7+ years of industry experience building, scaling, and operating backend systems in production. • Deep proficiency in at least one major backend programming language (for example, Java, Go, C/C++, or Python) and strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and system design. • Hands-on experience with distributed systems (such as event-driven architectures, high-throughput services, or large-scale data pipelines) and an understanding of consistency, fault tolerance, and performance tradeoffs. • Strong experience running services in a public cloud (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including containers and orchestration (for example, Docker, Kubernetes) and modern deployment practices. • Comfortable working with databases and storage systems (SQL and/or NoSQL), including data modeling and performance optimization for scale. • A track record of technical leadership: driving projects, influencing architecture, and coordinating work across multiple engineers or teams. • Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to align stakeholders, explain complex ideas clearly, and drive decisions. • Experience with observability and operational excellence (metrics, logging, tracing, incident response, and postmortems). • BS, MS, or PhD in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. • What Gives You an Edge • These are not required, but nice to have: • Experience building or operating mission-critical, multi-tenant, or multi-region services with strict availability and latency requirements. • Familiarity with data streaming technologies such as Apache Kafka, Flink, or similar systems. • Previous work in security, governance, or compliance-sensitive backend domains. • Demonstrated impact beyond your immediate team, such as cross-org initiatives, technical vision, or platform investments. • Contributions to open source, technical writing, or speaking that show depth in backend or distributed systems. • 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.