Senior Software Engineer (Confluent Kafka)

Location: Remote within Germany, with some travel required based on business demand. On-call responsibilities may apply.

Company

IBM Watson develops enterprise software, hybrid cloud, and AI and data platform solutions for global organizations.

What you will do

• Design and implement backend systems for the Tableflow metadata layer, including metadata management, schema handling, and lifecycle coordination.
• Build integrations with Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, catalog services, and related ecosystem platforms.
• Own technical areas end to end, from architecture and implementation through rollout, operations, and continuous improvement.
• Improve scalability, performance, availability, and resiliency in multi-tenant cloud environments.
• Collaborate with product management and engineering teams to integrate features into the Confluent Cloud platform.
• Drive observability, automation, incident response, root-cause analysis, testing, documentation, and mentorship.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and 5–8 years of professional software engineering experience.
• Experience building and operating large-scale database, distributed, infrastructure, or data platform systems.
• Experience developing services on public cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Strong Java Core programming skills or expertise in a similar backend or systems language.
• Experience debugging complex production issues and improving service reliability.
• Ability to independently take ambiguous technical problems from definition to production-ready solutions.

Nice to have

• Experience with Apache Kafka and real-time data infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience with Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, or related open table technologies.
• Experience with metadata services, storage systems, query systems, or database-adjacent platforms.
• Open-source contributions or interest in technical writing, conference speaking, or developer community activities.

Culture & Benefits

• Remote work arrangement within Germany.
• Opportunities for continuous learning, career development, and technical growth.
• Collaborative environment focused on innovation, feedback, inclusion, and personal responsibility.
• Regular interaction with diverse technologies, partners, and engineering teams.