Senior Open Source Software Engineer (Kafka)

TL;DR

Senior Open Source Software Engineer (Kafka): Leading upstream initiatives and community engagement for Apache Kafka with an accent on broker internals, KRaft metadata management, and performance-sensitive distributed systems. Focus on driving KIP-level designs, providing binding committer reviews, and ensuring production-grade reliability for enterprise-scale data platforms.

Location: Must be based in the US (San Jose, Raleigh, Boston, or Seattle) or specified locations in Ireland (Cork) and the Netherlands (Schiphol). Role requires 3 days per week in office.

Salary: $220,000–$265,000

Company

hirify.global is a leader in intelligent data infrastructure, providing unified storage and integrated data services that empower organizations to unlock the potential of their data from AI to multicloud.

What you will do

• Lead end-to-end upstream initiatives in Apache Kafka, including KIP authoring, design consensus, and implementation.
• Provide binding committer reviews on upstream patches and community contributions to ensure high-quality standards.
• Contribute to Apache Kafka release management, including planning, blocker triage, and release candidate validation.
• Translate enterprise customer needs into credible upstream proposals and technical designs.
• Influence project decisions on architecture, protocol evolution, and long-term roadmap within the Kafka community.
• Mentor engineers toward committer standing and improve upstream infrastructure, including CI reliability and test coverage.

Requirements

• Minimum 12 years of professional software engineering experience.
• Current Apache Kafka committer status with a verifiable upstream track record.
• Expert Java engineering capability in performance-sensitive, concurrent, and production-grade distributed systems.
• Deep mastery of Apache Kafka internals in at least one major domain (e.g., broker storage, KRaft, consumer groups, Kafka Streams).
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical work through the Apache open source governance model.
• Strong written communication skills for asynchronous, global, public technical collaboration.

Nice to have

• PMC membership in Apache Kafka or a related Apache project.
• Experience connecting upstream technical leadership to enterprise customer outcomes.
• History of mentoring contributors toward reviewer or committer standing.
• Familiarity with the Kafka ecosystem, including MirrorMaker 2, Kubernetes-based operations, or Strimzi.

Culture & Benefits

• High-trust and high-accountability team culture with significant autonomy.
• Hybrid working environment designed to strengthen connection and collaboration.
• Comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, retirement plans, and performance-based incentives.
• Opportunities to work on industry-leading open source data platforms with global visibility.