Lead Cloudera Consultant

Job#: 3020482

Job Description:

Job Title: Lead Cloudera Consultant (Solution Architect)

Type: Contract through July 2026, potential to extend

Location: United States

Schedule: 100% remote

Lead Cloudera Streaming Architect (CDP | NiFi | Kafka | Flink | Kudu | SSB)
About the Role

We are seeking a Lead Cloudera Streaming Architect with deep, hands-on experience across the Cloudera CDP streaming stack, including NiFi, Kafka, Flink, Kudu/Impala, and SQL Stream Builder (SSB). This is a highly technical, architecture-plus-implementation role responsible for designing, delivering, and optimizing mission-critical real-time data pipelines at enterprise scale.

If you have personally built end-to-end CDP/CDF streaming pipelines and can execute complex ingestion, transformation, CDC, and Kudu write-path use cases on day one - this role is for you.
What You'll Do
Streaming Architecture & Implementation

• Architect and build real-time data pipelines using the full Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) streaming suite:
• NiFi Kafka Flink Kudu/Impala SSB
• Own architectural decisions, patterns, and best practices for streaming, CDC, state management, schema evolution, and exactly-once delivery.
• Develop complex NiFi flows involving controller services (DBCP/JDBC), stateful processors, record processors, schema registry integrations, batch-to-stream conversions, and high-volume ingestion patterns.
• Build and optimize Flink SQL or DataStream API jobs with:
• ? Kafka sources/sinks
• ? event-time windows
• ? watermarks
• ? state management
• ? checkpointing / savepoints
• ? exactly-once guarantees
• Design and tune Kudu tables (PKs, partitioning, distribution, upserts, deletes, merges).
• Build and deploy streaming SQL jobs using Cloudera SQL Stream Builder (SSB).

Use Case Delivery

You must be able to deliver the following four core use cases immediately:

NiFi Snowflake Impala/Kudu ingestion pipeline

Kafka Flink streaming (real-time processing)

Flink Kafka sink with exactly-once semantics

CDC ingestion via NiFi, Flink CDC, or SSB (incremental keys, late events, deletes)

Optimization, Monitoring & Governance

• Tune NiFi, Kafka, and Flink clusters for performance, throughput, and stability.
• Implement schema governance, error handling, back-pressure strategies, and replay mechanisms.
• Work closely with platform engineers to optimize CDP components and CDF deployments.
• Provide architectural guidance, documentation, and mentorship to engineering teams.

Required Experience

You must have hands-on, production-grade experience with ALL of the following:
Cloudera CDP / CDF

• CDP Public Cloud or Private Cloud Base
• Cloudera Flow Management (NiFi + NiFi Registry)
• Cloudera Streams Messaging (Kafka, SMM)
• Cloudera Stream Processing (Flink, SSB)
• Kudu / Impala ecosystem

Apache NiFi (Advanced)

• Building complex flows (not just admin/ops)
• QueryDatabaseTable / GenerateTableFetch / MergeRecord
• Record-based processors & schema registry
• JDBC / DBCP controller services
• Stateful processors & incremental ingestion
• NiFi Snowflake integration
• NiFi Kudu ingestion patterns

Apache Kafka

• Kafka brokers, partitions, retention, replication, consumer groups
• Schema registry (Avro/JSON)
• Designing topics for high-throughput streaming

Apache Flink

• Flink SQL + DataStream API
• Event-time processing, watermarks, windows
• Checkpointing, savepoints, state backends
• Kafka source/sink connectors
• Exactly-once semantics
• Flink CDC a plus

Apache Kudu

• Table design (PKs, partition strategies)
• Upserts, deletes, merge semantics
• Integration with Impala

SQL Stream Builder (SSB)

• Creating jobs, connectors, materialized views
• Deploying and monitoring Flink SQL jobs in CDP

CDC (Change Data Capture)

• CDC via NiFi or Flink CDC or SSB
• Handling late-arriving events
• Handling deletes, updates, schema evolution
• Incremental key tracking

General Requirements

• 8+ years in data engineering / streaming
• 3-5+ years specifically with CDP/CDF streaming
• Strong SQL and distributed system fundamentals
• Experience in financial services, healthcare, telecom, or other high-volume industries preferred

Nice to Have

• Kubernetes experience running NiFi/Kafka/Flink operators
• Snowflake ingestion patterns (staging, Copy Into)
• Experience with Debezium
• CI/CD for data pipelines
• Security (Kerberos, Ranger, Atlas)

What Success Looks Like

In the first 90 days, you will:

• Deliver at least two of the four required streaming use cases end-to-end
• Establish architectural patterns for NiFi, Flink, and Kudu pipelines
• Optimize one existing pipeline for throughput, latency, and reliability
• Become the subject-matter expert for Data in Motion on CDP

Apply If You Can Demonstrate

• You have personally built NiFi Kafka Flink Kudu pipelines
• You understand event-time processing and exactly-once delivery
• You have designed Kudu tables and worked with Impala
• You have authored and deployed SSB SQL streaming jobs
• You can speak to real-world CDC implementations

EEO Employer

Apex Systems is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate or allow discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, genetic information, registered domestic partner status, marital status, disability, status as a crime victim, protected veteran status, political affiliation, union membership, or any other characteristic protected by law. Apex will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law. If you have visited our website in search of information on employment opportunities or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation in using our website for a search or application, please contact our Employee Services Department at or .

Apex Systems is a world-class IT services company that serves thousands of clients across the globe. When you join Apex, you become part of a team that values innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. We offer quality career resources, training, certifications, development opportunities, and a comprehensive benefits package. Our commitment to excellence is reflected in many awards, including ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing in Talent Satisfaction in the United States and Great Place to Work in the United Kingdom and Mexico. Apex uses a virtual recruiter as part of the application process. Click for more details.

Apex Benefits Overview: Apex offers a range of supplemental benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and other insurance plans that offer an optional layer of financial protection. We offer an ESPP (employee stock purchase program) and a 401K program which allows you to contribute typically within 30 days of starting, with a company match after 12 months of tenure. Apex also offers a HSA (Health Savings Account on the HDHP plan), a SupportLinc Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with up to 8 free counseling sessions, a corporate discount savings program and other discounts. In terms of professional development, Apex hosts an on-demand training program, provides access to certification prep and a library of technical and leadership courses/books/seminars once you have 6+ months of tenure, and certification discounts and other perks to associations that include CompTIA and IIBA. Apex has a dedicated customer service team for our Consultants that can address questions around benefits and other resources, as well as a certified Career Coach. You can access a full list of our benefits, programs, support teams and resources within our 'Welcome Packet' as well, which an Apex team member can provide.