Kafka Engineer

Day to Day Job Duties: (what this person will do on a daily/weekly basis) Design end-to-end architecture for scalable, secure, resilient enterprise applications using Java, Spring Boot, microservices, APIs, and event-driven patterns. Lead cloud-native application modernization and migration initiatives across AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud, including containerization and platform transformation. Define solution blueprints, integration patterns, data flows, non-functional requirements, and architecture standards aligned with enterprise technology and security guidelines. Architect and integrate AI-enabled capabilities such as generative AI, intelligent agents, retrieval-augmented generation, prompt workflows, and enterprise knowledge assistants. Evaluate and select appropriate cloud services, AI models, frameworks, vector databases, and integration technologies based on scalability, latency, security, cost, and business requirements. Collaborate with product owners, business stakeholders, enterprise architects, developers, data teams, DevOps, infrastructure, and cybersecurity teams throughout the delivery lifecycle. Provide technical leadership to engineering teams through design reviews, code reviews, proof-of-concept development, troubleshooting, performance optimization, and mentoring. Ensure solutions incorporate security, privacy, responsible AI, observability, high availability, disaster recovery, and regulatory compliance requirements. Define CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, deployment, monitoring, logging, and production support approaches for cloud-based Java and AI applications. Support technical estimations, proposal development, architecture presentations, vendor evaluations, risk identification, and delivery planning.

Basic Qualifications: (what are the skills required to this job with minimum years of experience on each) Minimum 12+ years of experience in software engineering, application architecture, or solution architecture, including at least 5+ years designing enterprise-scale solutions. Minimum 8+ years of hands-on experience with Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, microservices, distributed systems, and enterprise integration patterns. Minimum 4+ years of experience designing and delivering solutions on AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud using cloud-native services. Minimum 3+ years of experience with Docker, Kubernetes or OpenShift, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and DevOps practices. Minimum 2+ years of experience designing or integrating AI solutions using large language models, generative AI, AI agents, RAG, embeddings, prompt engineering, or vector databases. Strong experience with Kafka or other messaging platforms, API gateways, relational and NoSQL databases, caching, and event-driven architecture. Experience with AI platforms or frameworks such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, LangChain, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel, or equivalent technologies. Strong knowledge of application security and identity standards including OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JWT, IAM, encryption, and role-based access controls. Demonstrated ability to communicate complex architecture concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders and lead cross-functional engineering teams.

Degree: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.

Must have skillset: Experience with Python and AI application development using FastAPI, Flask, or similar frameworks. Experience building enterprise AI assistants, autonomous or semi-autonomous agents, and knowledge-based applications. Familiarity with model evaluation, hallucination and bias testing, AI governance, model monitoring, and MLOps practices. Experience with Snowflake, Databricks, data lakes, streaming platforms, or modern enterprise data architectures. Experience in financial services, retirement services, wealth management, insurance, or another highly regulated industry. Cloud architecture, Java, Kubernetes, or AI-related professional certifications. Pre-sales, consulting, proposal development, estimation, and client presentation experience.

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