Confluent - Senior Software Engineer - Cloud Compute Platform
ibmAtlanta (GA)
Confluent - Senior Software Engineer - Cloud Compute Platform
Posted yesterday
ibmAtlanta (GA)
SENIORITY
Lead
About the role
Introduction At IBM Software, we transform client challenges into solutions. Building the world's leading AI-powered, cloud-native products that shape the future of business and society. Our legacy of innovation creates endless opportunities for IBMers to learn, grow, and make an impact on a global scale. Working in Software means joining a team fueled by curiosity and collaboration. You'll work with diverse technologies, partners, and industries to design, develop, and deliver solutions that power digital transformation. With a culture that values innovation, growth, and continuous learning, IBM Software places you at the heart of IBM's product and technology landscape. Here, you'll have the tools and opportunities to advance your career while creating software that changes the world.
Your Role and Responsibilities:
About Confluent Confluent is pioneering a fundamentally new category of data infrastructure focused on data in motion. Have you ever found a new favorite series on Netflix, picked up groceries curbside at Walmart, or paid for something using Square? That's the power of data in motion in action—giving organizations instant access to the massive amounts of data that is constantly flowing throughout their business. At Confluent, we're building the foundational platform for this new paradigm of data infrastructure. Our cloud-native offering is designed to be the intelligent connective tissue enabling real-time data, from multiple sources, to constantly stream across the organization. With Confluent, organizations can create a central nervous system to innovate and win in a digital-first world. We're looking for self-motivated team members who crave a challenge and feel energized to roll up their sleeves and help realize Confluent's enormous potential. Chart your own path and take healthy risks as we solve big problems together. We value having diverse teams and want you to grow as we grow—whether you're just starting out in your career or managing a large team, you'll be amazed at the magnitude of your impact.
About the Role:
As a Software Engineer on the Compute Platform team, you will be a key technical leader in building and evolving our next-generation, multi-tenant, cloud-native compute substrate that powers all of Confluent Cloud's diverse workloads.
Our platform orchestrates workloads across thousands of Kubernetes clusters globally across all cloud service providers, providing a unified abstraction layer for scheduling, lifecycle management, and operational excellence. You'll work on critical systems including:
- Multi-Cluster Workload Orchestration: Build the control plane that manages workload placement, lifecycle, and state across multiple Kubernetes clusters per region
- Platform APIs & Abstractions: Design and evolve APIs that provide clean abstractions for polyglot workload management across diverse compute needs
- Cloud Platform Integration: Build and optimize deep integrations with the broader Confluent Cloud platform for seamless end-to-end operations
- Multi-Tenancy & Security: Implement and enhance workload isolation, network policies, and secure execution environments
Observability & Operations: Drive operational excellence through monitoring integration, automated health checks, and self-healing capabilities As a senior technical leader, you think strategically and help drive end-to-end technical delivery from customer experience to scaling internal operations. You leverage your expertise in cloud-native distributed systems to take our platform to the next level while ensuring high availability, reliability, and security for our largest enterprise customers.
What You Will Do:
- Own features end to end for the Compute Platform, such as multi-cluster orchestration, workload placement, and security architecture * Design and implement platform APIs and Kubernetes operators using Go to support evolving workload requirements * Deliver high-impact initiatives in areas such as workload scheduling, disruption management, network isolation, rolling update strategies, and cross-cluster resource management * Lead technical design reviews and drive architectural decisions across organizational boundaries * Mentor and grow other engineers on the team through code reviews, pairing, and technical guidance * Own operational aspects including availability, reliability, performance monitoring, emergency response, and disaster recovery for our global compute infrastructure Required Skills * 5+ years of experience delivering scalable software solutions * Proven track record of leading the delivery of large-scale, highly available, low-latency systems * Deep expertise in Kubernetes including controller development, operator patterns, and multi-cluster architectures * Strong proficiency in Go with experience building production-grade distributed systems * Experience with multi-tenant platform architectures and security isolation patterns * Track record of working collaboratively across teams including product management, SRE, and other engineering teams Preferred Skills * Experience with observability tools and operational excellence practices * Experience with multi-cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure) and cloud-provider integrations * Track record of providing technical leadership and mentorship * A smart, humble, and empathetic attitude with a strong sense of teamwork * Drive and excitement about the challenges of a fast-paced, innovative software environment * Familiarity with gRPC, Protobuf, and API design for internal platform services Additional Details (US) IBM offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits program. Eligible employees may have access to: - Healthcare benefits including medical & prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, and mental health & well being - Financial programs such as 401(k), cash balance pension plan, the IBM Employee Stock Purchase Plan, financial counseling, life insurance, short & long- term disability coverage, and opportunities for performance based salary incentive programs - Generous paid time off including 12 holidays, minimum 56 hours sick time, 120 hours vacation, 12 weeks parental bonding leave in accordance with IBM Policy, and other Paid Care Leave programs. IBM also offers paid family leave benefits to eligible employees where required by applicable law - Training and educational resources on our personalized, AI-driven learning platform where IBMers can grow skills and obtain industry-recognized certifications to achieve their career goals - Diverse and inclusive employee resource groups, giving & volunteer opportunities, and discounts on retail products, services & experiences We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable law. This position was posted on the date cited in the key job details section and is anticipated to remain posted for 21 days from this date or less if not needed to fill the role. Compensation, Benefits and Work Authorization The compensation range and benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year. The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location. Pay increment and frequency of pay will be in accordance with employment classification and applicable laws. For part time roles, your compensation and benefits will be adjusted to reflect your hours. Benefits may be pro-rated for those who start working during the calendar year. IBM will not be providing visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future. Therefore, in order to be considered for this position, you must have the ability to work without a need for current or future visa sponsorship.
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