TRCI-26-04346
Platform Engineer (Kafka/Strimzi & HiveMQ on AKS)
Contract Platform Engineer to build, operate, and continuously improve enterprise messaging/integration platforms used by multiple teams. The focus is platform-level administration and automation of multi-cluster/multi-region Apache Kafka (Strimzi on Kubernetes/AKS) and HiveMQ, including upgrades/patching with zero downtime, security (ACLs, SASL, mTLS, RBAC, OAuth/OIDC integration), observability (Prometheus/Grafana/Splunk/Fluent Bit), DR/replication, and Tier 3 troubleshooting (consumer lag, rebalances, network bottlenecks). You’ll also support developer self-service and CI/CD/IaC practices (GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, Helm, Terraform) and advise Java/Spring Boot teams on Kafka client best practices.
Position summary
- Location
- Sweden
- Workplace
- On-site
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- Minimum 5 years and Maximum 10 years
Role overview
Why This Role Matters.
Contract Platform Engineer to build, operate, and continuously improve enterprise messaging/integration platforms used by multiple teams. The focus is platform-level administration and automation of multi-cluster/multi-region Apache Kafka (Strimzi on Kubernetes/AKS) and HiveMQ, including upgrades/patching with zero downtime, security (ACLs, SASL, mTLS, RBAC, OAuth/OIDC integration), observability (Prometheus/Grafana/Splunk/Fluent Bit), DR/replication, and Tier 3 troubleshooting (consumer lag, rebalances, network bottlenecks). You’ll also support developer self-service and CI/CD/IaC practices (GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, Helm, Terraform) and advise Java/Spring Boot teams on Kafka client best practices.
Your Impact
Deliver Enterprise Value
Help organisations solve complex business problems through modern technology, consulting expertise and measurable outcomes.
Collaboration
Work Across Teams
Collaborate with consultants, architects, engineers and client stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.
Growth
Learn Continuously
Gain exposure to enterprise technologies, certifications, mentoring and real-world project experience.
Career Path
Grow With Ubique
Build a long-term consulting career with opportunities to take on greater responsibility and leadership over time.
Responsibilities
What You'll Be Doing.
Every role at Ubique contributes directly to solving meaningful business challenges for our clients.
Design, deploy, and maintain multi-cluster, multi-region Apache Kafka environments managed by the Strimzi Operator or similar on Kubernetes, as well as enterprise HiveMQ MQTT brokers.
Drive the platform upgrade lifecycle (minor and major versions) for Kafka, Strimzi, and HiveMQ, coordinating platform patching cadences seamlessly to mitigate CVEs with zero application downtime.
Develop and maintain custom Kafka Connectors (Source/Sink) for seamless data movement between legacy systems and the cloud.
Formulate and implement scaling strategies, node affinity rules, topology spread constraints, and persistent volume management optimized for IOPS-intensive message workloads.
Manage Kafka broker partition layouts, topic compaction configurations, segment retention behaviors, and cluster-wide resource allocation.
Enforce data governance standards through the management of Schema Registries (Avro, Protobuf, JSON Schema).
Architect edge traffic routing to messaging clusters using advanced ingress layers, translating complex routing policies and managing edge capabilities like Envoy Gateway or custom proxies.
Enforce data governance boundaries by implementing Kafka ACLs, SASL authentication structures, and integrating API Managers for authentication intercept handles (e.g., managing OAuth/OIDC validation paths)
Build and maintain deep observability pipelines using Prometheus and Grafana, configuring custom dashboards to monitor critical broker KPIs
Formulate proactive alerting rules to catch cluster anomalies—such as KubeNodeNotReady, JVM memory degradation, disk capacity thresholds, or storage detached states—before they impact production workloads.
Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for platform outages and implement automated guardrails to prevent recurrence.
Technology stack
Tools & Technologies.
The platforms and technologies you'll use to build modern, enterprise-grade solutions.
Apache Kafka
Strimzi
Kafka Connect
KRaft
HiveMQ
MQTT
Kubernetes
AKS
Azure Kubernetes Service
Java
Spring Boot
PostgreSQL
Linux
GitHub Actions
Jenkins
ArgoCD
Helm
Terraform
Prometheus
Grafana
Requirements
Skills & Experience.
We value curiosity, collaboration and continuous learning. If you don't meet every requirement but believe you can make an impact, we'd still love to hear from you.
Essential
Required Qualifications
Apache Kafka (platform operations: clusters, performance, security)
Strimzi Operator (or similar) on Kubernetes
Kafka Connect API; building/maintaining custom source/sink connectors
KRaft (Kafka without ZooKeeper)
HiveMQ (enterprise MQTT broker) administration
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
Kubernetes operations (multi-cluster/multi-region, scheduling/affinity, PV/storage)
Java
Spring Boot
PostgreSQL
Linux
CI/CD (GitHub Actions and/or Jenkins)
ArgoCD
Helm
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or equivalent)
Observability: Prometheus and Grafana
Logging/telemetry: Splunk; Fluent Bit or OpenTelemetry
Kafka security: ACLs, SASL (incl. SCRAM), SSL/mTLS, RBAC
Schema Registry governance (Avro/Protobuf/JSON Schema)
Troubleshooting Kafka issues (consumer lag, rebalance loops, network bottlenecks) and RCA
Preferred
Nice to Have
API Management (APIM) platforms
Cloud experience beyond AKS (Azure/AWS/Google Cloud)
Cloud cost optimization
Experience in large enterprise integration departments
Swedish language
What you'll gain
More Than Just A Job.
We're committed to helping every team member grow professionally, personally and technically while working on meaningful projects.
Global Exposure
Collaborate with international clients and multicultural teams on enterprise programmes.
Continuous Learning
Expand your expertise through mentoring, certifications and hands-on project experience.
Career Growth
Take ownership, develop leadership skills and grow your consulting career over time.
Flexible Working
Hybrid and remote collaboration designed around trust and delivering exceptional outcomes.
People First
Join a supportive culture where collaboration, respect and long-term relationships come first.
Enterprise Projects
Work on meaningful technology initiatives for leading organisations across industries.
Apply
Apply for Platform Engineer (Kafka/Strimzi & HiveMQ on AKS)
One page, about two minutes. We only ask for what we actually need to have a first conversation.