Staff Software Engineer - Flink Control Plane

Confluent Inc; United States; On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-First Work

Robust Insurance Benefits

Flexible Time Away

Open and Honest Culture

Well-Being and Growth

Job summary

Confluent Inc is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to join their Flink Platform team in the United States. In this role, you will develop control plane services for Flink, focusing on orchestration and collaboration within the team. Candidates should have over 10 years of software development experience with deep knowledge of Kubernetes and distributed systems. Confluent values a remote-first culture and offers robust benefits, emphasizing team collaboration and personal growth.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of relevant software development experience.
• Deep knowledge of distributed systems orchestration.
• Experience building high-scale control planes or cloud-native infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Develop control plane services for Flink job lifecycles.
• Build Kubernetes operators for resource management.
• Mentor less experienced engineers in control plane architecture.

Skills

Distributed systems orchestration

Kubernetes

API servers

Problem-solving

Excellent communication

Job description

Staff Software Engineer - Flink Control Plane

We’re not just building better tech. We’re rewriting how data moves and what the world can do with it. With Confluent, data doesn’t sit still. Our platform puts information in motion, streaming in near real-time so companies can react faster, build smarter, and deliver experiences as dynamic as the world around them.

It takes a certain kind of person to join this team. Those who ask hard questions, give honest feedback, and show up for each other. No egos, no solo acts. Just smart, curious humans pushing toward something bigger, together.

One Confluent. One Team. One Data Streaming Platform.

About the Role:

The Flink Platform team is at the forefront of building a robust control plane for the Flink product, leveraging advanced database storage to ensure high reliability and efficiency. With a vision centered on innovation and excellence, this team is critical to advancing Confluent’s Data in Motion initiative and is committed to supplying the industry with solutions that cater to evolving stream processing demands.

What You Will Do:

Developing the control plane services that orchestrate Flink job lifecycles (submission, scaling, recovery). Building Kubernetes operators and orchestrators for serverless resource management. Designing APIs for job management, multi-tenancy, and isolation.

Following a holistic development approach you will be responsible for the code quality, test coverage, documentation and maintainability of the components you and your team work on.

Designing Components: You will not only implement aspects of Flink Control Plane but also draft designs, discuss them and curate and moderate a decision with involved stakeholders.

Team: As part of the team you will help to follow and maintain processes, by being an active part of the team, leading meetings and taking initiatives where feasible and participating in on‑call rotations.

Mentoring: You will mentor other engineers with less experience in Control plane architecture to get started in the community and more junior developers to get into the area of serverless Apache Flink.

What You Will Bring:

10+ years of relevant software development experience.

Technical Expertise: Deep knowledge of distributed systems orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes, control loops). Experience building high‑scale control planes, API servers, or cloud‑native infrastructure. Knowledge of containerization, networking, and resource isolation.

Problem Solving: Strong problem‑solving skills, capable of translating complex requirements into effective solutions.

Communication: Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to collaborate across teams.

Ready to build what's next? Let’s get in motion.

Come As You Are

Belonging isn’t a perk here. It’s the baseline. We work across time zones and backgrounds, knowing the best ideas come from different perspectives. And we make space for everyone to lead, grow, and challenge what’s possible.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Employment decisions are based on job‐related criteria, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other classification protected by law.

Privacy Statement

Confluent is an IBM subsidiary which has been acquired by IBM and will be integrated into the IBM organization. By proceeding with this application, you understand that Confluent will share your personal information with other IBM affiliates involved in your recruitment process, wherever these are located. More Information on how IBM protects your personal information, including the safeguards in case of cross-border data transfer, are available here .

Global Benefits to Help You Do Your Best Work

Remote‑First Work

Robust Insurance Benefits

Flexible Time Away

The Best Teammates

Open and Honest Culture

Well‑Being and Growth

Leadership Principles Define How we Act

Our Leadership Principles outline a shared set of expectations for how we think and behave at Confluent. They’re an extension of our company values which we all live each day. You can learn more here .

Confluent is Remote‑First

We care about how you work, not where. Confluent is built for flexibility, so we encourage you to apply from anywhere. But we also know that trust and purpose are built face‑to‑face. That’s why we combine remote freedom with in‑person onboarding to jumpstart your journey. It’s the best of both worlds: the autonomy you want with the community you need. Read why we prioritize in‑person onboarding

Compensation

At Confluent, we are committed to providing competitive pay and benefits that are in line with industry standards. We analyze and carefully consider several factors when determining compensation, including work history, education, professional experience, and location. The actual pay may vary depending on your skills, qualifications, experience, and work location. In addition, Confluent offers a wide range of employee benefits. To learn more about our benefits click here .