Remote Java Kafka Developer

Step Into a Mission That Powers Real-Time Innovation

Can you build systems that don’t just react—but anticipate? We’re building distributed pipelines that move intelligently, not just quickly. Our platform powers global operations in fintech, retail intelligence, healthcare systems, and industrial IoT—where every data stream matters. If you're passionate about designing event-driven architectures and fluent in Java, you'll thrive here.

This role offers more than just coding. You’ll have the freedom to lead design decisions, reimagine stream processing pipelines, and own your features from conception to deployment. Join a globally distributed team that’s redefining the future of real-time data applications.

What You’ll Help Us Build

You’ll engineer scalable, fault-tolerant data pipelines using Apache Kafka at their core. Your services will form the connective tissue between upstream data producers and downstream analytics. From resilient failover to real-time message streaming, your fingerprints will be on critical features across high-impact industries.

You’ll also enhance our Kafka ecosystem—supporting millions of events per minute. That includes optimizing topic partitioning strategies, implementing efficient retry and replay mechanisms, and simplifying schema evolution processes with Avro or Protobuf. We trust you to architect systems that are not only robust but also elegant.

What Success Looks Like

First 30 Days

• Deploy a fully functional Kafka microservice to production.
• Contribute to your first architecture planning session.

Within 90 Days

• Redesign a key Kafka pipeline to reduce event processing lag by 40%.
• Implement observability dashboards using Prometheus and Grafana.

After 6 Months

• Guide the roadmap for enhancements to the Kafka ecosystem.
• Mentor junior engineers in JVM tuning and distributed system patterns.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and deploy microservices in Java that efficiently process real-time data streams.
• Architect event-driven workflows with Kafka, ensuring message durability, idempotency, and ordered delivery.
• Partner with DevOps and SRE to monitor system performance and improve reliability.
• Enhance service observability using tracing, structured logging, and metric instrumentation.
• Maintain and optimize Kafka Connect integrations for syncing data across systems.
• Participate in design reviews, code walkthroughs, and security audits.
• Lead initiatives to introduce new tooling or frameworks when justified by scale.

Tools & Technologies You’ll Use

• Languages & Frameworks: Java 17+, Spring Boot, Maven, Gradle
• Messaging: Apache Kafka (Streams, Connect, Schema Registry)
• Infrastructure: Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Helm
• Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack
• CI/CD & DevOps: GitHub Actions, Jenkins, SonarQube
• Data Stores: PostgreSQL, Redis, Cassandra, or equivalent NoSQL solutions

Our Remote Work Environment

You’ll work asynchronously and autonomously while staying closely aligned through regular checkpoints. We operate with a remote-first culture, emphasizing clarity and accountability without micromanagement.

Communication happens across Slack, Notion, and Zoom—combined with deep focus blocks protected from distraction. Our engineering culture prizes ownership, curiosity, and candor.

You’ll engage cross-functionally with designers, PMs, and analysts. When a new product feature is proposed, your role is to make sure the backend ecosystem can support it at scale—with stability and performance in mind.

What Makes You a Strong Fit

Engineering Mindset

• You design for failure—ensuring graceful degradation under load.
• You’ve explored the internals of Kafka consumers and understand how to manage consumer lag.
• You think in terms of events, not just API calls, and advocate for an event-first design.
• You believe technical debt should be addressed early, not deferred.

Communication & Leadership

• You simplify distributed computing concepts for non-engineering audiences.
• You can defend architectural decisions with clarity and empathy.
• You provide actionable code review feedback and help elevate the team’s standards.

Core Requirements

• 5+ years of Java development experience with Spring Boot
• 3+ years designing and maintaining Kafka-based systems in production
• Experience with distributed system design, event sourcing, and microservice orchestration
• Understanding of multithreading, JVM tuning, and garbage collection
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes deployments and Helm charts
• Familiarity with schema evolution and serialization frameworks (Avro/Protobuf)

Perks & Compensation

• Fully remote with flexible hours that respect work-life balance
• Annual salary of $145,000
• Generous learning stipend for courses, certifications, and conferences
• Paid time off, wellness days, and recharge weeks
• Opportunities for advancement through technical leadership or management tracks
• An inclusive culture that prioritizes psychological safety and career longevity

Why This Role Matters

In today’s world, real-time data is more than a luxury—it’s a necessity. Your work will power the insights behind financial transactions, smart city traffic flows, personalized recommendations, and more. You won’t just be building systems—you’ll be shaping how industries react to the moment.

Our product roadmap is ambitious, and our technical landscape is modern and up-to-date. If you're excited by the challenges of data velocity, global scalability, and meaningful impact—this is your place.

Let’s Build What Matters

If you’re ready to own outcomes, champion high performance, and mentor the next wave of Kafka specialists, we’re ready to meet you. Let’s build something purposeful together—apply today.