Apache Kafka Engineer for Long-Term Remote Contract

Job Title: Apache Kafka Engineer / Administrator – Long-Term Remote Contract (India/Pakistan Preferred)
Project Overview
We are seeking an experienced Apache Kafka Engineer to join our remote team on a long-term contract basis. The selected freelancer will support enterprise-grade data streaming, event-driven architecture, and system integration initiatives for a large-scale program. This is an excellent opportunity for skilled Kafka professionals looking for stable, ongoing remote work with strong potential for rate growth based on demonstrated performance.
Engagement Type: Long-term, Full-time (40 hours/week)
Start Date: July 2026
Location: Remote (India or Pakistan preferred)
Working Hours: Flexibility required; some overlap with US business hours expected
Compensation Structure

Months 1–2 (Evaluation Period): USD $500/month
Month 3 onwards: Increase to $750–$1,000/month based on demonstrated skills, performance, and contribution
Performance reviews conducted after the initial 60 days
Stable, long-term engagement for the right candidate

Key Responsibilities

Design, build, administer, and maintain Apache Kafka clusters across development, test, and production environments
Manage Kafka topics, partitions, brokers, replication, retention policies, and access controls
Monitor Kafka performance, availability, throughput, and latency; proactively troubleshoot issues
Perform capacity planning, tuning, upgrades, patching, and disaster recovery activities
Develop and support event streaming pipelines for real-time and near-real-time data processing
Integrate Kafka with API Gateways (APIGW), microservices, and backend systems
Implement Kafka producers, consumers, and Kafka Connect connectors for ETL and data movement
Collaborate with development teams to define event schemas, topics, and data contracts
Apply Kafka security best practices: authentication, authorization, encryption, and auditing
Document Kafka architectures, configurations, and operational procedures

Required Skills & Experience

3+ years of hands-on experience administering and developing with Apache Kafka in enterprise environments
Strong experience managing Kafka clusters, topics, partitions, and event streaming pipelines
Solid understanding of event-driven architectures, messaging patterns, and data streaming concepts
Experience integrating Kafka with microservices and API Gateways
Proficiency in Linux-based environments and command-line administration
Strong troubleshooting and performance tuning skills
Excellent written and spoken English communication
Reliable internet connection and professional remote work setup

Preferred Skills (Bonus)

Experience with AWS MSK or other managed Kafka services
Familiarity with Kafka Schema Registry
Experience with monitoring tools: Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch
Knowledge of Docker, Kubernetes, and container orchestration
CI/CD pipeline experience (Jenkins, GitLab CI, etc.)
Experience in Agile/Scrum environments
DevSecOps exposure

What We're Looking For

A self-motivated professional who can work independently with minimal supervision
Strong problem-solving mindset and attention to detail
Commitment to a long-term engagement (minimum 12 months)
Availability to start in July 2026

How to Apply
Please submit your proposal including:

A brief summary of your Kafka experience (highlight years and project scale)
2–3 specific Kafka projects you've worked on, including your role and the technologies used
Your current time zone and weekly availability
Confirmation that you accept the proposed compensation structure ($500/month for the first 2 months, with increases based on performance)
Answers to these screening questions:

How many Kafka clusters have you administered, and what was the largest scale (brokers/topics/throughput)?
Describe a complex Kafka issue you troubleshot and how you resolved it.
Have you integrated Kafka with API Gateways or microservices? Please describe.



Note: Candidates will be required to complete a short technical screening (video interview + practical questions) before being awarded the project. Only serious, long-term candidates should apply.