Software Engineer - Confluent Cloud Infrastructure & Platform

IBM; Hursley; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Software is seeking a senior backend engineer to contribute to a cloud-native compute platform at IBM. You will design, implement, and operate high‑performance backend services powering platform components.

You will work with a modern stack, including Kubernetes, microservices, and large-scale distributed systems, focusing on reliability, performance and customer value in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Experience designing, building, and scaling backend systems in production.
• Strong programming skills in Java/Go/C/C++/Python or similar.
• Experience deploying distributed systems with Kubernetes and Helm.
• Delivery-focused with strong communication and collaboration skills.
• BS/MS/PhD in computer science or related field, or equivalent work experience.

Responsibilities

• Build and scale backend services that are reliable, scalable, and high-performance.
• Architect and implement cloud-native components powering the platform.
• Troubleshoot and debug complex production issues across a large stack.
• Collaborate across teams to improve processes and deliver value to customers.

Skills

Backend design

Distributed systems

Programming skills

Cloud-native

Code quality

Mentorship

Team collaboration

Education

BS/MS/PhD in CS

Tools

Kubernetes

Helm

Job description

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 the Role

Backend engineers at Confluent work on a set of diverse and complex challenges such as building foundational cloud frameworks and services that power all components of the platform in the Cloud. We are building a new multi‑tenant, multi‑cloud, polyglot, cloud native compute substrate to enable new business opportunities across Confluent Cloud (including Connect, Apache Flink, Kafka and more). As a senior software engineer, you think strategically and help drive end‑to‑end technical delivery from customer experience to scaling internal operations. You are not confined to the status quo and you leverage your expertise in cloud‑native, large‑scale distributed systems to help take our platform to the next level. You worry about key operational aspects (availability, reliability, performance, monitoring, emergency response, capacity planning, disaster recovery) of our new Compute Platform, and you make sure that we have a highly‑available, resilient and secure offering that our largest customers can rely on.

What You Will Do

• Build mission‑critical backend services that deliver value to our customers. You will play a crucial role in architecting, designing, developing and operationalizing high performance, scalable, reliable and resilient services.
• Troubleshoot and debug technical issues inside a deep and complex technical stack that includes microservices, containers, and virtualization.
• Ensure operational readiness of the services and meet the availability and performance SLA commitments to our customers.
• A strategic engineer who constantly thinks of process and operational improvements.

Preferred Education

None

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• Demonstrated experience designing, building, scaling and supporting backend systems in production with a solid grasp on good software engineering practices such as code reviews, deep focus on quality, and documentation.
• Strong programming and algorithmic skills. Proficiency in a major programming language, e.g. Java, Go, C / C++, Python, etc.
• Experience configuring and deploying distributed systems and microservices using modern tools, e.g. Kubernetes, Helm, etc.
• Strong focus on project delivery and communication skills.
• Experience in driving operational excellence for large, production services.
• A strong sense of customer centricity, teamwork, technical leadership and mentorship and are excited about team and company success.
• BS, MS, or PhD in computer science or a related field, or equivalent work experience.

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

• Proven track record of delivering large‑scale, highly available, low latency, high quality systems.
• Hands‑on technical expertise in large scale systems engineering or distributed systems.