Senior Software Engineer

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

Backend engineers at Confluent build the cloud services and systems that power our data streaming platform. You’ll work on large-scale, distributed backend systems that need to be highly available, reliable, and easy to operate.

This is a general L3 backend role used across multiple product and platform teams. Depending on your background and interests, you may work on areas such as core platform services, governance and metadata, observability and telemetry, security and access, or customer-facing application experiences. We’ll align you to a team during the hiring process based on your skills and what excites you.

You’ll partner closely with other engineers, product managers, and designers to ship features end to end — from design and implementation to rollout and ongoing operation in production.

What You Will Do

• Design, build, and operate backend services that are secure, reliable, and scalable in a cloud-native environment.

• Own features and projects end to end: requirements, design, implementation, testing, rollout, and ongoing improvements.

• Work with distributed systems and microservices, with a focus on performance, resiliency, and clear API contracts.

• Contribute to service reliability and operations, including monitoring, alerting, and on-call participation where applicable.

• Collaborate with partner teams on architecture, data modeling, and integration points across Confluent’s platform.

• Write clean, well-tested, and well-documented code, and participate in code reviews that raise the bar for the team.

• Help improve engineering practices, tools, and automation to make it easier and safer to ship code.

• Contribute to a healthy team culture through clear communication, inclusive collaboration, and a willingness to learn and teach.

What You Will Bring

• 3+ years of industry experience designing, building, and supporting backend systems in production.

• Strong programming and algorithmic skills in at least one major language (for example, Java, Go, C/C++, or Python), and the ability to learn new languages and frameworks as needed.

• Experience with distributed systems or large-scale backend services, such as microservices, data pipelines, event-driven architectures, or high-throughput APIs.

• Hands-on experience deploying and operating services on a public cloud (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including knowledge of containers and orchestration tools (for example, Docker and Kubernetes).

• Familiarity with databases and storage systems, such as relational databases, NoSQL stores, or distributed data systems, and an understanding of performance and scalability tradeoffs.

• A focus on quality and reliability, including testing strategies, observability (metrics, logging, tracing), and incident response best practices.

• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional partners across time zones.

• A growth mindset: you’re curious, open to feedback, and comfortable working in areas that may be new to you.

• BS, MS, or PhD in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

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.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Employment decisions are based on job-related criteria, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other classification protected by law.