Senior Data Platform Developer Kafka

About the project For our client from the banking sector, we are looking for an experienced Senior Data Platform Engineer (Kafka) to join the team responsible for developing a modern data platform based on an event-driven architecture. We are looking for someone who has practical experience in building and developing solutions based on Apache Kafka, can design scalable services in a production environment, and feels comfortable at the intersection of Data Platform, Backend Development, and DevOps. The platform is a key element of the organization's data ecosystem and is responsible for integrating and processing data between multiple business systems. Scope of responsibilities: designing and developing solutions based on event-driven architecture using Apache Kafka, building and developing microservices in Java and Spring Boot, implementing solutions using Kafka Streams and kSQL, designing, developing, and maintaining Kafka Connect connectors (source/sink), defining and versioning data schemas (Avro, Protobuf, JSON Schema), integrating the platform with MongoDB, Apache Iceberg, S3, and other systems and databases, implementing data transformations using Single Message Transforms (SMT) and custom converters, developing and maintaining the API layer that exposes data for business systems, automating the configuration of topics, connectors, streams, and Kafka Streams-based applications, implementing solutions for monitoring and observability of the environment, diagnosing problems related to performance, replication, and data processing, optimizing Apache Kafka configuration, including partitioning, retention, and replication mechanisms, collaborating with Data Engineers, DevOps Engineers, and business analysts, participating in documenting solutions and sharing knowledge within the team. Requirements Must-have: minimum 5 years of commercial experience in backend development, data platforms, or integration systems, minimum 3 years of practical experience with Apache Kafka in production environments, very good knowledge of Apache Kafka, including brokers, topics, producers, consumers, logs, and replication mechanisms, practical experience with Kafka Streams and kSQL, experience in configuring and developing Kafka Connect, both ready-made and custom connectors, very good knowledge of Java and Spring Boot, experience in designing and building microservices, knowledge of Avro, Protobuf, and JSON Schema data schemas, experience working with MongoDB, practical knowledge of Prometheus, Grafana, and observability issues, knowledge of security concepts such as TLS, SASL, ACL, and data encryption, experience working with Agile methodologies (Scrum/Kanban). Nice to have: experience with GraphQL, knowledge of Apache Iceberg, knowledge of OpenTelemetry, practical knowledge of Python, experience in cloud environments, experience in automating DevOps and CI/CD processes. Tech Stack Apache Kafka | Kafka Streams | Kafka Connect | kSQL | Java | Spring Boot | MongoDB | GraphQL | Apache Iceberg | Avro | Protobuf | JSON Schema | Prometheus | Grafana | OpenTelemetry | Python