NO C2C HELP IN ANY FORM NO Sponsorship Available This is a contract to hire role so all candidates must be able to work on Planet's W2 without restriction Job Summary We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Kafka Platform Engineer to play a pivotal role in scaling our secure, cloud-native Confluent Kafka platform. This position is central to our data infrastructure strategy, responsible for developing and managing high-performance, real-time data streaming pipelines that power mission-critical applications across the organization. Key Responsibilities • Design, develop, and maintain scalable, reliable data pipelines using Confluent Kafka. • Manage and optimize our Kafka-based streaming infrastructure to ensure high availability and performance. • Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform to automate deployment and configuration processes. • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate Kafka solutions into broader data and application architectures. • Monitor, troubleshoot, and resolve issues in the Kafka ecosystem, ensuring data integrity and system resilience. • Contribute to the evolution of our cloud-native architecture with a focus on scalability, security, and automation. Qualifications • Proven experience designing and managing Confluent Kafka or Apache Kafka in a production environment. • Strong proficiency in at least one programming language: Java, Python, or Scala. • Hands-on experience with Terraform and other IaC tools for cloud infrastructure automation. • Deep understanding of distributed systems, event-driven architecture, and real-time data processing. • Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP. • Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment. #TECH #REMOTE #EST #C2H #contract to hire #w2