Data Specialist

Key Responsibilities

• Administer, monitor, and sustain Apache Kafka infrastructure and related data platform components supporting PeopleSoft HCM and enterprise integrations in a secured, on-premises environment.
• Install, configure, patch, upgrade, maintain, and troubleshoot Kafka brokers, clusters, topics, partitions, and supporting data services across Linux and UNIX/Solaris-based environments.
• Manage topic provisioning, replication, retention, consumer groups, access controls, certificates, secure connectivity, and core data flow configurations in accordance with enterprise security and operational requirements.
• Develop and maintain scripts, automations, runbooks, SOPs, and operational procedures to improve platform reliability, reduce manual effort, and support repeatable data operations administration.
• Maintain cluster health, throughput, latency, consumer lag, disk utilization, JVM performance, logs, alerts, and related data jobs or interfaces; investigate incidents and coordinate timely resolution.
• Support platform hardening, audit readiness, change control, and compliance with security requirements in highly secured or DISA-aligned network environments.
• Support high availability, backup and recovery, capacity planning, failover readiness, and environment support across development, test, and production data environments.
• Collaborate with application, middleware, ETL, database, infrastructure, and cybersecurity teams to support data movement, integration patterns, operational readiness, and stable production support.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• 3+ years of systems, middleware, data platform, or integration support experience, including hands-on experience supporting Apache Kafka or similar enterprise messaging, streaming, or data integration platforms.
• Hands-on experience administering on-premises Kafka environments on Linux, with familiarity supporting broader UNIX/Solaris infrastructure, including monitoring, patching, troubleshooting, and operational support in enterprise data environments.
• Experience with Kafka administration best practices such as broker and topic management, replication and retention strategy, performance tuning, logging and monitoring, security configuration, and scripting or automation; experience with broader data tools, integration support, or operational data management is a plus.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen with an active Secret security clearance or the ability to obtain one; experience in secured federal or DoD environments preferred.