Lead Kafka Engineer – Data Pipelines

Position: Lead Kafka Engineer – Real-Time Data Pipelines

IT Specialist (APPSW) Kafka Engineer positions are being filled through the Office of Personnel Management's delegated Direct Hire Authority, open to all U.S. citizens. Selections made under this bulletin will be processed as new appointments to the civil service. Current civil service employees would, therefore, be given new appointments to the civil service. Under the provisions of the Direct Hire Authority, Veterans Preference and the "Rule of Many" do not apply.

Resumes exceeding two pages in length will not be considered, please visit the new resume guidance for more information.

Duties

• Design, develop, and maintain robust Kafka-based applications and data pipelines that support SSA's business operations, including the real-time or near-real-time data to AI/ML models.
• Collaborate with development, operations, and infrastructure teams to deliver reliable, scalable, and high-performing Kafka solutions.
• Ensure the availability, reliability, and performance of Kafka clusters and related systems.
• Work closely with architects, data engineers, and stakeholders to define requirements and deliver solutions.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues in Kafka applications, ensuring minimal downtime and optimal performance.
• Document code, design decisions, processes, configurations, and best practices for future reference and team knowledge sharing.
• Mentor junior developers and share Kafka expertise, fostering a culture of learning and growth.
• Stay current with the latest Kafka releases, features, and ecosystem advancements.
• Perform statistical analysis to monitor team performance, improve processes, and ensure customer satisfaction.
• Define and set SLAs for projects, ensuring high standards of service delivery.

READ ALL SECTIONS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IN ITS ENTIRETY. THIS INFORMATION IS CRUCIAL TO SUBMITTING A SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION.

Applicants must qualify for the series and grade of the posted position.
Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate. Your resume must provide sufficient experience and/or education, knowledge, skills, abilities, and proficiency of any required competencies to perform the specific position for which you are applying.

To qualify for the 2210 IT Specialist series, the applicant must demonstrate the following competencies:

• Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
• Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; know about available products and services;
  
  and is committed to providing quality products and services.
• Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
• Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Minimum Qualifications:
Grade

14
To qualify at the GS-14 level, you must have specialized experience at the GS-13 level, or equivalent, designing, developing, and maintaining scalable, fault-tolerant data pipelines using Apache Kafka; managing and administering Kafka clusters throughout the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), including upgrades and patching; leading large-scale projects, serving as a Product Owner or Agile/Scrum team lead; demonstrating strong programming skills in Java, with Python experience as a plus;

utilizing Kafka APIs (Producer, Consumer, Streams, Connect) for event-driven and microservices-based solutions;…