Principal Engineer, Stream Governance & Metadata at Scale

IBM Computing; Rochester (MN); On-site; USD 190,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Software seeks a Principal Engineer to shape governance systems for data streaming and metadata management. You will lead architecture decisions, drive platform scalability, and influence product strategy across Confluent-aligned domains.

You will own core governance capabilities, design for multi-tenant, secure data policies, and mentor senior engineers while engaging with open-source communities and external technical representation.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of leading the architecture and delivery of large-scale distributed systems.
• Deep knowledge of fault tolerance, consistency, scalability, and cloud-native platforms.
• Experience with streaming or event-driven architectures and metadata/governance systems.
• Ability to influence executives and lead cross-team initiatives.
• Strong bias toward shipped outcomes and practical delivery.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive company-level technical strategy for governance systems.
• Architect high-performance metadata management with low latency lookups.
• Design data protection capabilities and enforce schema validation.
• Build and maintain multi-tenant infra for governance services.
• Establish engineering standards and architectural patterns.
• Collaborate with executives and product teams to align on vision.
• Mentor senior engineers and foster open-source contributions.
• Contribute to open-source projects and represent externally.

Skills

Distributed systems leadership

Fault tolerance

Consistency

Scalability

Cloud-native platforms

Streaming architecture

Strategic influence

Leadership

Execution

Open-source contributions

Data catalog knowledge

Cloud infrastructure

AI governance

Job description

IBM Software seeks a Principal Engineer to shape governance systems for data streaming and metadata management. You will lead architecture decisions, drive platform scalability, and influence product strategy across Confluent-aligned domains.

You will own core governance capabilities, design for multi-tenant, secure data policies, and mentor senior engineers while engaging with open-source communities and external technical representation.