[Hiring] Senior Open Source Software Engineer @NetApp, Inc.

Role Description

Are you an Apache Kafka committer who wants to operate at the highest level of technical and community influence? This role connects deep upstream work, including binding committer authority, KIP-level design, and protocol-aware engineering, directly to production-scale outcomes in enterprise Kafka deployments.

As a Senior Open Source Software Engineer, your responsibilities will include:

• Lead end-to-end upstream initiatives in Apache Kafka, from KIP authoring and design consensus through implementation, review, and release.
• Domains of focus include:
  • Broker internals
  • Storage and log management
  • Replication
  • KRaft metadata quorum
  • Consumer group coordination
  • Kafka Streams
  • Kafka Connect
  • Observability
  • Release quality
• Provide binding committer reviews on upstream patches and community contributions.
• Contribute to Apache Kafka release management as part of the committer community.
• Translate enterprise customer and operator needs into credible upstream proposals and KIP-level designs.
• Shape community direction through evidence-based participation in relevant Kafka community channels.
• Mentor engineers toward committer standing and raise overall contribution quality.
• Improve upstream infrastructure, including CI reliability, test coverage, contributor tooling, benchmarking, release automation, and compatibility validation.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 12 years of applicable professional software engineering experience.
• Current Apache Kafka committer status with a sustained and publicly verifiable upstream track record.
• Expert Java engineering capability in performance-sensitive, concurrent, and production-grade distributed systems.
• Deep mastery of Apache Kafka internals in at least one major domain.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical work through the Apache open source governance model.
• Strong written communication for asynchronous, global, public technical collaboration.
• Proven senior-level technical judgment that resolves most blockers independently.

Requirements

• PMC membership in Apache Kafka or a related Apache project (preferred).
• Track record of work in current Kafka feature and maintenance areas.
• Experience connecting upstream technical leadership to enterprise customer and operator outcomes.
• History of mentoring contributors toward reviewer or committer standing in an open governance project.
• Familiarity with the Kafka ecosystem and adjacent open source projects.

Benefits

• Health Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Retirement or Pension Plans
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Various Leave options
• Performance-Based Incentives
• Employee stock purchase plan
• Restricted stocks (RSUs)

Company Description

NetApp Instaclustr runs one of the industry's largest managed open source data platform portfolios, including Apache Kafka services for enterprise customers across financial services, retail, and technology sectors.

The team culture is high-trust and high-accountability, supporting engineers who can go deep technically, mentor others generously, and collaborate across product and field functions.