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Senior Kafka Developer Jobs in Kansas (NOW HIRING)

We leverage AWS, Kubernetes, Kafka, Aerospike, and other modern tools and databases. We are a ... Execute on roadmap milestones defined with Product and senior engineering leadership; break ...

Cloud Solutions Architect

Olathe, KS · On-site

$150 - $210/hr

Serves as a mentor to less experienced IT Software Engineers (Software Engineers 1, 2, & Senior ... Experience with Kubernetes, Public Cloud solution (Azure/AWS), RabbitMQ, Kafka, Cassandra, MySQL

Showing results 41-43

Senior Kafka Developer information

What does a senior Kafka developer do?

A Senior Kafka Developer is responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining systems that use Apache Kafka for real-time data streaming and processing. They work on building scalable data pipelines, integrating Kafka with other systems, and ensuring high availability and performance. Additionally, they often provide technical leadership, mentor junior developers, and help define best practices for event-driven architectures within an organization.

What are some common challenges senior Kafka developers face when managing large-scale data streaming pipelines?

Senior Kafka Developers often encounter challenges such as ensuring data consistency across distributed systems, optimizing Kafka cluster performance, and monitoring for bottlenecks or data loss. Managing schema evolution and handling message serialization can also be complex, particularly in environments with multiple producers and consumers. Collaborating closely with DevOps, data engineering, and application development teams is essential to proactively address these issues and maintain high system reliability.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a senior Kafka developer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Senior Kafka Developer, you need deep expertise in distributed systems, stream processing, and strong programming skills in languages like Java or Scala, typically backed by a relevant degree and significant experience with Apache Kafka. Familiarity with Kafka Connect, Schema Registry, monitoring tools, and cloud platforms, as well as certifications like Confluent Certified Developer, are highly valuable. Exceptional problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills help you design scalable solutions and work effectively with cross-functional teams. These skills ensure the reliability, performance, and scalability of critical data infrastructure that powers real-time business operations.

What is the difference between Senior Kafka Developer vs Kafka Engineer?

AspectSenior Kafka DeveloperKafka Engineer
Primary FocusDesigning, developing, and optimizing Kafka-based applicationsImplementing, maintaining, and scaling Kafka infrastructure
Required SkillsKafka API, Java/Scala, data streaming conceptsKafka setup, cluster management, performance tuning
CertificationsKafka certifications, Java certificationsKafka certifications, DevOps certifications
Work EnvironmentDevelopment teams, data engineering projectsOperations, infrastructure teams, cloud environments

While both roles require Kafka knowledge and related certifications, Senior Kafka Developers focus on application development and data integration, whereas Kafka Engineers concentrate on infrastructure, deployment, and system performance. The roles often collaborate but serve different aspects of Kafka implementation within organizations.

What are popular job titles related to Senior Kafka Developer jobs in Kansas?

For Senior Kafka Developer jobs in Kansas, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Senior Kafka Developer jobs in Kansas look for?

The top searched job categories for Senior Kafka Developer jobs in Kansas are:

What cities in Kansas are hiring for Senior Kafka Developer jobs?

Cities in Kansas with the most Senior Kafka Developer job openings:

Infographic showing various Senior Kafka Developer job openings in Kansas as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Contract. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution.

Engineering Manager II, Creatives

StackAdapt

Remote

Full-time

Re-posted 17 days ago


Job description

About the Team:

The Creative team manages all aspects of the creatives pipeline at StackAdapt, from serving creatives on bid requests to dynamic creative selection, creative approval and audit workflows, and applying complex business rules. We interact with several downstream services and stakeholders, including Bidding, Data Science, and Product.

Our systems are built in Golang and handle millions of requests per second with an SLA of 100ms. We leverage AWS, Kubernetes, Kafka, Aerospike, and other modern tools and databases. We are a software services team, not a data engineering team.

Watch our talk at Amazon Tech Talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRqu-a4gPuU

StackAdapt is a Remote First company; we are open to candidates located anywhere in Canada or the United States for this position.

 What You'll Be Doing:
  • Lead a team of backend engineers who own the creative pipeline, supporting their day-to-day execution and removing blockers so the team ships reliably.
  • Execute on roadmap milestones defined with Product and senior engineering leadership; break initiatives down into well-scoped sprints and track delivery, flagging risks and delays to stakeholders early.
  • Run the team's agile rituals (stand-ups, planning, retros) and continuously monitor sprint health - velocity, workload balance - to prevent burnout and keep commitments realistic.
  • Conduct regular 1:1s, give timely tactical feedback, build psychological safety, and support engineers in executing on their growth plans; surface performance concerns to leadership early.
  • Stay close to the technology: participate in code reviews and architecture discussions, uphold coding and testing standards, and help the team make sound, scalable component-level design decisions.
  • Coordinate with peer teams (Bidding, Data Science, Product) on immediate cross-team dependencies affecting creative serving and selection.
  • Participate in incident resolution and support the team's on-call rotation; ensure production issues are followed through to root cause.
  • Participate in interviews and provide hiring feedback; help onboard new team members smoothly.
  • Encourage adoption of approved AI tooling (code generation, debugging, documentation) to raise team velocity.
  • Model StackAdapt's values in daily work and foster a culture of trust, transparency, and technical excellence.
What You'll Bring to the Table
  • Experience in adtech or martech, experience with (and not exclusively to) creative serving in a programmatic advertising space, understanding of different advertising channels and how they work together to serve creatives to users.
  • Experience with Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO), and ad markup and rendering.
  • 1+ years of people management experience, or 2+ years as a tech lead / mentor for a backend team, with a desire to grow into a career manager.
  • 5+ years of backend development experience in distributed systems, microservices, and high-throughput, low-latency services.
  • Proficiency in at least one backend language (Golang preferred; Java, Kotlin, C++, Rust, or similar).
  • A hands-on leadership style - comfortable reviewing code, debating architecture, and diving into production incidents alongside the team.
  • Strong grasp of computer science fundamentals, data structures, and algorithms.
  • Working knowledge of modern development methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) and a track record of delivering on committed milestones.
  • Clear, transparent communication with both technical teams and non-technical stakeholders (Product, Project Management).
  • Hands-on experience with our stack.

Nice to Have: 

  • Frontend development experience, understanding of web technologies and how creatives are served and rendered in the browser, and frontend device.
  • Experience operating systems under global compliance and privacy frameworks.