Overview
Skills
Job Details
Location work will be performed: MNO001 - Eagan - 2825 Lone Oak Pkwy
Job Title: IT - Solutions Architect IV
Job Description: Job Title: Architect; Open-Source Software (OSS) Kafka (SME)
Location: Remote/Eagan, MN
Summary
Client CIO Architecture, Strategy & Innovation (CASI) is responsible to assist Vice President of Information Technology (IT) design, develop, maintain, support, and translate corporate business vision and strategy along with stakeholder input into objectives for building, enhancing, or replacing business and IT systems capabilities, together with an implementation of a comprehensive IT roadmap, all-the-while maintaining resilience to change as a key architectural and strategy objective for the enterprise. In the fast-paced world of IT, agility and responsiveness to the frequently occurring changes in direction are a must, even while moving continuously forward implementing elements of the Postmaster General s Delivering for America 10-year plan.
To support the client s mission, projects, and system requirements, the client requires sophisticated information technology systems support services by experienced professionals. The CASI team demonstrates leadership by evaluating and driving implementation of innovative solutions for technology infrastructure and application architecture.
Description
Experience and knowledge of OSS architectures and OSS governance including implementation of OSS architectures with capability to collaborate with internal and external entities on OSS initiatives and issues. In-depth knowledge and extensive experience in architecting, developing and contributing open-source software to publicly available open-source projects in compliance with the OSS licenses.
Leverages the best practices of continuous foresight, innovation and futurism to continuously test business models and strategies, and determine how to adjust either or both to become resilient and future-fit. Requires a bachelor's degree at a minimum in a related or specialized skills+E88 for this labor category (OSS) and demonstrated OSS architecture experience.
Ensures that architecture projects meet security standards and are effectively integrated with current applications on-time. The position requires staying on top of the latest industry trends, championing new technologies for the system architecture as well as developing cost-effective and actionable recommendations.
Works on advanced, complex, strategic business and technology projects requiring state of the art technical or industry knowledge. Works autonomously. Provide support to the leadership role of the work group through knowledge in the area of business, industry and technology specialization. Experience delivering presentations to senior-level executives and technical audiences.
- Chosen resource must demonstrate these capabilities through actual work experience not merely training:
o Hands-on experience designing and implementing kafka event streaming capabilities in applications and infrastructure across hybrid multi-cloud environments.
o Experience producing IT technical artifacts, with an emphasis on kafka event streams, including design documents, architecture diagrams, architecture assessments, white papers, test plans, requirements mapping, and implementation plans.
o In-depth knowledge of design principles and inner workings of kafka implementations and applicable use cases for migrating applications from legacy style to modern style with the use of Event Streams and Async APIs.
o Demonstrable knowledge of Apache Kafka, Confluent Platform, Confluent Cloud.
o Demonstrable knowledge of Apache Strimzi, Confluent for Kubernetes.
o Demonstrable knowledge of Cloud services with Kafka API compatibility (e.g. Azure Event Hub, Amazon MSK).
o Demonstrable knowledge of Confluent Schema Registry and serialization using JSON and AVRO schemas.
o Demonstrable knowledge of kafka replication options including Mirror Maker, Confluent Cluster Linking and Schema Linking.
o Demonstrable knowledge of Confluent Identity Mgmt and RBAC, integrated/federated with enterprise IDP & role management.
o Demonstrable knowledge of Kafka Client APIs (Producer, Consumer, Streams).
o Demonstrable knowledge of Kafka Connect and Connectors (e.g. JDBC, Cassandra, Google BigQuery, Websphere MQ, etc).
o Demonstrable knowledge of sizing and capacity planning for kafka clusters.
o Demonstrable knowledge of kafka topic partitioning strategies including partition key design strategies.
- Chosen resource should exhibit through actual work experience not merely training:
o Desirable: integrating kafka event streams with Agentic AI workflows.
o Using design patterns for building scalable and maintainable applications/solutions.
o Clearly document code, models, and technical solutions.
o Proficiency in Generative AI and prompt engineering.
o Continuous learning and adaptability in a very large IT organization
o Communicating complex technical concepts to both technical and executive stakeholders.
o Troubleshooting software and technical implementations in large-scale enterprise ecosystems.
o Understanding of concepts like CI/CD, containerization, and deployment strategies for kafka components in large-scale production environments.
o Querying and managing data in both SQL and NoSQL databases.
o Proficiency creating technical diagrams with products like Microsoft Visio or Draw.io.
o Proficiency creating technical design and architecture documents in Microsoft Word.
o Proficiency creating business and technical presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint.
o Proficiency creating data representations, charts and reports in tools such as Microsoft s Excel worksheets and Power BI.
- Tasks might include (neither exhaustive nor restrictive):
o Analysis support to integrate new kafka cluster and event stream requirements into established large-scale, production enterprise architectures.
o Conduct Design and Architecture assessments and provide written recommendations for integrating kafka event streams within an application domain or enterprise event brokering.
o Troubleshoot production kafka event streams and software integration issues as top tier internal support, including review of performance issues and proposing resolutions.
o Conduct research and provide written reviews of kafka ecosystem best practices and innovative strategies for hybrid multi-cloud high availability.
o Conduct proof of concept activities and build prototypes for kafka technology stack components in sandbox environments to assess new capabilities.
o Define and implement standards and patterns for kafka ecosystem life cycle, test-driven protection schemes, and automated implementation strategies.
o Devise strategies and roadmaps for enterprise expansion of kafka ecosystem capabilities, integrations, and governance.
o Strategy and compliance reviews and recommendations for enterprise kafka ecosystem elements which may include the following: architecture frameworks, databases, network, web and application architecture resources, backup and recovery, high availability, disaster recovery, patch management and analytics.
Education:
A minimum of thirteen (13) to twenty (20) years relevant experience.
o A degree from an accredited College/University in the applicable field of services is preferred. four additional years of relevant experience in lieu of a college degree is required. If the individual's degree is not in the applicable field then four additional years of related experience is required.
Additional Provisions
- Pass both a client mandated clearance process to include drug screening, criminal history check and credit check.
- Once a candidate s resume is approved and interview passed, the agency is responsible for providing drug screening. Failure to submit the drug screening results will delay the security clearance process.
- If a candidate is given an interim clearance, continuation of employment is then based on the candidate receiving a sensitive clearance.
- Candidate must have lived in the US for the past 5 years.
- Cannot have more than 6 months travel outside the United States within the last five years. Military Service excluded. (Exception does not include military family members.)
- All overtime must be pre-approved in writing by the client manager or his/her designated representative.
- Agency will not be reimbursed for overtime charges without previous written authorization. Authorized overtime will be reimbursed at straight time