Engineering Manager, Connect

We’re not just building better tech. We’re rewriting how data moves and what the world can do with it. With Confluent, data doesn’t sit still. Our platform puts information in motion, streaming in near real-time so companies can react faster, build smarter, and deliver experiences as dynamic as the world around them.

It takes a certain kind of person to join this team. Those who ask hard questions, give honest feedback, and show up for each other. No egos, no solo acts. Just smart, curious humans pushing toward something bigger, together.

One Confluent. One Team. One Data Streaming Platform.

About the Role:

We are looking for an Engineering Manager to lead a critical team within the Connect organization. This team builds and operates Confluent connectors that integrate with major cloud providers such as AWS, GCP and Azure, along with a wide range of data systems including databases, object stores and SaaS platforms.

As customers increasingly rely on fully managed Confluent connectors to move data into and out of Kafka, this team sits at the center of that experience, owning reliability, scalability and ease of use across a growing ecosystem of integrations.

This role is suited for an engineering manager who enjoys staying close to technology while growing their impact. You will lead a team of 6 to 10 engineers, drive execution across initiatives and contribute to the roadmap with product and engineering leadership. We are looking for someone thoughtful, pragmatic and collaborative, comfortable with ambiguity, invested in team growth and motivated to build scalable systems for real world data challenges.

What You Will Do:

• Own execution for the Connect engineering team and deliver high quality connectors and platform improvements

• Lead, coach and grow a team of 6 to 10 engineers while building a culture of ownership and continuous improvement

• Work closely with product management and senior engineering leaders to contribute to roadmap planning and technical direction

• Drive improvements in connector reliability, performance and operational excellence across cloud environments

• Stay close to system design and architecture and step in hands on when needed to guide or unblock the team

• Help evolve shared frameworks, tooling and development patterns so that building new connectors becomes faster and more consistent

• Collaborate with SRE and support teams to improve observability, on call experience and overall operational health

• Explore and introduce AI assisted engineering practices to improve developer productivity and workflows

• Balance delivery of new features with investments in technical debt, scalability and long term maintainability

What You Will Bring:

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3 years in an engineering management or tech leadership role

• Strong foundation in distributed systems, data platforms or integration systems such as pipelines, messaging systems or connectors

• Experience delivering and operating production systems, along with exposure to managing multiple parallel workstreams

• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP or Azure and the broader data ecosystem

• Ability to work effectively with cross functional teams and influence outcomes through collaboration

• Experience hiring, mentoring and growing engineers at different levels

• Strong execution skills with the ability to prioritize, make tradeoffs and deliver iteratively

• Interest in improving engineering productivity, including the use of modern tooling such as AI assisted workflows

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent experience

What Gives You an Edge:

• Experience with Apache Kafka or Confluent connectors

• Experience building or operating connectors or data integration systems

• Familiarity with Kubernetes or cloud native systems

• Experience with Java or other JVM based technologies

• Exposure to stream processing technologies such as Kafka Streams or Flink

• Contributions to open source projects

Ready to build what's next? Let’s get in motion.

Come As You Are

Belonging isn’t a perk here. It’s the baseline. We work across time zones and backgrounds, knowing the best ideas come from different perspectives. And we make space for everyone to lead, grow, and challenge what’s possible.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Employment decisions are based on job-related criteria, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other classification protected by law.

Privacy Statement

Confluent is an IBM subsidiary which has been acquired by IBM and will be integrated into the IBM organization. By proceeding with this application, you understand that Confluent will share your personal information with other IBM affiliates involved in your recruitment process, wherever these are located. More Information on how IBM protects your personal information, including the safeguards in case of cross-border data transfer, are available here.