Manager of Engineering - Secure Compute Platform

Location: Remote, United States Employment Type: Full Time Department: Engineering Compensation: $252.8K - $297K - Offers Equity At Confluent, we are dedicated to offering a competitive compensation package and benefits in line with industry standards. We carefully analyze several factors to determine pay, which can vary based on your skills, qualifications, and location. Additionally, Confluent provides a comprehensive range of employee benefits. Overview At Confluent, we're not just building technology; we're transforming the landscape of data movement. Our platform enables data to flow seamlessly in near real-time, empowering companies to respond rapidly, innovate smarter, and provide agile experiences. We are looking for collaborative and curious individuals who thrive in a team-oriented environment—where personal egos are set aside for collective success. About the Role: We are searching for a hands-on engineering leader to head a dynamic, high-performing team responsible for constructing, maintaining, and expanding the essential secure compute layer of Confluent Cloud. Your mission will be to provide the critical building blocks—including isolation, identity, and networking—that ensure safe execution of untrusted code and data processing across major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, and GCP). As we broaden our product offerings, your contributions will be vital in attracting and retaining a diverse, multi-tenant customer base, which in turn will drive product adoption and overall company growth. You will play a key role in delivering platform features and a polyglot container-based runtime while maintaining exceptional quality, security, and reliability across thousands of global clusters. You will also guide architectural decisions and task prioritization to align with our long-term goals. This position will involve defining a multi-year roadmap that balances security and cost-efficiency while fostering a collaborative environment and encouraging innovation within cloud-native infrastructure. What You Will Do: Lead the strategic vision and multi-year roadmap for the Secure Compute Platform, ensuring alignment with company growth goals. Provide hands-on technical leadership in distributed systems, Kubernetes, and container technologies for secure and scalable solutions. Collaborate with Product, Security, and Cloud Infrastructure teams to establish architectural standards and deliver integrated, end-to-end solutions. Cultivate a culture of technical excellence and ownership within a diverse engineering team by leading, mentoring, and growing a team of 6-8 engineers. Pioneer the exploration and adoption of AI-driven tools and workflows to enhance team efficiency and speed. Oversee the development of critical platform components—including isolation, identity, and networking—to serve a global multi-tenant customer base. Uphold operational hygiene and observability, ensuring high performance and reliability across thousands of global clusters. Promote platform adoption and secure compute interfaces that meet the needs of developer-focused users. What You Will Bring: 10+ years of software development experience, including 3+ years in a management role. Proven experience in designing and building resilient systems using major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP), with a knack for simplifying complex architectures. In-depth expertise in creating and scaling secure, high-performance distributed systems, alongside strong proficiency in Kubernetes and container internals. Solid understanding of API governance frameworks and best practices for ensuring API consistency and security. Exceptional communication and collaboration skills to influence internal stakeholders and drive consensus. Strong track record of hiring top talent, motivating teams, and effectively managing performance. Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and prioritize tasks with an aggressive focus on delivering results. Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience. What Gives You an Edge: Experience in contributing to or maintaining foundational open-source projects within the cloud-native or distributed systems ecosystem. A proven ability to build a strong engineering community while promoting the adoption of innovative platform technologies, including AI-driven infrastructure automation. Ready to innovate together? Join us in shaping the future of data streaming. Come As You Are At Confluent, we value diversity and inclusion as fundamental components of our success. We embrace different perspectives and backgrounds, creating a space where everyone can lead, grow, and challenge the status quo. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, with employment decisions made based on job-related criteria without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected classification.

Created: 2026-03-11