Staff Engineer – PaaS Messaging/Kafka (Remote)

GEICO; Chicago (IL); Remote; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking organization as a Staff Engineer and play a pivotal role in transforming the insurance industry. You will lead innovative projects within the PaaS Messaging team, leveraging your expertise in open-source messaging and event streaming technologies like Kafka and Pulsar. This role emphasizes collaboration with distinguished engineers and product managers to enhance product delivery and foster a culture of continuous improvement. If you have a passion for driving technical excellence and mentoring teams, this is the perfect opportunity to make a significant impact in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in complex system design and data pipelines.
• Proficiency in at least one OOP language like Java, Go, or Python.
• Experience with open-source messaging platforms including Kafka and RabbitMQ.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical thought leadership and collaborate with teams.
• Develop strategies for Platform Engineering and ensure quality solutions.
• Mentor engineering teams and promote continuous learning.

Skills

Open-source messaging expertise

Event streaming knowledge

Java

Go

Python

C++

Analytical problem solving

Cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science

Tools

Kafka

Pulsar

ActiveMQ

RabbitMQ

GIT

Jenkins

Terraform

Job description

GEICO is seeking an experienced Staff Engineer to join our PaaS Messaging team. You will help drive our insurance business transformation as we transition from a traditional IT model to a tech organization focused on engineering excellence, fostering a culture of psychological safety and continuous improvement.

In this role, you will collaborate with Distinguished and Senior Engineers to innovate, build new systems, improve existing ones, and identify new opportunities. You will lead the strategy and execution of a technical roadmap to increase product delivery velocity and unlock new capabilities. The ideal candidate has deep expertise in open-source messaging and event streaming domains such as Kafka, Pulsar, and/or ActiveMQ.

As a Staff Engineer, you will:

• Provide technical thought leadership across the enterprise
• Collaborate with product managers, teams, and customers to solve complex problems
• Develop and execute technical strategies for Platform Engineering
• Ensure the quality, usability, and performance of solutions
• Mentor and coach engineering teams, influence product and engineering leadership
• Share best practices and improve processes
• Analyze costs, forecast, and incorporate into business plans
• Support resource planning, evaluate processes, measure outcomes, and promote continuous learning
• Participate in on-call and operational support

Qualifications:

• Extensive experience in complex system design, data pipelines, and scalable distributed systems
• Proficiency in at least one OOP language such as Java, Go, Python, or C++
• Proven expertise with open-source messaging platforms like Kafka, Pulsar, ActiveMQ, or RabbitMQ, including concepts like Topic Scaling, Partitions, Consumer Groups
• Experience building Kafka Connectors or similar tooling
• Ability to influence engineering direction and product roadmaps through experimentation and design
• Experience transitioning research to production environments
• Knowledge of CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and related tools (e.g., GIT, Jenkins, Terraform)
• Strong understanding of CS data structures and algorithms
• Experience with analytical problem solving using quantitative methods
• Familiarity with developer tooling across the software lifecycle
• Experience building enterprise-scale messaging platforms
• Knowledge of cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure) is a plus

Experience:

• 6+ years of professional experience
• 4+ years working with open-source frameworks
• 3+ years in architecture and design
• 3+ years with cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure) preferred

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent experience