DevOps Engineer

Shift Coverage: Able to support a rotating shift (07:00–20:00) and participate in 24/7 on-call support

We are seeking an experienced DevOps Engineer to lead the ongoing development, management, and performance optimization of our Kafka-based data streaming infrastructure. This position requires deep familiarity with distributed systems and strong capabilities in automation and system orchestration.

You will be instrumental in maintaining high availability and scalability for Kafka services across mission-critical environments, supporting both internal and external integrations within a complex enterprise architecture.

Core Responsibilities

• Manage full lifecycle operations for Kafka clusters, including provisioning, configuration, performance tuning, and upgrades
• Optimize Kafka partitioning, replication, throughput, and fault tolerance to support real-time, large-scale streaming workloads
• Design and implement infrastructure as code (IaC) with tools like Terraform and Ansible
• Integrate Kafka with CI/CD pipelines, automating deployment and operational tasks to increase service reliability
• Monitor platform health using tools such as Dynatrace, ELK, or Splunk, proactively identifying and resolving performance issues
• Enforce security best practices (SSL/TLS, Kerberos, RBAC) and ensure compliance across Kafka deployments
• Collaborate with application and data engineering teams to support event-driven architectures and real-time data flow
• Provide user training and stakeholder support where required
• Contribute to and maintain clear technical documentation and procedures
• Participate in incident management and contribute to continuous service improvements
• Promote shared learning by contributing to the internal knowledge base

Required Experience & Skills

• At least 5 years of experience in a DevOps, SRE, or Kafka administration role
• Deep technical knowledge and hands-on expertise with Apache Kafka, including Kafka Connect, KSQL, Zookeeper, and Schema Registry
• Proficiency in Python or Bash scripting for automation and system operations
• Hands-on experience in cloud-based deployments (AWS, Azure, or GCP), particularly for Kubernetes-managed Kafka environments
• Familiarity with CI/CD systems such as Jenkins, GitLab, or ArgoCD
• Strong understanding of access control, Kafka networking, and encryption protocols
• Ability to troubleshoot complex distributed systems and implement scalable, resilient solutions
• Confident working independently as well as part of a collaborative cross-functional team
• Comfortable working in multilingual, international environments
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with a service-oriented mindset
• ITIL certification or knowledge is a plus
• EU citizenship is required due to the nature of the assignment

Desirable Skills

• Experience with Confluent Kafka or other managed Kafka platforms
• Understanding of event streaming frameworks (Kafka Streams, Apache Flink, Apache Spark)
• Familiarity with service mesh technologies like Istio or Linkerd
• Certifications in Kafka, Kubernetes, or major cloud platforms