Principal Engineer, Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (MSK)

As a Principal Engineer on the MSK team you will define the technical vision for MSK across its full stack from core Kafka broker internals and tiered storage architecture to MSK Serverless MSK Connect MSK Replicator and deep integrations across the AWS ecosystem. You will work backwards from customers to translate their requirements into durable technical direction that benefits every MSK customer. This role requires both the technical depth to redefine what Apache Kafka can do at hyperscale and the organizational breadth to shape how Amazon builds distributed systems. You will set technical strategy raise the engineering bar across the team and drive innovation in the open-source Apache Kafka community.

Key job responsibilities


* Define multi-year technical roadmap for MSK service portfolio (Provisioned Serverless Connect Replicator) aligned with customer needs and AWS strategy
* Drive architectural decisions for distributed systems operating at hyperscale including durability availability performance and cost optimization
* Lead cross-service integration initiatives to make MSK a first-class citizen across AWS analytics AI/ML and data services
* Represent MSK in the Apache Kafka community through contributions to core project participation in governance and technical evangelism
* Mentor and develop senior engineers through design reviews technical guidance and raising the bar on system design and operational excellence
* Work directly with strategic customers to understand requirements validate technical approaches and ensure MSK meets mission-critical use cases
* Establish engineering standards for the team including operational excellence practices testing strategies and performance benchmarking
* Drive innovation in streaming data infrastructure identifying emerging customer needs and translating them into technical solutions



About the team
Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (MSK) is one of AWSs fastest-growing analytics services a fully managed platform that powers real-time data infrastructure for organizations ranging from crypto exchanges to electric vehicle manufacturers from global banks to sports technology companies. MSK enables customers like Rivian to stream real-time analytics from electric vehicles Coinbase to achieve 95% latency reductions for mission-critical financial services and Goldman Sachs to architect entire transaction banking platforms. The streaming data landscape is evolving rapidly: generative AI workloads demand sub-millisecond event pipelines global financial institutions need multi-region zero-downtime data buses with enterprise-grade security and the explosion of IoT and autonomous systems is rewriting assumptions about throughput and durability.

Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science or a related field.



* Open-source leadership: Active contributions to Apache Kafka or other Apache streaming and data processing projects (Flink Spark Storm Pulsar)
* Stream processing expertise: Hands-on experience with Apache Flink Apache Spark Streaming or similar frameworks
* Mission-critical systems: Experience building real-time systems with strict latency and throughput SLAs in domains like financial services cryptocurrency autonomous systems or high-scale SaaS observability
* AWS experience: Deep familiarity with AWS services and cloud-native architectures particularly in analytics storage or compute domains
* Technical evangelism: Conference talks published papers blog posts or open-source work that has shaped the streaming data community
* Customer engagement: Experience working directly with enterprise customers on technical architecture and solution design
* Operational excellence at scale: Track record of building systems with high availability (99.99%) automated recovery and minimal operational overhead
* Cross-functional leadership: Experience leading initiatives that span multiple engineering teams product managers and business stakeholders



Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status disability or other legally protected status.

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The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience qualifications and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical dental vision prescription Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans EAP Mental Health Support Medical Advice Line Flexible Spending Accounts Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage) 401(k) matching paid time off and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at WA Seattle - 200100.00 - 270600.00 USD annually