Product Engineering Specialist - Kafka

Who we are:

ShorePoint is a fast-growing, industry recognized and award-winning cybersecurity services firm with a focus on high-profile, high-threat, private and public-sector customers who demand experience and proven security models to protect their data. ShorePoint subscribes to a "work hard, play hard" mentality and celebrates individual and company successes. We are passionate about our mission and going above and beyond to deliver for our customers. We are equally passionate about an environment that supports creativity, accountability, diversity, inclusion and a focus on giving back to our community.

The Perks:

As recognized members of the Cyber Elite, we work together in partnership to defend our nation's critical infrastructure while building meaningful and exciting career development opportunities in a culture tailored to the individuals technical and professional growth. We are committed to the belief that our team members do their best work when they are happy and well cared for. In support of this philosophy, we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including major carriers for health care providers. Highlighted benefits offered: 18 days of PTO, 11 holidays, 85% of insurance premium covered, 401k, continued education, certifications maintenance and reimbursement and more.

Who we're looking for:

We are seeking a Product Engineering Specialist - Kafka with deep expertise in Kafka to design and optimize scalable data streaming architectures. The ideal candidate will apply strong engineering, troubleshooting, and architectural skills to support high-throughput cybersecurity data processing. The Product Engineering Specialist-Kafka role focuses on building resilient Kafka environments, improving performance, and supporting cloud-based data streaming solutions. This is a unique opportunity to shape the growth, development and culture of an exciting and fast-growing company in the cybersecurity market.

What you'll be doing:

• Design, implement, and optimize Kafka-based data streaming architectures for cybersecurity data collection and processing.
• Develop and maintain Kafka clusters to ensure high availability, fault tolerance, and scalability.
• Configure and tune Kafka for optimal performance, including partitioning, replication, and consumer group strategies.
• Collaborate with integration engineers to design and implement efficient data pipelines from data sources through Kafka into downstream platforms.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies including backlog grooming, demos, and retrospectives.
• Provide expertise on Kafka security features including encryption, authentication, and authorization.
• Conduct capacity planning and performance testing for Kafka deployments.
• Troubleshoot complex issues in Kafka systems.
• Develop and maintain documentation for Kafka configurations, best practices, and troubleshooting procedures.

What you need to know:

• Strong experience with Kafka and other distributed, big data, or data streaming technologies.
• In-depth knowledge of Kafka functionality and operational workflows.
• Ability to install, maintain, and troubleshoot Kafka clusters.
• Understanding of data serialization formats and schema management.
• Ability to design secure configurations and access controls for shared Kafka deployments.
• Excellent troubleshooting, communication, and interpersonal skills.

Must have's:

• 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Proven ability to analyze complex requirements and translate them into clear, actionable tasks and processes through critical thinking.
• Ability to design, build, and maintain message configurations and flows in high-throughput, low-latency environments.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to analyze issues in Kafka and other complex distributed systems.
• Experience documenting tests and presenting findings.
• Demonstrated ability to apply critical thinking to translate undefined tasks into actionable work streams.
• Experience deploying Kafka in cloud-based environments (AWS preferred; Azure and GCP also acceptable).
• Proven ability to write documentation and communicate effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Familiarity with containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience operating and monitoring large-scale production clusters.
• Applicants must be a U.S. citizen in compliance with federal contract requirements.

Beneficial to have:

• Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or a related field.
• Experience with configuration management tools such as Ansible or Helm.
• Proficiency in Java or Python for developing Kafka-related applications and tools.
• Experience providing technical guidance or mentorship to team members.
• Industry recognized certifications.

Where it's done:

• Remote (Herndon, VA).