As a Senior Software Engineer on the Confluent Cloud Traffic team in Research Triangle Park, you will play a pivotal role in developing and maintaining scalable solutions for managing traffic within our cloud infrastructure. Your day-to-day responsibilities include designing robust systems to handle high-volume data streams, implementing efficient algorithms to optimize network performance, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration of new features. You will work extensively with technologies such as Apache Kafka, Kubernetes, and Docker, leveraging Java or Python for backend development. This role requires expertise in distributed systems, microservices architecture, and cloud-native solutions, as well as a deep understanding of network protocols and traffic management. Your contributions will significantly impact the reliability and scalability of our Confluent Cloud platform, addressing critical business needs at an enterprise level.