Senior Engineering Manager

**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 engineering manager, you will lead a team of engineers building features, enhancing performance and help deliver high quality Kafka releases for Confluent. You will be responsible for both people leadership and technical delivery, partnering closely with Architects, Product and Organization Leaders. This role requires technical expertise to guide the projects, able to deal with ambiguity and make the right decisions, grow the team to the next level, have good communication skills, understand the project designs and evaluate the project requirements. The role requires the ability to "see around corners" to reduce complexity and build enduring technical foundations. A strong bias for action and excellent prioritization skills. What You Will Do * 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. **Required technical and professional expertise** * Experience * 15+ years of experience in software development, including 5+ years in an Engineering Management role. Technical Expertise * Strong understanding of distributed systems concepts, including performance characteristics and real-time system features. * Ability to read, review, and provide technical guidance on code and system designs in languages commonly used at Confluent, such as Java, Go, Kotlin, or similar. * Demonstrated ability to make high-quality technical decisions, evaluate project complexity, and accurately estimate required resources and timelines. * Deep expertise with Apache Kafka and/or other large-scale event-streaming platforms such as Apache Pulsar and Apache Flink, particularly within cloud-based environments. Leadership * Proven track record of building, leading, and developing high-performing engineering teams. * Strong collaboration and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to drive execution across complex, cross-functional initiatives and roadmaps. * Experience fostering a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement. **Preferred technical and professional experience** * Real-Time Streaming Platforms knowledge (Kafka, Pulsar, Flink) * High Availability, Replication, and Fault-Tolerant Systems IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, caste, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, veteran status, or other characteristics. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.