Sr. Open Source Software Engineer (Kafka)

NetApp; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Life Insurance

Retirement or Pension Plans

Paid Time Off

Leave options

Performance-Based Incentives

Employee stock purchase plan

Restricted stocks

Job summary

NetApp is seeking a senior Kafka engineering lead to drive end-to-end upstream initiatives, author KIPs, build design consensus, and implement robust production-grade features.

You will provide technical authority through committer reviews and oversee Kafka release processes to ensure high-quality outcomes across distributed systems.

Qualifications

• Requires at least 12 years of professional software engineering experience and current Apache Kafka committer status.
• Must possess expert Java skills and deep mastery of Kafka internals such as broker storage, KRaft, or Kafka Streams.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end upstream initiatives in Apache Kafka, including KIP authoring, design consensus, and implementation.
• Provide technical authority through committer reviews and manage Kafka release processes to ensure high-quality production outcomes.

Skills

Apache Kafka

Java

Distributed Systems

Open Source Engineering

KIP Authoring

Broker Internals

Log Management

Replication

KRaft

Kafka Streams

Kafka Connect

Observability

CI/CD

Software Design

Mentoring

Technical Leadership

Job description

Lead end-to-end upstream initiatives in Apache Kafka, including KIP authoring, design consensus, and implementation. Provide technical authority through committer reviews and manage Kafka release processes to ensure high-quality production outcomes.

Requirements:

Requires at least 12 years of professional software engineering experience and current Apache Kafka committer status. Must possess expert Java skills and deep mastery of Kafka internals such as broker storage, KRaft, or Kafka Streams.

Key Skills:

• Apache Kafka
• Java
• Distributed Systems
• Open Source Engineering
• KIP Authoring
• Broker Internals
• Log Management
• Replication
• KRaft
• Kafka Streams
• Kafka Connect
• Observability
• CI/CD
• Software Design
• Mentoring
• Technical Leadership

Benefits:

• Health Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Retirement or Pension Plans
• Paid Time Off
• Leave options
• Performance-Based Incentives
• Employee stock purchase plan
• Restricted stocks