Job Specifications
Join Mizuho as a Data Platform Engineer!
We are seeking a highly skilled Kafka Platform Engineer to design, build, and operate our enterprise event-streaming platform using Red Hat AMQ Streams (Kafka on OpenShift). In this role, you will be responsible for ensuring a reliable, scalable, secure, and developer-friendly streaming ecosystem. You will work closely with application teams to define and implement event-driven integration patterns, and you will leverage GitLab and Argo CD to automate platform delivery and configuration.
This position requires a strong blend of platform engineering, DevOps practices, Kafka cluster expertise, and architectural understanding of integration/streaming patterns.
Key Responsibilities
Kafka & AMQ Streams Engineering
Design, deploy, and operate AMQ Streams (Kafka) clusters on Red Hat OpenShift.
Configure and manage Kafka components including brokers, Kraft, MirrorMaker 2,
Explore Kafka Connect, and Schema Registry concepts and implementations.
Ensure performance, reliability, scalability, and high availability of the Kafka platform.
Implement cluster monitoring, logging, and alerting using enterprise observability tools.
Manage capacity planning, partition strategies, retention policies, and performance tuning.
Integration Patterns & Architecture
Define and document standardized event-driven integration patterns, including:
Event sourcing
CQRS
Pub/sub messaging
Change data capture
Stream processing & enrichment
Request-reply over Kafka
Guide application teams on using appropriate patterns that align with enterprise architecture.
Establish best practices for schema design, topic governance, data contracts, and message lifecycle management.
Security & Governance
Implement enterprise-grade security for Kafka, including RBAC, TLS, ACLs, and authentication/authorization integration. (SSO and OAuth)
Maintain governance for topic creation, schema evolution, retention policies, and naming standards.
Ensure adherence to compliance, auditing, and data protection requirements (Encryption at Rest and flight).
Collaboration & Support
Provide platform guidance and troubleshooting expertise to development and integration teams.
Partner with architects, SREs, and developers to drive adoption of event-driven architectures.
Create documentation, runbooks, and internal knowledge-sharing materials.
CI/CD & GitOps Automation
Build and maintain GitOps workflows using Argo CD for declarative deployment of Kafka resources and platform configurations.
Develop CI/CD pipelines in GitLab, enabling automated builds, infrastructure updates, and configuration promotion across environments.
Maintain Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) repositories and templates for Kafka resources.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field.
Proven experience with Kafka administration and management.
Strong knowledge of OpenShift and container orchestration.
Proficiency in scripting languages such as Python or Bash.
Experience with monitoring and logging tools (e.g., Splunk, Prometheus, Grafana).
Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
Strong communication and collaboration skills.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with Red Hat OpenShift administration.
Knowledge of service mesh patterns (Istio, OpenShift Service Mesh).
Familiarity with stream processing frameworks (Kafka Streams, ksqlDB, Flink).
Experience using observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana).
Background working in regulated or enterprise-scale environments.
Knowledge of DevOps practices and tools (e.g., ArgoCD, Ansible, Terraform).
Knowledge of SRE Monitoring and logging tools (e.g., Splunk, Prometheus, Grafana).
The expected base salary ranges from $111k -$150k. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including relevant skills, training, experience, education, and, where applicable, certifications and licenses obtained. Market and organizational factors are also considered. In addition to salary and a generous employee benefits package, successful candidates are eligible to receive a discretionary bonus.
Other Requirements
Mizuho has in place a hybrid working program, with varying opportunities for remote work depending on the nature of the role, needs of your department, as well as local laws and regulatory obligations. Roles in some of our departments have greater in-office requirements that will be communicated to you as part of the recruitment process.
Company Overview
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. is the 15th largest bank in the world as measured by total assets of ~$2 trillion. Mizuho's 60,000 employees worldwide offer comprehensive financial services to clients in 35 countries and 800 offices throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia. Mizuho Americas is a leading provider of corporate and investment banking services to clients in the US, Canada, and Latin America. Through its acquisition of Greenhill , Mizuho provides M&A, restructuring and private capital advisory ca