Lead Kafka Engineer

CEI; False Pass (AK); On-site; USD 83,000 - 118,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) match

Job summary

CEI is seeking a Lead Kafka Developer to design, build, and operate scalable, high-throughput event streaming platforms using Apache Kafka. This role provides technical leadership, sets best practices, and drives reliable, secure data streaming solutions across the organization.

The position involves leading Kafka design, cluster management, and topic standards while collaborating with multiple teams to ensure robust, observable pipelines and quick issue resolution.

Qualifications

• Strong hands-on experience with Apache Kafka including producers, consumers, streams.
• Experience operating Kafka in production environments.
• Proficiency in Java and/or Scala (Python a plus).
• Solid understanding of distributed systems, messaging patterns, and event-driven architecture.
• Experience with schema registries, monitoring, and performance tuning.
• Must be able to create topics (not only consume Kafka services).
• Mentor developers and provide technical guidance and code reviews.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of Kafka-based streaming architectures and data pipelines.
• Own Kafka cluster setup, configuration, tuning, monitoring, and upgrades.
• Establish standards for topic design, schema management, security, and reliability.
• Collaborate with application, platform, and data teams to integrate event-driven solutions.
• Troubleshoot complex production issues and drive root-cause analysis.
• Mentor developers and provide technical guidance and code reviews.

Skills

Apache Kafka

Java/Scala

Distributed systems

Schema registries

Monitoring

Performance tuning

Topic creation

Tools

Kafka Streams

ksqlDB

Kafka Connect

Job description

Job Description

Job Description

Lead Kafka DeveloperJob at a Glance

Title: Lead Kafka Developer
Location: Pittsburgh PA or Dallas TX or Cleveland OH
Contract: W2 only, 12 month contract with potential for extension or conversion to full time with either the client or CEI
Pay: $73 /hour + optional medical, dental, vision, 401(k) match

Overview

We are seeking a Lead Kafka Developer to design, build, and operate scalable, high-throughput event streaming platforms using Apache Kafka. This role provides technical leadership, sets best practices, and drives the implementation of reliable, secure, and performant data streaming solutions across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of Kafka-based streaming architectures and data pipelines
• Own Kafka cluster setup, configuration, tuning, monitoring, and upgrades
• Establish standards for topic design, schema management, security, and reliability
• Collaborate with application, platform, and data teams to integrate event-driven solutions
• Troubleshoot complex production issues and drive root-cause analysis
• Mentor developers and provide technical guidance and code reviews

Required Skills

• Strong hands-on experience with Apache Kafka (producers, consumers, streams, connectors)
• Experience operating Kafka in production environments
• Proficiency in Java and/or Scala (Python a plus)
• Solid understanding of distributed systems, messaging patterns, and event-driven architecture
• Experience with schema registries, monitoring, and performance tuning
• Must be able to create topics (not only consume Kafka services)

Preferred Skills

• Experience with Kafka Streams, ksqlDB, or Kafka Connect
• Cloud-based Kafka platforms and containerized deployments
• Familiarity with CI/CD, observability, and security best practices

About CEI

As a trusted technology partner, CEI delivers solutions that help our customers transform their business and achieve meaningful results. From strategy and custom application development through application management -our technology and digital experience services are tailored to meet each unique need of our customers. Our staffing solutions bring specialized skills to complement our customers' workforce and project requirements.

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