Software Engineering Staff Software Engineer I - Confluent Professional Hursley, GB

IBM; Hursley; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM is looking for a Staff Software Engineer in Hursley to lead the development of high-performance networking solutions for Confluent Cloud. This hybrid role involves collaboration across teams to build scalable, reliable systems.

Ideal candidates will have extensive software engineering experience and a strong foundation in distributed systems. Proficiency in languages like C++, Go, or Python is essential. The position offers a supportive environment for growth and significant impact on cloud networking.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in the software engineering industry.
• Experience in building and operating large-scale systems.
• Self-starter with the ability to work effectively in teams.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and operationalize high-performance networking systems.
• Drive execution of complex cross-team software projects.
• Troubleshoot and improve operations for complex technical stacks.

Skills

C++

Go

Python

Distributed systems design

Networking primitives and protocols

Education

BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kubernetes

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

Your role and responsibilities

We are looking for a staff level technical leader to help us build the next‑generation network data plane, enabling Confluent Cloud to achieve 10x the current scale. This is a hybrid engineering role, blending deep software development expertise with hands‑on operational excellence.

Cloud networking is a strategic investment area with significant potential to impact the company's growth. The Traffic team is responsible for the network platform of Confluent Cloud, focusing on performance, security, reliability, and cost optimizations for all customer traffic that ingresses and egresses Kafka and DSP deployments, as well as all internal service‑to‑service traffic on Confluent Cloud.

You will architect, design and lead cross‑team initiatives to deliver highly scalable, cost‑efficient networking data plane solutions, while ensuring these systems are reliable, observable, and resilient in production. You’ll work across engineering, security, product, and platform orgs to build the blocks that empower product teams to integrate networking seamlessly.

What You Will Do

• Design, develop, and operationalize high‑performance, scalable, reliable, and resilient systems for the Confluent Cloud network data plane platform.
• Independently drive the execution of ambiguously scoped cross‑team software projects, ensuring delivery of complex projects in production with a focus on quality.
• Leverage cloud providers to deliver impactful business solutions.
• Troubleshoot and improve operations for a complex technical stack that spans across AWS, Azure, and GCP, including microservices, containers, and virtualization.

Required education

None

Preferred education

None

Required technical and professional expertise

• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Extensive experience in the software engineering industry.
• Strong fundamentals in distributed systems design and development.
• Experience in building and operating large‑scale systems.
• Solid understanding of networking primitives and protocols.
• Self‑starter with the ability to work effectively in teams.
• Proficiency in C++, Go, Python, or other programming languages.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Experience with Kubernetes.
• Experience with network proxies and/or load balancers.
• Experience with public clouds (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

Other relevant job details

Job Title: Staff Software Engineer‑Confluent
Job ID: 122177
City / Township / Village: Hursley
State / Province: Hampshire
Country: United Kingdom
Work arrangement: Remote
Area of work: Software Engineering
Employment type: Regular
Position type: Professional
Some travel may be required based on business demand
Company: (8660) IBM United Kingdom Limited
Shift: On Call

IBM is proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.