Senior Software Development Manager - Confluent

Introduction

At IBM Software, we transform client challenges into solutions. Building the world's leading AI-powered, cloud-native products that shape the future of business and society. Our legacy of innovation creates endless opportunities for IBMers to learn, grow, and make an impact on a global scale. Working in Software means joining a team fueled by curiosity and collaboration. You'll work with diverse technologies, partners, and industries to design, develop, and deliver solutions that power digital transformation. With a culture that values innovation, growth, and continuous learning, IBM Software places you at the heart of IBM's product and technology landscape. Here, you'll have the tools and opportunities to advance your career while creating software that changes the world.

Your Role And Responsibilities

As a Senior Software Development Manager, you will lead a team of engineers building features, enhancing performance, and delivering high-quality Kafka releases for Confluent. You will oversee both technical delivery and people leadership, partnering closely with Architects, Product Managers, and organizational leaders. This role requires technical expertise to guide projects, navigate ambiguity, evaluate requirements, and elevate team performance. You will define the vision, coach team members, and drive cross-functional efforts to tackle complex distributed systems challenges at scale with foresight, prioritization, and a strong bias for action.

• Drive execution on complex projects, dive deep, make tradeoffs and deliver a delightful experience for our customers. Look ahead and drive the direction of the product working with the Product team.
• Lead & Mentor: Grow, coach, and nurture a high-performance team. You will be responsible for hiring, performance management, and keeping a high bar for talent. Create an environment where engineers can do their best work—through clear expectations, coaching, feedback, and career development.
• Foster Operational Excellence: Champion a strong culture of ownership and continuous improvement. You will lead effective root cause analyses and implement corrective actions to improve the security, reliability, and performance of your services.
• Collaborate & Influence: Work closely with product management, engineering leadership, and stakeholders across Confluent. You will align roadmaps and foster strong partnerships to solve complex challenges that cross organizational boundaries.
  
  

Preferred Education

Master's Degree

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• 11+ years in software development and 2+ years in an engineering management role.
• Strong understanding of systems concepts including performance characteristics, features of real time systems
• Ability to read and review code and designs in languages commonly used at Confluent (e.g., Java, Go, or similar).
• High judgement on technical directions to take, evaluate the complexity of projects and accurately estimate resources.
• Experience designing and operating resilient systems at scale, in the three major CSPs (AWS, Azure, GCP), with a proven track record of seeing around corners to reduce complexity and create critical enduring technical foundations.
• A track record of leading and nurturing high-performance teams, with strong collaboration skills and the ability to execute against complex, cross-functional roadmaps.
  
  

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

Experience on Apache Kafka.