Systems Engineer - Expert

Responsibilities

• Design and implement secure Kafka architectures, including authentication, authorization, encryption, and network isolation; define and support high‑availability, disaster‑recovery, and data‑replication strategies aligned with enterprise security, compliance, and governance standards.
• Advise on data ingestion, event streaming, batch and stream processing architectures; provide guidance on data modeling and serialization standards (Avro, Protobuf, JSON Schema); support enterprise integration use cases and resolve complex Kafka‑related integration challenges.
• Design and build AI agents, custom skills, or equivalent frameworks to automate engineering and operational workflows at scale; leverage AI‑powered tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, AI agents) to accelerate development, automate testing, improve code quality, and enable intelligent SDLC workflows; design agentic workflows and multi‑agent orchestration patterns for distributed systems and operational challenges.
• Drive automation‑first operations using Python, Ansible, and scripting; build and maintain self‑service operational tools to reduce day‑to‑day support overhead; integrate Kafka platform operations with DevOps and CI/CD tooling (e.g., Azure, Jenkins, Puppet, Chef).
• Lead deep‑dive investigations into complex production issues and outages; perform root‑cause analysis, document findings, and drive remediation to closure; operate effectively in high‑pressure outage and incident‑management scenarios.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor to client engineering, operations, and leadership teams; communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders; demonstrate strong customer focus, ownership, and on‑shore engagement; collaborate with cross‑functional teams and vendors.

Required Experience & Skills

• 10+ years of experience in distributed systems, messaging, and enterprise platform engineering.
• Extensive hands‑on experience with Confluent Kafka Platform (both on‑prem and cloud).
• Strong background in Linux/Unix environments, networking, OS performance, and security.
• Proven experience with automation, DevOps, and operational tooling.
• Experience leveraging AI‑powered tools to accelerate development and improve team productivity and efficiency.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organizational, relationship‑management, and teamwork skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Confluent Kafka and/or cloud certifications.
• Prior experience supporting large‑scale, regulated enterprise environments.

Pay

$72 – $75 per hour

Schedule

9 am to 6 pm, 4 days per week on‑site in Austin, Texas

Benefits

• Medical, prescription, dental, vision, AD&D, and life insurance offerings.
• Short‑term disability.
• 401(k) plan (subject to eligibility).

Location: Austin, Texas

Job type: Contract

Education: Bachelor’s degree