Principal Kafka Architect & Automation Lead

Golden Technology; Cincinnati (OH); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Golden Technology in the United States is seeking a Principal Kafka Engineer to lead the management, scaling, and optimization of our event-streaming ecosystem. You will apply OO principles, automate cloud/on-prem clusters, and enforce ITSM processes to ensure reliable service delivery.

The role requires deep Kafka expertise, strong Java/Go/Python development skills, and experience with Docker/Kubernetes in a production, global setting. Collaboration with distributed teams is essential.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years Kafka administration experience and 10+ years in software development or systems engineering.
• Experience with Apache Kafka/Confluent Platform incl. Schema Registry, Kafka Connect, Avro, and KSQL.
• Proficient in Cluster Management — Zookeeper, KRaft.
• Strong OO programming skills: Java, Go, Python.
• Hands-on with IaC tools (Terraform, Ansible, Salt).
• Java backend development with Spring Boot.
• Solid software design patterns knowledge.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes; DevOps CI/CD and GitHub Actions.
• Knowledge of Domain Driven Design and Enterprise Application Integration.
• Observability/telemetry/APM tools (e.g., dynaTrace) and cloud/networking basics.
• Ability to lead in a globally distributed team and communicate well.
• Familiarity with ITSM/ITIL and Agile methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Kafka Administration: Deploy, configure, and maintain highly available Kafka clusters across on-premises and cloud environments.
• OOP-Based Development and Automation: Build reusable frameworks, automation tools, and Java APIs for provisioning and onboarding.
• ITSM Integration: Manage lifecycle via ITSM processes to reduce downtime and maintain SLA.
• Security and Compliance: Implement and maintain security controls and authentication mechanisms.
• Performance Optimization: Monitor health with Prometheus, Grafana, and dynaTrace; perform capacity planning.
• Collaboration: Guide DevOps and app teams on event-driven architecture and performance best practices.

Skills

Kafka

Java

Go

Python

Spring Boot

OO Design

Architecture

DevOps

CI/CD

GitHub Actions

ITSM/ITIL

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Ansible

Zookeeper

KRaft

dynaTrace

Prometheus

Grafana

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Salt

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub Actions

Prometheus

Grafana

dynaTrace

Job description

Golden Technology in the United States is seeking a Principal Kafka Engineer to lead the management, scaling, and optimization of our event-streaming ecosystem. You will apply OO principles, automate cloud/on-prem clusters, and enforce ITSM processes to ensure reliable service delivery.

The role requires deep Kafka expertise, strong Java/Go/Python development skills, and experience with Docker/Kubernetes in a production, global setting. Collaboration with distributed teams is essential.