Kafka Consultant

Kafka Consultant (Freelance) – 5 months – Brussels, Belgium

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About the Role

We are seeking a Kafka Consultant for a high-impact, five-month freelance mission with our client in Brussels. As a recognized expert, you will assess, optimize, and operationalize a mission-critical Kafka infrastructure, ensuring it becomes the backbone of scalable, event-driven architectures. Your work will directly empower teams to deliver robust, future-proof data solutions.

Why This Role Matters

Our client’s business depends on real-time, reliable data flows. As Kafka Consultant, you will solve complex challenges around scalability, governance, and high availability — enabling seamless microservices integration and unlocking new levels of operational excellence. Your expertise will drive the transformation of data architecture, ensuring the platform is secure, resilient, and ready for tomorrow’s demands.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Assess and optimize the existing Kafka infrastructure, identifying opportunities for performance and reliability improvements


• Design and architect data flows, integrating Kafka as the core of microservices and Change Data Capture (CDC) strategies


• Develop and optimize data pipelines, configuring topics, partitions, and retention policies for maximum efficiency


• Operationalize Kafka procedures, ensuring seamless deployment and maintenance


• Evaluate and enhance the architecture of existing Kafka Connect connectors


• Implement and fine-tune monitoring tools (such as Grafana) to ensure high availability and rapid troubleshooting


• Establish robust troubleshooting and incident response procedures


• Secure data exchanges using TLS, SASL, and ACL best practices


• Transfer knowledge and deliver targeted training to the technical team, empowering them for ongoing success

What We’re Looking For

• Deep mastery of the Apache Kafka ecosystem (Broker, KRaft, Schema Registry)


• Hands-on experience with Kafka Streams and Kafka Connect


• Proven expertise in containerization technologies (Strimzi, Confluent, etc.)


• Strong understanding of distributed architectures, microservices, and event-driven processing


• Practical knowledge of Ansible for automation and deployment


• Experience with monitoring tools, especially Grafana


• Analytical, problem-solving mindset with a passion for building resilient systems


• Significant experience deploying and optimizing Kafka platforms in production environments


• Optional: Familiarity with streaming data stacks (Iceberg, Spark, Flink, etc.)

Technical Skills

• Apache Kafka (Expert)


• Kafka Streams, Kafka Connect


• Containerization: Strimzi, Confluent


• Distributed Systems & Microservices


• Ansible


• Grafana


• Security: TLS, SASL, ACL


• Optional: Iceberg, Spark, Flink

Language Proficiency

• Professional proficiency in English required


• French or Dutch is a plus

Other Requirements

• Partial remote work possible; on-site presence in Brussels required as needed


• Freelance contract for 5 months


• Application Architect (Expert) profile preferred


• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments is an advantage