Staff Engineer, Kafka Specialist

PayPal

. Own the technical roadmap and architecture for Venmo's Kafka streaming platform .

Posted 10/9/2026full-timeUnited StatesLead💰 $176,500 - $262,350 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates deep expertise in operating and scaling Apache Kafka, including architecture design, lifecycle management, and performance optimization. Proven ability to mentor engineers and collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive scalable streaming architecture decisions.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Apache Kafka ExpertiseKafka Cluster ArchitectureDisaster Recovery PlanningAWS Solutions Architect CertificationSchema Governance

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Kafka Lifecycle ManagementKafka Topic DesignProducer/Consumer DesignPython ProgrammingJava ProgrammingTerraformAWS CloudFormationAWS S3Apache SparkKafka Streams

Soft Skills

Excellent CommunicationMentoring

Tools & Technologies

AWSKafka ConnectSchema RegistryAWS DMSAWS EKSAWS Glue

Certifications & Qualifications

AWS Solutions Architect CertificationConfluent Kafka Certification

Industry Keywords

Streaming InfrastructureMulti-Tenant GovernanceHigh ThroughputHigh AvailabilityIAM-Based Authentication

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

ApacheAWSCloudJavaKafkaPythonSparkTerraform

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own the technical roadmap and architecture for Venmo's Kafka streaming platform
Set technical direction and design patterns for Kafka cluster architecture, topic design, partitioning, and multi-tenant governance
Lead Kafka lifecycle management, including cluster upgrades, capacity planning, disaster recovery, and multi-region/multi-cluster replication
Drive root-cause analysis and resolution for complex Kafka performance, reliability, and data-loss incidents
Define best practices for producer/consumer design, schema governance, Kafka Connect, and Kafka Streams
Establish engineering standards, runbooks, and operational rigor for streaming infrastructure
Mentor and provide technical guidance to senior and junior engineers
Partner with Executive, Product, Engineering, and Analytics stakeholders on scalable streaming architecture decisions
Implement tasks within the Software Development Lifecycle
Collaborate with peers, managers, and project leads; contribute to code and design reviews

Requirements

What you’ll need

5+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor's degree, OR any equivalent combination of education and experience
Bachelor's and/or Master's in Computer Science or related field of study
Deep, hands-on expertise operating and scaling Apache Kafka in production at high throughput/high availability
Knowledge of Kafka partitions, replication, ISR, controller quorum/KRaft, and consumer group rebalancing
Experience architecting Kafka topologies for multi-region resilience, disaster recovery, and zero/low-downtime upgrades
Experience securing Kafka with IAM-based authentication/authorization, including fine-grained IAM policy design
Experience with Schema Registry, schema governance, Kafka Connect, and Kafka Streams
Hands-on experience with AWS or similar cloud provider IaaS/PaaS solutions
Experience with Terraform and AWS CloudFormation
Programming and scripting experience with Python, Java, and Lambda
Experience with AWS S3, AWS DMS, AWS EKS, Apache Spark, and AWS Glue
Track record of leading technical initiatives end-to-end and influencing engineering standards across teams
Excellent communication skills for explaining complex Kafka/streaming trade-offs to technical and non-technical stakeholders
Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and raise a team's technical bar
AWS Solutions Architect certification or Confluent Kafka certification is a plus

Benefits

Comp & perks

Balanced hybrid work model: 3 days in the office and 2 days at the PayPal office or home workspace
Generous paid time off
Healthcare coverage for you and your family
Resources supporting financial security
Mental health support resources
Annual performance bonus, as applicable
Equity, as applicable
Other incentive compensation, as applicable
Reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities