Confluent - Technical Support Engineer

IBM; Lowell (MA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Software in Lowell, MA is seeking Technical Support Engineers to join a team that bridges client services and engineering. You will help diagnose and fix issues in Confluent deployments, leveraging Apache Kafka and related platforms to ensure customer success.

You’ll work directly with customers, document problems, and contribute to knowledge bases and product documentation. The role emphasizes strong communication, fast issue resolution, and collaboration with the Kafka team.

Qualifications

• Experience diagnosing, reproducing, and resolving customer issues.
• Interest in streaming data and Kafka domain expertise.
• Ability to communicate with customers and engineers effectively.

Responsibilities

• Resolve customer issues with Confluent deployments.
• Interact directly with customers to understand problems.
• Provide software development and operations expertise.
• Contribute to product documentation and knowledge base.
• Collaborate with Kafka team to gather feedback.

Skills

Apache Kafka

Linux

Java applications

Distributed systems

Customer support

Education

Master's Degree

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.

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

Technical Support Engineers work at the intersection of our client services and engineering teams and drive customer success by helping identify and resolve critical business issues. In this role you’ll interact directly with our customers, hands on fixing issues and providing software development and operations expertise, leveraging deep knowledge of best practices in the use of Apache Kafka, the broader Confluent Platform, as well as complementary systems. Throughout all of these interactions, you’ll build strong relationships with customers, ensuring exemplary support and timely resolution to customer requests.

What You Will Do

• Working with customers to resolve a wide range of issues with their Confluent deployments
• Contributing to process development - we’re a growing team, so we’re looking for people who want to help us grow efficiently and with a best-in-class culture
• Communicating with our core engineering team to provide real-time product feedback from the field
• Improving product documentation and authoring knowledge base articles
• Creating and reviewing product demos and internal tooling
• Working closely with the team behind Apache Kafka!

Preferred Education

Master's Degree

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

Required technical and professional expertise

• Excitement in learning about streaming data and becoming a domain expert in Apache Kafka
• Experience in diagnosing, reproducing, and resolving customer issues
• Desire to make customers successful through direct interaction
• Two out of these three:
• Experience troubleshooting applications running on Linux (resource contention, network bottlenecks, etc.)
• Operational knowledge of Java applications (jstack, jmap, etc.)
• Experience with at least one mainstream distributed system (e.g., Kafka, Hadoop, Cassandra, etc.)

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

• Familiarity with IT Service Management: Exposure to IT service management principles and practices, including problem management, incident management, and change management, to drive improvements and solutions within IBM.
• Understanding of Cloud-based Solutions: Experience working with cloud-based solutions and technologies to analyze diagnostic information, troubleshoot, and debug client IT environment issues.
• Knowledge of IBM Products: Exposure to IBM products and services, including their features, functionality, and technical requirements, to act as a trusted advisor for successful utilization.

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

Verify with Hiring Manager

• Familiarity with IT Service Management: Exposure to IT service management principles and practices, including problem management, incident management, and change management, to drive improvements and solutions within IBM.
• Understanding of Cloud-based Solutions: Experience working with cloud-based solutions and technologies to analyze diagnostic information, troubleshoot, and debug client IT environment issues.
• Knowledge of IBM Products: Exposure to IBM products and services, including their features, functionality, and technical requirements, to act as a trusted advisor for successful utilization.