Senior DevOps Engineer (all genders) | Data Platform

Responsibilities

We are representing a confidential e-commerce organization seeking a Senior DevOps Engineer to join their Data Platform team. In this role, you will:

• Run and own a self-hosted Apache Kafka backbone and Schema Registry end-to-end, managing ACLs, client quotas, certificates, upgrades, and disaster recovery
• Operate change data capture pipelines based on Debezium, overseeing connectors, snapshots, offsets, replica lag, and BigQuery sink loaders
• Run workloads on Kubernetes, including a self-built workflow orchestrator executing approximately 7,500 SQL and Python tasks daily, managing resources, autoscaling, and debugging
• Automate and own access management and infrastructure as code across self-hosted GitLab CI/CD pipelines, replacing manual processes with code-driven policies
• Own observability and infrastructure costs using Datadog across Kafka and sink loaders, Slack-native alerting, and maintain visibility into Kubernetes, Kafka retention, and log volume expenses
• Handle triage duties on a rotational basis (one week in three), managing ingestion and access requests, schema alerts, and supporting analysts while helping automate processes via AI-assisted review
• Act as a senior technical partner alongside senior data engineers, driving design reviews and multi-quarter initiatives, with opportunities to grow into BigQuery architecture including access frameworks, partitioning, and slot strategy
• Optional participation in 24/7 on-call rotation

What We're Looking For

• Several years of experience operating production infrastructure with personal ownership, including on-call rotation. You must be able to explain specific system failures, root causes, permanent fixes, and concrete trade-offs you've navigated with supporting data
• Deep hands-on expertise in Apache Kafka broker operations, including cluster sizing, partition rebalancing, replication, ISR behavior, and version upgrades
• Production experience operating cross-system data replication, ideally Debezium on Kafka Connect, or database replication via binlog, GTID, WAL, or agent-based pipelines
• Strong production experience with Kubernetes, resource management and autoscaling skills, and sharp debugging reflexes for complex failure scenarios
• Experience managing infrastructure and access as code across multiple environments (ideally Terraform and Ansible; Pulumi, Helm, or configuration management also valued), following strict least-privilege IAM principles, with GCP experience preferred or transferable AWS/Azure knowledge
• Production-grade Python and SQL skills with a cost-conscious approach to query performance, scanning volume, and data pruning
• Ability to thrive in a low-process, Kanban-driven environment where seniors self-organize, rotate weekly triage duties, and prefer automation over manual repetition
• Fluent English (C1 level) and comfort working in an international team environment
• Optional bonus skills: object-oriented design, data modeling/dbt, BigQuery architecture, orchestration frameworks, stream processing, or internal automation platforms

How We Work With You

Our talent team at Get A Job.ai partners with leading technology organizations to connect exceptional DevOps and data platform engineers with career-defining opportunities. When you apply through our platform, a dedicated recruiter will screen your qualifications and coordinate your submission to our client. We manage the entire introduction process professionally and confidentially. Please apply exclusively through Get A Job.ai and do not contact the client directly.

This position offers flexible remote work within Germany or the option to work from office locations in Cologne, Darmstadt, Düsseldorf, or Berlin. The role is available as a permanent contract with full-time or part-time arrangements.

Pay

Compensation details will be discussed during the screening process with our recruiting team.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Get A Job.ai is committed to inclusive recruiting practices. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of background, identity, or personal characteristics.