Staff Software Engineer I - Confluent Platform

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 Confluent Platform (CP) team has steadily expanded its charter since its inception. As a Staff Software Engineer I, you will set the technical direction and drive significant advancements within this continually growing scope. This role sits at the intersection of platform architecture, large-scale distributed systems, and mission-critical customer operations, with influence and impact across the entire Confluent Platform organization. A cornerstone of our strategy is the Unified Stream Manager (USM) hybrid-first offerings. We are developing platform capabilities that provide a consistent, enterprise-grade experience in management, observability, and security across on-prem, cloud, and hybrid environments. You will help architect and deliver these foundational USM capabilities, enabling customers to effortlessly operate, monitor, and secure Confluent Platform deployments across multiple clouds and regions. Your work will directly shape how enterprises run Kafka at scale amid increasingly complex regulatory and operational environments. You will own open-ended problem spaces, explore new ideas, develop prototypes, and bring the most promising solutions into production systems that deliver real customer value. As one of the leading technologists in the Confluent Platform organization, you will help shape platform architecture, review designs and code, influence