Staff Solutions Architect

International Business Machines Corporation; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Global Sales invites a Solutions Architect to own the technical success of Confluent engagements, crafting architectures, delivery backlogs, and guiding implementation with advisory-level insights across Confluent Cloud and Confluent Platform.

The role demands deep Kafka/Confluent experience and distributed-systems expertise, with the ability to communicate complex designs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders across cloud and on-prem environments.

Qualifications

• Experience in architecture or consulting focused on distributed systems and data streaming.
• Deep Kafka/Confluent experience across design, operations and migration.
• Proven expertise in system and data-flow design with secure configuration, encryption and monitoring.

Responsibilities

• Act as a Cloud CC and Confluent Platform expert.
• Conduct discovery, design, and architecture sessions with customers.
• Define project scope, delivery plans, and backlogs aligned to customer objectives.
• Provide advisory-level best practices for live deployments.
• Perform cluster health assessments and configuration reviews.
• Offer guidance on Kafka best practices and operational efficiency.
• Advise on security, monitoring, infrastructure, patching, and configuration management.

Skills

Distributed systems

Data streaming

Kafka/Confluent

System design

Security & RBAC

Tools

Kafka

Flink

ksqlDB

RBAC

Encryption

Job description

You will own the technical success of Confluent Professional Services engagements: design and validate customer architectures, create delivery plans and implementation backlogs, lead workshops, and provide advisory-level guidance across Confluent Cloud (CC) and Confluent Platform (CP) engagements. 2. As a Solutions Architect at Confluent, you can expect to

• Act as a Cloud (CC) and Confluent Platform (CP) expert
• Conduct discovery, design, and architecture sessions with customers
• Define project scope, delivery plans, and backlogs aligned to customer objectives
• Provide advisory-level best practices for live deployments
• Perform cluster health assessments and configuration reviews
• Offer guidance on Kafka best practices and operational efficiency
• Advise on security, monitoring, infrastructure, patching, and configuration management

3. Additional Solutions Architect expectations

• Customer Empathy: Understand business goals behind the architecture
• Clarity & Authority: Communicate complex designs simply to non-technical and technical stakeholders
• Ownership: Take accountability for outcomes, not only deliverables
• Pragmatism: Balance ideal designs with delivery feasibility
• Collaboration: Work seamlessly with Field Engineers, Engagement Managers, Solutions Engineers, Account Executivess, and Partners
• Solid experience in architecture or consulting focused on distributed systems and data streaming.
• Deep Kafka and Confluent experience across design, operations, and migration.
• Proven expertise in system and data-flow design (Kafka, Flink, ksqlDB, etc) along with secure configuration, encryption, RBAC, monitoring and network policies.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Cloud certifications (AWS, GCP, and Azure).

At IBM Global Sales, we bring together innovation, collaboration, and expertise to help clients solve their most complex business challenges. Working across industries and geographies, you'll partner with colleagues, clients, and partners to co-create solutions that drive digital transformation and lasting impact.Success in Global Sales is built on curiosity, empathy, and collaboration. You'll connect technical understanding with strong people skills, building trusted relationships and shaping solutions that improve business and society. With world-class onboarding, continuous learning, and a supportive culture, IBM offers the tools and opportunities to grow your career. Join us and be part of a global team that's passionate about driving innovation and making a difference.