Kafka Developer & Support Specialist

Position Overview

Seeking a skilled Kafka Developer (& support specialist) to join for a client engagement. This role combines development and support responsibilities, focusing on maintaining existing Kafka clusters and enhancing applications as business needs evolve.

Key Responsibilities

Kafka Cluster Management & Support

• Monitor, maintain, and optimise existing Kafka clusters to ensure high availability and performance
• Troubleshoot and resolve Kafka-related issues in production and non-production environments
• Perform regular health checks, capacity planning, and performance tuning of Kafka infrastructure
• Implement and maintain Kafka security configurations and access controls
• Support incident management and provide timely resolution for Kafka-related incidents

Development & Enhancement

• Develop and enhance Kafka-based applications using Java
• Design and implement Kafka producers, consumers, and stream processing applications
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code following best practices
• Collaborate with development teams to integrate Kafka solutions into existing applications
• Conduct code reviews and ensure adherence to coding standards
• Implement monitoring and alerting solutions for Kafka applications

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities for automation and process improvements
• Stay updated with latest Kafka features and industry best practices
• Contribute to technical documentation and knowledge sharing
• Participate in capacity planning and infrastructure scaling activities

Technical Skills

• Kafka Expertise: Strong hands-on experience with Apache/ Confluent Kafka, including:
• Kafka cluster setup, configuration, and administration
• Kafka topics, partitions, replication, and consumer groups
• Kafka Connect and Kafka Streams
• Performance tuning and troubleshooting
• Java Development: Proficient in Java programming with:
• Strong understanding of Java fundamentals and object-oriented programming
• Experience with Kafka Java client libraries
• Knowledge of multithreading and concurrent programming
• Familiarity with build tools (Maven/Gradle)
• Additional Technical Knowledge:
• Experience with message serialisation formats (like, JSON)
• Understanding of distributed systems and microservices architecture
• Knowledge of monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana, or similar)
• Familiarity with version control systems (Git)
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines is a plus

Professional Experience

• Minimum 3-5 years of hands-on experience with Apache Kafka
• Proven track record in both development and support roles
• Experience in production support and incident management
• Background in maintaining mission-critical systems