Kafka Architect

Job Title: Kafka ArchitectLocation: Bethesda, MD (Onsite Hybrid 3-4 Days) - Need Local CandidatesDuration: Contract Visa: Green Card, US CitizenYears of Exp: 15+ Years Job Description: Lead the architecture, design, and deployment of Apache Kafka-based platforms. Define best practices and standards for Kafka implementation, integration, and security across the organization. Collaborate with business stakeholders, solution architects, and engineering teams to translate business requirements into scalable and resilient Kafka architectures. Oversee the setup, configuration, and tuning of Kafka clusters to ensure high availability and performance. Develop and enforce policies for data retention, topic management, security, and disaster recovery. Guide migration and integration projects, including legacy system modernization and cloud adoption using Kafka. Mentor and train development teams on Kafka concepts, tools, and best practices. Monitor system health, troubleshoot complex issues, and implement proactive performance improvements. Stay abreast of new developments in the Kafka ecosystem and recommend adoption of relevant technologies. Required Skills & Qualifications: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. 14-16 years of total IT experience, including at least 5 years architecting and managing large-scale Kafka deployments. Expertise in Apache Kafka internals, including producers, consumers, brokers, partitions, replication, and ZooKeeper. Strong knowledge of event-driven architecture, stream processing (Kafka Streams, ksqlDB), and real-time analytics. Deep experience integrating Kafka with various data sources, sinks, and enterprise systems (e.g., databases, microservices, cloud platforms). Hands-on experience with Kafka security (SSL, SASL, ACLs), data governance, and compliance. Proficiency in scripting and programming languages commonly used with Kafka (such as Java, Scala, or Python). Understanding of containerization and orchestration technologies (Docker, Kubernetes) as related to Kafka deployments. Excellent problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management skills. Experience leading technical teams and mentoring junior engineers. Job Type: Contract Pay: $60.00 - $65.00 per hour Expected hours: 40 per week Work Location: In person