We’re not just building better tech. We’re rewriting how data moves and what the world can do with it. With Confluent, data doesn’t sit still. Our platform puts information in motion, streaming in near real-time so companies can react faster, build smarter, and deliver experiences as dynamic as the world around them.
It takes a certain kind of person to join this team. Those who ask hard questions, give honest feedback, and show up for each other. No egos, no solo acts. Just smart, curious humans pushing toward something bigger, together.
One Confluent. One Team. One Data Streaming Platform.
About the Role:As a Staff Product Manager in the Cloud Kafka team at Confluent, you’ll contribute to the mission of building the world’s best event streaming platform.
We are seeking an experienced and strategic Product Manager to lead the vision, strategy, and execution for our Kafka Operator experience. This role is critical to simplifying the deployment, management, and scaling of Confluent Cloud Kafka environments for our enterprise customers. The ideal candidate has a strong technical background in cloud systems, familiarity with the Apache Kafka ecosystem, and a proven track record of delivering successful developer and operator-focused products.
Key responsibilities include defining and owning the product strategy and vision for the Cloud Kafka Operator, conducting market research and competitive analysis, translating strategic objectives into comprehensive product and user experience requirements, collaborating with Engineering, UX/UI Design, Documentation, Support, and Field teams throughout the product lifecycle, and working with Product marketing to define and execute go-to-market.
What You Will Do:You’ll be responsible for the success of major product initiatives, from initial conception and customer development to growth strategy. You’ll become the trusted resource for your product, making sure that the engineering, design, sales, and marketing have what they need to make the right trade-offs, build the right product, and grow it successfully in the market.
What You Will Bring:Minimum 8 years of experience as a software product manager, ideally for a developer product
Empathy for our enterprise customers, and a passion for solving their problems with the software
Ability to craft a product strategy and roadmap in concert with customers, engineering, design, and go-to-market teams
Excellent communication skills, including the ability to distill technical concepts to a non-technical audience
Strong technical competency, especially with distributed data systems, public and private clouds, and stream processing
Experience with data sharing technologies is a plus
Experience engaging with an open-source community is a plus
Bachelor's, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Computer Science or related technical field
Belonging isn’t a perk here. It’s the baseline. We work across time zones and backgrounds, knowing the best ideas come from different perspectives. And we make space for everyone to lead, grow, and challenge what’s possible.
We’re proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Employment decisions are based on job-related criteria, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other classification protected by law.
Privacy StatementConfluent is an IBM subsidiary which has been acquired by IBM and will be integrated into the IBM organization. By proceeding with this application, you understand that Confluent will share your personal information with other IBM affiliates involved in your recruitment process, wherever these are located. More Information on how IBM protects your personal information, including the safeguards in case of cross-border data transfer, are available here.
Skills Required
- Minimum 5 years of experience as a software product manager
- Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Computer Science or related technical field
- Strong technical competency, especially with distributed data systems
Confluent Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Confluent and has not been reviewed or approved by Confluent.
-
Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is positioned as competitive to market-leading for engineering, product, and senior go-to-market roles, with broad satisfaction signals across much of the company. Compensation is framed as a structured package spanning base salary plus variable pay and equity components.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity participation via RSUs is repeatedly described as a meaningful part of total rewards, often cited as a generous contributor to overall package strength. Refresher grants and ongoing equity awards are also highlighted as part of the ownership proposition.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-away programs are presented as comprehensive, including flexible/unlimited PTO, volunteer time off, and periodic company-wide recharge days. Philanthropy programs such as donation matching further broaden the non-cash rewards experience.
Confluent Insights
What We Do
Your data shouldn’t be a problem to manage. It should be your superpower. The Confluent data streaming platform transforms organizations with trustworthy, real-time data that seamlessly spans your entire environment and powers innovation across every use case. Create smarter, deploy faster, and maximize efficiency with a true data streaming platform from the pioneers in data streaming. Learn more at confluent.io.
Why Work With Us
At Confluent, we’re not just building better tech, we’re rewriting how data moves. No egos, no solo acts - just smart, curious people pushing toward something bigger, together. Belonging isn’t a perk here. It’s the baseline. Work from anywhere. Build with everyone. One Confluent. One team. whole new way of making data flow.
Gallery
