Lead, Infra Middleware

About Northern Trust: Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889. Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world's most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world's most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service. Role: Lead, Infra Middleware - Kafka Confluent MAIN DUTIES: Northern Trust Enterprise Middleware Service team seeking an experienced and highly skilled Lead Confluent Kafka Administrator to join our team on a full-time basis. The ideal candidate will lead the Kafka infrastructure, leading the design, implementation, and ongoing administration of Kafka clusters. This role involves ensuring the performance, scalability, and security of Kafka environments while collaborating with cross-functional teams to meet organizational objectives. Responsibilities: Lead the design and deployment of Kafka clusters, ensuring scalability and high availability. Manage Kafka configurations and enforce best practices for optimal performance. Establish monitoring solutions to track Kafka cluster health and optimize resource usage. Implement and manage security measures, including authentication and authorization. Develop and maintain backup and recovery procedures for Kafka data. Perform capacity planning to anticipate and address future resource requirements. Lead the response to incidents, troubleshoot issues, and coordinate with relevant teams. Implement automation scripts for routine tasks to enhance operational efficiency Maintain comprehensive documentation for Kafka configurations, procedures, and best practices. Collaborate with cross-functional teams, providing updates and aligning Kafka administration with organizational goals. Train and mentor team members on Kafka administration tasks. Plan and execute Kafka version upgrades and patch management with zero disruption. Automate platform to highest level as no-touch to servers. Implement end-to-end monitoring solutions for Kafka cluster using any vended or open-source components. Research and develop the new features to the existing infrastructure as per industry standards. SKILLS & EXPERIENCE: Qualifications: 3 years of extensive experience as a Kafka Administrator, with a strong focus on Confluent Platform. Proven experience as a Kafka Engineer with a focus on leading Kafka initiatives. Deep understanding of Kafka ecosystem, Kafka architecture, configuration, and best practices. Experience in designing and implementing Kafka clusters in both on-premise and Confluent Cloud. Proven experience leading complex Kafka implementations, including capacity planning and management. Strong knowledge of security protocols, access control, and data encryption within Kafka. Proficiency in monitoring tools and performance tuning of Kafka clusters. Scripting skills (e.g., Shell, Python) for automation of administrative tasks. Automating the Kafka platform to allow application teams to leverage their artifacts using CI/CD or Self-service capabilities. Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting skills. Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to lead technical discussions effectively. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field. Skills sets: The following are required skills: Extensive experience with Confluent Kafka admin and development. Expert knowledge of scripting (Python, Java, etc.) Knowledge/experience with GIT and CI/CD Familiarity with REST APIs Experience with Confluent Cloud a Experience with other middleware or streaming platforms a Experience with Docker, PCF, or other container platforms a Experience with ADO and Scrum a Working with Us: As a Northern Trust partner, greater achievements await. You will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability is an asset that emboldens us to explore new ideas. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to assisting the communities we serve Join a workplace with a greater purpose. We'd love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of the world's most admired and sustainable companies Build your career with us and apply today. MadeForGreater Reasonable accommodation Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at MyHRHelpntrs.com. We hope you're excited about the role and the opportunity to work with us. We value an inclusive workplace and understand flexibility means different things to different people. Apply today and talk to us about your flexible working requirements and together we can achieve greater.