Solutions Architect, Professional Services

Role: Solutions Architect, Professional Services
Location: Multiple Locations (TX, NC, GA, FL, AZ, MA, DC, VA, OH, TN, CO, NJ, NY, CA)  

Job Description:

Role Summary
The Solutions Architect (SA) works directly with customers to design, implement, and operationalize event streaming architectures on Confluent, leveraging deep expertise in Apache Kafka, Confluent Platform/Cloud, and adjacent data systems. SAs lead the technical workstreams of services engagements, help customers overcome complex integration and operational challenges, and act as trusted advisors who drive successful adoption of Confluent’s Data in Motion platform.

Key Responsibilities
Customer Architecture & Design
-        Lead architecture and design of event streaming solutions using Confluent and Apache Kafka, including data pipelines, integration patterns, and platform services.
-        Translate customer business requirements into scalable, secure, and resilient technical designs aligned to Confluent best practices and the Data in Motion blueprint.
-        Define reference architectures, data flows, and interaction models with surrounding systems (databases, analytics platforms, SaaS, and legacy systems).

Delivery & Implementation

-        Own core technical activities for small to large projects, including foundation builds, migrations, and unification programs.
-        Guide customers through installation, configuration, performance tuning, security, and observability of Confluent-based solutions.
-        Anticipate technical risks, propose mitigations, and ensure solutions meet reliability, performance, and compliance requirements.
-        Collaborate with Engagement Managers and project leads to validate scope, estimates, and delivery plans for technical workstreams.

Customer Advocacy, Best Practices & Enablement
-        Help customers overcome implementation and integration challenges, sharing pragmatic guidance and patterns learned across engagements.
-        Develop and share best practices for architecture, operations, and development on Confluent, including re-usable artifacts (diagrams, runbooks, code snippets, accelerators).
-        Provide hands-on enablement to customer teams through design sessions, pair-working, code reviews, and knowledge transfer workshops.

Thought Leadership & Community
-        Contribute to Confluent’s technical thought leadership through internal and external activities such as case studies, whitepapers, blog posts, talks, and meetups.
-        Act as a subject matter expert for specific use cases, verticals, or platform capabilities, helping shape offerings and reusable solutions.

Cross-Functional Collaboration
-        Partner with Product and Engineering by providing structured product feedback and representing customer needs and field insights.  
-        Work closely with Engagement Managers, Resident SAs, Field Engineers, and Advisory Architects to deliver cohesive customer outcomes.
-        Support Sales and Customer Success in scoping and positioning complex services engagements, including effort estimates and technical delivery approaches.

Required Qualifications

-        Strong hands-on experience with Apache Kafka and/or Confluent Platform/Cloud, including topics, partitions, consumer groups, and stream processing concepts.
-        Solid background in distributed systems, data platforms, or big data technologies (e.g., Hadoop, Spark, NoSQL, or similar).
-        Demonstrated success in a customer-facing technical role (Solutions Architect, Consulting Engineer, or similar) delivering complex projects with enterprise clients.
-        Proficiency in at least one general-purpose programming language (e.g., Java, C#, or similar) for building integrations and tooling.
-        Strong communication skills, able to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and business stakeholders and adapt to diverse audiences.
-        Proven ability to work independently, coordinate with distributed teams, and lead technical workstreams to successful completion.


Preferred Qualifications

-        Experience designing and operating cloud-native streaming architectures on one or more major clouds (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform).
-        Familiarity with security, governance, and compliance considerations in highly regulated industries (e.g., financial services, healthcare, public sector).
-        Prior work in a Professional Services or Consulting environment, including billable project delivery and engagement-based work.
-        Contributions to open source, technical blogs, conference talks, or community events related to Kafka, streaming, or data platforms.

Role Leveling
Within the Professional Services & Education career framework, Solutions Architect roles span Associate to Principal across multiple levels (L2–L6), with increasing expectations around:

-        Technical depth and breadth across event streaming and adjacent domains.
-        Ownership of complexity and scope (from single-workstream implementations to multi-project, high-criticality programs).
-        Influence and impact, from individual delivery contributions to regional and global practice development and thought leadership.