We are seeking a talented Senior Kafka Engineer to join our team remotely.

The successful candidate will be responsible for installing, monitoring, troubleshooting, and maintaining Kafka platform, ensuring optimal performance and security, and developing new features, automation, and integration. This role requires participation in an on-call support rota, including up to 8 hours on one weekend day (Saturday or Sunday).

Join us to leverage your expertise — apply!

We accept CVs in English only.

Responsibilities

• Install and provision new Kafka clusters and supporting components
• Regularly monitor the health and performance of the Kafka platform and data pipelines
• Identify and fix issues related to the platform, including data pipelines, network problems, cloud or containerization resources failures, or software bugs
• Perform regular performance tuning of Kafka platform components
• Monitor and optimize the cost and performance of Kafka clusters
• Upgrade the Kafka platform to newer versions, including planning, testing, and implementation
• Manage the security of the Kafka platform, including access control lists, encryption, and regular security reviews
• Perform regular backups and disaster recovery procedures
• Manage the capacity of the Kafka platform, including projecting future growth and scaling needs
• Document procedures, configurations, and issue resolutions, and share knowledge with the team
• Work with Confluent Support for issues that cannot be resolved in-house
• Support existing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Configuration Management (CM) automations/pipelines for Kafka platform management and maintenance
• Maintain and enhance onboarding automation scripts
• Support Kafka self-service automations for Topic, RBAC, Schema, Connectors management
• Support application teams in setting up and onboarding Kafka consumers, producers, connectors, and streams
• Provide support for team requests in Slack and convert to Cloud Tickets if complexity is high
• Implement new features released by the vendor as part of their product roadmap, in coordination with the platform owner team
• Implement and enhance automation scripts and processes to reduce the number of tickets via self-service

Requirements

• 3+ years of hands-on experience with Apache Kafka
• Proven experience in the implementation and maintenance of Confluent Platform
• Strong knowledge of Helm and excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to troubleshoot complex issues
• Experience in automating processes and maintaining automated scripts
• Understanding of networking and the capability to coordinate with different teams, including the networking team and CI/CD team, among others
• Proficiency in Python and UNIX shell scripting
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Nice to have

• Relevant certifications (such as Confluent Certified Developer or Administrator for Apache Kafka) would be an advantage
• Experience with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform
• Familiarity with Jenkins, Kubernetes, Linux, PagerDuty, Terraform, and Uptrends

We offer

• Learning Culture - We want you to be the best version of yourself, that is why we offer unlimited access to learning platforms, a wide range of internal courses, and all the knowledge you need to grow professionally
• Health Coverage - Health and wellness are important, that is why we have you and up to four family members in a premiere health plan. We have a couple of options, so you can choose what is best for you and your family
• Visual Benefit - Seeing your work for us would be a sight for sore eyes. We want your vision to always be at 100% which is why we offer up to $200.000 COP for any visual health expenses
• Life Insurance Plan - We have partnered with MetLife to offer a full-coverage Ife insurance plan. So, your family is covered, even if you are gone
• Medical Leave Coverage - We are one of the few companies that cover 100% of your medical leave, for up to 90 days. Your health is the most important thing to us
• Professional Growth Opportunities - We have designed a highly competitive and complete development process, where you will have all the tools to get where you have always wanted to be, personally and professionally
• Stock Option Purchase Plan - As an EPAMer you can be more than just an employee, you will also have the opportunity to purchase stock at a reduced price and become a part owner of our organization
• Additional Income - Besides your regular salary, you will also have the chance to earn extra income by referring talent, being a technical interviewer, and many more ways
• Community Benefit - You will be part of a worldwide community of over 50,000 employees, where you can learn, challenge yourself, stand out, and share your knowledge and experience with multicultural teams!

Please note that even though you are applying for this position, you may be offered other projects to join within EPAM.

EPAM is a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and development services. We are committed to having a positive impact on our customers, our employees, and our communities. We embrace a dynamic and inclusive culture. Here you will collaborate with multi-national teams, contribute to a myriad of innovative projects that deliver the most creative and cutting-edge solutions, and have an opportunity to continuously learn and grow. No matter where you are located, you will join a dedicated, creative, and diverse community that will help you discover your fullest potential.