Staff Engineer – PaaS Messaging/Kafka (Remote)

GEICO; Denver (CO); Remote; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative tech organization is on the lookout for a Staff Engineer to join their PaaS Messaging team. This role is pivotal in driving the transformation of their insurance business, focusing on building high-performance platforms that prioritize engineering excellence. You will collaborate with distinguished engineers to innovate and improve systems, ensuring quality and performance while mentoring fellow engineers. If you have a passion for open-source messaging and event streaming, and a desire to influence product roadmaps, this opportunity is tailored for you. Join a forward-thinking company that values psychological safety and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in complex system design and scalable distributed systems.
• Proficiency in at least one OOP language such as Java, Go, Python, or C++.
• Experience with deploying research to production and CI/CD pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical thought leadership across the enterprise.
• Collaborate with product managers to solve complex problems.
• Develop and execute a technical strategy for the Platform Engineering domain.

Skills

Open-source messaging expertise

Kafka

Pulsar

ActiveMQ

Java

Go

Python

C++

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science

Tools

Kafka Connectors

Developer tooling

Job description

GEICO is seeking an experienced Staff Engineer to join our PaaS Messaging team. This team focuses on building high-performance, low-maintenance, zero-downtime platforms and applications. You will help drive our insurance business transformation as we transition from a traditional IT model to a tech organization with engineering excellence as its mission, fostering a culture of psychological safety and continuous improvement.

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

As a Staff Engineer, you will:

• Provide technical thought leadership across the enterprise
• Collaborate with product managers, team members, customers, and other engineering teams to solve complex problems
• Develop and execute a technical strategy for the Platform Engineering domain
• Ensure the quality, usability, and performance of solutions
• Mentor and coach engineers and influence leadership
• Share best practices and improve processes across teams
• Analyze costs, forecast, and incorporate them into business plans
• Support resource planning, evaluate operational processes, and demonstrate adaptability
• 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 and event streaming platforms like Kafka, Pulsar, ActiveMQ, or RabbitMQ
• Experience with Kafka Connectors and tooling
• Ability to influence engineering direction and product roadmaps
• Experience with deploying research to production and with CI/CD pipelines
• Strong knowledge of CS data structures and algorithms
• Experience with developer tooling across the software development lifecycle
• Experience building enterprise-scale platforms with open-source messaging systems
• Familiarity with cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure) and related tools 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) is preferred

Education:

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