Information Technology_USA - USA_System Administrator

Kafka Admin - Automation

Location: Tampa, FL / Jersey City, NJ - onsite 5 days per week

Duration: 6 months

Job Responsibilities

• Manage and administer Apache Kafka and Confluent Platform environments
• Automate infrastructure and deployment processes using IaC tools
• Deploy and manage Kafka clusters on Kubernetes/OpenShift
• Ensure high availability, scalability, and reliability of Kafka systems
• Monitor system performance and optimize cluster operations
• Implement and manage Kafka security frameworks
• Handle Kafka Connect and Schema Registry configurations
• Support disaster recovery and multi-region replication strategies
• Collaborate with DevOps, platform, and engineering teams
• Drive automation and continuous improvement initiatives

Responsibilities

• Configure and manage Kafka KRaft mode, topics, partitions, and replication factors
• Ensure cluster high availability and fault tolerance
• Monitor Kafka clusters using Prometheus, Grafana, and Confluent Control Center
• Track key metrics such as broker health, consumer lag, and producer latency
• Perform performance tuning and optimization of Kafka clusters
• Implement and automate security protocols including SSL/TLS, SASL, Kerberos, RBAC, and ACLs
• Manage certificate lifecycle and secure communication channels
• Configure and maintain Kafka Connect with connectors like S3, JDBC, and Snowflake
• Manage Schema Registry for data governance and schema evolution
• Implement disaster recovery strategies including Active-Passive clusters and Cluster Linking
• Support multi-region replication and failover mechanisms
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex Kafka and infrastructure issues
• Maintain system documentation and operational procedures
• Ensure compliance with enterprise security and operational standards

Essential Skills

• Strong experience in Apache Kafka and Confluent Kafka administration
• Hands-on experience with automation tools like Ansible, Terraform, and GitOps
• Strong knowledge of Kubernetes/OpenShift and Linux environments
• Experience with monitoring tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and JMX
• Knowledge of Kafka security including SSL, SASL, Kerberos, RBAC, and ACLs
• Experience with Kafka Connect and Schema Registry
• Strong scripting skills in Python or Shell
• Experience in performance tuning and troubleshooting
• Understanding of networking and distributed systems
• Ability to work independently and lead technical initiative

Core Skills

• Apache Kafka / Confluent Kafka
• Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible)
• Kubernetes / OpenShift
• GitOps (ArgoCD, Jenkins)
• Kafka Connect & Schema Registry
• Monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana)
• Security (SSL, SASL, Kerberos, RBAC, ACLs)
• Performance Tuning
• Disaster Recovery & Replication
• Python / Shell Scripting

Experience Required: 6-8 years or above