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:

The Stream Processing & Analytics (SPA) team has the vision to build an elastic, reliable, durable, cost-effective, and performant stream processing engine that smoothly works with the existing Confluent Cloud products. The Apache Flink-based stream processing engine is at the heart of innovations that would unlock the next generation of use cases for Confluent Cloud, with the ability to impact the company’s top and bottom line.
This Principal Engineer role is critical in defining and executing the long-term vision around a scalable, efficient, resilient and true cloud native data stream processor, including initiatives enabling autoscaling and limitless state management, ensuring a zero-knob and worry-free experience for our users and customers by providing the right amount of stream processing at any given point in time, allowing customers to focus on building their use case without managing infrastructure complexities.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

• Architect and Drive Vision: Define, maintain, and execute the technical vision and roadmap for scheduling and deployment of Flink, including autoscaling and managing state, ensuring alignment with Confluent Cloud’s strategic goals and customer needs.
• Technical Leadership: Provide technical leadership and guidance to the team, setting high standards for design, development, and operational excellence of highly performant, scalable, reliable, and resilient distributed systems.
• Complex Project Ownership: Independently drive the architecture, design, and execution of complex, cross-functional software projects from inception to production, with a strong focus on quality, reliability, and business impact.
• Open Source Contributions & Strategy: Lead and significantly contribute to open-source software, especially Apache Flink and related stream processing technologies, influencing the community and driving business impact through strategic contributions.
• Advanced Troubleshooting & Operational Excellence: Act as a subject matter expert for troubleshooting and improving operations for complex, large-scale technical stacks spanning all three major clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP), proactively identifying and addressing systemic issues.
• Mentorship and Growth: Mentor and coach junior and mid-level engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, and innovation within the team.