Software Engineering Senior Software Engineer - Confluent Cloud Traffic Professional

Responsibilities

To realize Confluent’s enormous potential, we are looking for software engineers, at various levels, to grow our Traffic team which is responsible for building and managing the networking fabric of Confluent Cloud. Cloud networking is a strategic investment area for Confluent with the potential to impact the company’s top and bottom line. The data plane area in the Traffic team focuses on the performance, security, reliability, and cost optimizations for all traffic that ingresses and egresses a customer’s Kafka cluster on Confluent Cloud.

We are looking for someone with an interest in building large‑scale distributed systems, with a focus on building and managing network data planes for containerized workloads in the cloud. The ideal candidate would be passionate about network data plane performance, scale, cost optimizations, and building robust software.

Build the software underpinning the mission‑critical Confluent Cloud network data plane platform. You will play a crucial role in designing, developing and operationalizing high performance, scalable, reliable and resilient systems.

Independently drive execution of software projects to deliver complex projects in production with a focus on quality.

Build upon open source software to deliver business impact.

Troubleshoot issues and improve ops for complex technical stack that spans all the 3 clouds and includes microservices, containers, and virtualization.

We are also offering flexible working location options: this job can be performed from anywhere in the US.

Bachelor’s Degree

Master’s Degree

• BS, MS, or PhD in computer science or a related field, or equivalent work experience
• 5+ years of relevant cloud infrastructure/cloud networking experience
• Strong fundamentals in distributed systems design and development
• Experience building and operating large‑scale systems
• Solid understanding of basic systems operations (disk, network, operating systems, etc)
• A self‑starter with the ability to work effectively in teams
• Proficiency in C++, Go, Python, or other statically typed languages
• Experience/knowledge with public clouds (AWS, Azure or GCP)

• Experience with Kubernetes Networking
• Experience with Envoy proxy
• Experience with Linux kernel networking, eBPF is a huge plus
• A strong networking background combined with your software engineering experience

• Healthcare benefits including medical & prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, and mental health & well‑being
• Financial programs such as 401(k), cash balance pension plan, the IBM Employee Stock Purchase Plan, financial counseling, life insurance, short & long‑term disability coverage, and opportunities for performance based salary incentive programs
• Generous paid time off including 12 holidays, minimum 56 hours sick time, 120 hours vacation, 12 weeks parental bonding leave in accordance with IBM Policy, and other Paid Care Leave programs. IBM also offers paid family leave benefits to eligible employees where required by applicable law
• Training and educational resources on our personalized, AI‑driven learning platform where IBMers can grow skills and obtain industry‑recognized certifications to achieve their career goals
• Diverse and inclusive employee resource groups, giving & volunteer opportunities, and discounts on retail products, services & experiences
• We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.

IBM is proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.