Confluent - Senior Software Engineer - Cloud Compute Platform

<strong>Introduction<br><br></strong>At IBM Software, we transform client challenges into solutions. Building the world’s leading AI-powered, cloud-native products that shape the future of business and society. Our legacy of innovation creates endless opportunities for IBMers to learn, grow, and make an impact on a global scale. Working in Software means joining a team fueled by curiosity and collaboration. You’ll work with diverse technologies, partners, and industries to design, develop, and deliver solutions that power digital transformation. With a culture that values innovation, growth, and continuous learning, IBM Software places you at the heart of IBM’s product and technology landscape. Here, you’ll have the tools and opportunities to advance your career while creating software that changes the world.<br><br><strong>About Confluent<br><br></strong><strong>Your role and responsibilities<br><br></strong>Confluent is pioneering a fundamentally new category of data infrastructure focused on data in motion. Have you ever found a new favorite series on Netflix, picked up groceries curbside at Walmart, or paid for something using Square? That's the power of data in motion in action—giving organizations instant access to the massive amounts of data that is constantly flowing throughout their business.At Confluent, we're building the foundational platform for this new paradigm of data infrastructure. Our cloud-native offering is designed to be the intelligent connective tissue enabling real-time data, from multiple sources, to constantly stream across the organization. With Confluent, organizations can create a central nervous system to innovate and win in a digital-first world.We're looking for self-motivated team members who crave a challenge and feel energized to roll up their sleeves and help realize Confluent's enormous potential. Chart your own path and take healthy risks as we solve big problems together. We value having diverse teams and want you to grow as we grow—whether you're just starting out in your career or managing a large team, you'll be amazed at the magnitude of your impact.<br><br><strong>About The Role<br><br></strong>As a Software Engineer on the Compute Platform team, you will be a key technical leader in building and evolving our next-generation, multi-tenant, cloud-native compute substrate that powers all of Confluent Cloud's diverse workloads. Our platform orchestrates workloads across thousands of Kubernetes clusters globally across all cloud service providers, providing a unified abstraction layer for scheduling, lifecycle management, and operational excellence. You'll work on critical systems including:<br><br><ul><li>Multi-Cluster Workload Orchestration: Build the control plane that manages workload placement, lifecycle, and state across multiple Kubernetes clusters per region</li><li>Platform APIs & Abstractions: Design and evolve APIs that provide clean abstractions for polyglot workload management across diverse compute needs</li><li>Cloud Platform Integration: Build and optimize deep integrations with the broader Confluent Cloud platform for seamless end-to-end operations</li><li>Multi-Tenancy & Security: Implement and enhance workload isolation, network policies, and secure execution environments</li><li>Observability & Operations: Drive operational excellence through monitoring integration, automated health checks, and self-healing capabilities<br><br></li></ul>As a senior technical leader, you think strategically and help drive end-to-end technical delivery from customer experience to scaling internal operations. You leverage your expertise in cloud-native distributed systems to take our platform to the next level while ensuring high availability, reliability, and security for our largest enterprise customers.<br><br><strong>What You Will Do<br><br></strong><ul><li>Own features end to end for the Compute Platform, such as multi-cluster orchestration, workload placement, and security architecture</li><li>Design and implement platform APIs and Kubernetes operators using Go to support evolving workload requirements</li><li>Deliver high-impact initiatives in areas such as workload scheduling, disruption management, network isolation, rolling update strategies, and cross-cluster resource management</li><li>Lead technical design reviews and drive architectural decisions across organizational boundaries</li><li>Mentor and grow other engineers on the team through code reviews, pairing, and technical guidance</li><li>Own operational aspects including availability, reliability, performance monitoring, emergency response, and disaster recovery for our global compute infrastructure<br><br></li></ul><strong>Preferred Education<br><br></strong>Master's Degree<br><br><strong>Required Technical And Professional Expertise<br><br></strong><ul><li>5+ years of experience delivering scalable software solutions</li><li>Proven track record of leading the delivery of large-scale, highly available, low-latency systems</li><li>Deep expertise in Kubernetes including controller development, operator patterns, and multi-cluster architectures</li><li>Strong proficiency in Go with experience building production-grade distributed systems</li><li>Experience with multi-tenant platform architectures and security isolation patterns</li><li>Track record of working collaboratively across teams including product management, SRE, and other engineering teams<br><br></li></ul><strong>Preferred Technical And Professional Experience<br><br></strong><ul><li>Experience with observability tools and operational excellence practices</li><li>Experience with multi-cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure) and cloud-provider integrations</li><li>Track record of providing technical leadership and mentorship</li><li>A smart, humble, and empathetic attitude with a strong sense of teamwork</li><li>Drive and excitement about the challenges of a fast-paced, innovative software environment</li><li>Familiarity with gRPC, Protobuf, and API design for internal platform services</li></ul>

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Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...

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