Confluent Consultant (Kafka & Data Streaming Specialist) - Contract - Melbourne

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field.
  


• 5+ years hands-on experience with Apache Kafka / Confluent Platform
  


• Architecture & Design: Define topic strategy (naming, partitions, RF, retention/compaction), idempotency/ordering; size and configure Confluent clusters; plan DR using Cluster Linking; leverage Tiered Storage as needed.
  


• Build & Integration: Implement/tune producers & consumers; design Kafka Connect integrations (managed/self‑managed connectors, REST/File/JDBC/CDC); use Schema Registry for contracts and compatibility; optional ksqlDB for stream transformations.
  


• Security & Compliance: Enforce RBAC, API keys/service accounts, mTLS/OAuth/OIDC; manage secrets; implement encryption in transit/rest; align retention, PII handling, and audit. Support private networking (VPC peering/PrivateLink) in Confluent Cloud.
  


• Observability & Operations: Set up Control Centre dashboards/alerts (lag, throughput, error rates, connector health); create run books for DLQ triage, replay, offset resets, connector/broker incidents; capacity planning and performance testing.
  


• Delivery & Governance: Produce HLD/LLD, participate in design reviews, release/cutover plans, DR drills, and knowledge transfer.
  

• Confluent Certified Developer/Administrator
  


• Experience with stream governance, RBAC, and tiered storage
  


• Background in data engineering, ETL, or micro services architecture
  


• Familiarity with traditional messaging systems and data warehouses
  


• Experience in Agile methodologies and DevOps practices
  

• Architecture & Design: Define topic strategy (naming, partitions, RF, retention/compaction), idempotency/ordering; size and configure Confluent clusters; plan DR using Cluster Linking; leverage Tiered Storage as needed.
  


• Build & Integration: Implement/tune producers & consumers; design Kafka Connect integrations (managed/self‑managed connectors, REST/File/JDBC/CDC); use Schema Registry for contracts and compatibility; optional ksqlDB for stream transformations.
  


• Security & Compliance: Enforce RBAC, API keys/service accounts, mTLS/OAuth/OIDC; manage secrets; implement encryption in transit/rest; align retention, PII handling, and audit. Support private networking (VPC peering/PrivateLink) in Confluent Cloud.
  


• Observability & Operations: Set up Control Centre dashboards/alerts (lag, throughput, error rates, connector health); create run books for DLQ triage, replay, offset resets, connector/broker incidents; capacity planning and performance testing.
  


• Delivery & Governance: Produce HLD/LLD, participate in design reviews, release/cutover plans, DR drills, and knowledge transfer.