Kafka Administrator (Ansible)

CGI Federal seeks a Kafka Administrator with strong Ansible automation expertise to support the SOHE program. This position will be performed 5 days a week onsite at SSA HQ in Woodlawn, MD.

Responsibilities

• Administer production Confluent Kafka clusters, including brokers, ZooKeeper/KRaft, Schema Registry, Kafka Connect, KSQL, and Control Center.
• Deploy, configure, upgrade, and maintain Kafka clusters using Ansible automation.
• Develop, maintain, and troubleshoot Ansible playbooks, roles, and modules for provisioning, configuration management, deployment, and patching.
• Design idempotent Ansible automation for consistent multi-environment operations.
• Use Ansible Tower/AWX for workflow orchestration, scheduling, credential management, and RBAC.
• Integrate automation with CI/CD pipelines and Git workflows.
• Write and maintain Bash/Python scripts to support operational automation.
• Manage Linux environments including users/groups, permissions, SELinux, systemd services, and network configuration.
• Implement Kafka security including SSL/TLS, SASL, RBAC, and MDS.
• Architect, deploy, and maintain observability platforms: Prometheus, Thanos, Grafana.
• Build custom dashboards, alerts, and HA monitoring configurations.
• Automate observability stack deployment and configuration using Ansible.
• Troubleshoot Kafka replication, partitioning, consumer lag, and performance issues using observability data.
• Manage Kafka topic lifecycle and connector integrations (IBM MQ, JDBC, Datagen).
• Apply secure automation practices including Ansible Vault and external vault integrations.
• Troubleshoot Ansible-related automation and infrastructure issues across distributed systems.
• Automate infrastructure tasks across Linux, Windows, and cloud platforms.
• Integrate automation with DevOps tools like Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, and Git.
• Develop custom automation components using Python, Bash, or similar scripting languages.
• Recommend infrastructure and automation improvements based on environment assessments.
• Migrate manual processes into fully automated workflows.
• Provide technical guidance, training, and best practices to engineering teams on Ansible automation.

Requirements

• Ability to obtain and maintain a US Public Trust clearance.
• Bachelor’s degree + 7 years of experience.
• Strong experience administering Confluent Kafka clusters in production environments.
• Proven experience automating Kafka deployment and operations using Ansible.
• Extensive experience developing and debugging Ansible playbooks, roles, and modules.
• Demonstrated ability to design idempotent and scalable automation for multi-environment deployments.
• Experience with Ansible Tower/AWX for enterprise automation.
• Proficiency integrating automation with CI/CD and Git workflows.
• Strong scripting experience (Python, Bash).
• Hands-on Linux experience including SELinux, systemd, permissions, and networking.
• Experience securing Kafka environments (SSL/TLS, SASL, RBAC, MDS).
• Experience with Prometheus, Thanos, and Grafana for monitoring distributed systems.
• Skill in diagnosing Kafka performance and operational issues using observability tools.
• Experience managing Kafka topics, schemas, and connector integrations.
• Experience implementing secure automation and secrets management with Ansible Vault.
• Experience automating infrastructure in hybrid Linux/Windows/cloud environments.
• Experience integrating automation with DevOps tools such as Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Demonstrated ability to develop enterprise-grade automation solutions.
• Experience assessing environments and implementing optimization strategies.
• Experience converting manual processes into automated workflows.
• Ability to support and train teams on automation best practices.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with Confluent Cloud or hybrid Kafka architectures.
• Knowledge of KRaft mode and migration from ZooKeeper.
• Experience with Kubernetes-based Kafka deployments (Strimzi, Confluent Operator).
• Performance tuning experience (I/O, JVM, networking).
• Knowledge of federal compliance/security frameworks.
• Experience with AWS, Azure, or GovCloud.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation.
• Comprehensive insurance options.
• Matching contributions through the 401(k) plan and the share purchase plan.
• Paid time off for vacation, holidays, and sick time.
• Paid parental leave.
• Learning opportunities and tuition assistance.
• Wellness and well-being programs.

Pay

A reasonable estimate of the current range for this role in the U.S. is $79,600.00 - $176,300.00.

Schedule

This position requires working 5 days a week onsite at SSA HQ in Woodlawn, MD.