At a Glance
- Tasks: Join our team to manage Kafka operations and build data pipelines for AI and analytics.
- Company: Verifone, a leader in global payment solutions with a focus on innovation.
- Benefits: Competitive pay, remote work options, mentorship, and funded certifications.
- Other info: Dynamic environment with clear career progression and exposure to multiple technologies.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on billions of transactions while growing your tech skills.
- Qualifications: Experience with Kafka, scripting, and cloud infrastructure is essential.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.
Verifone is seeking a Kafka DevOps Engineer to join our Platform Engineering team. This is an operations-first role with a strong emphasis on scripting, automation, and pipeline development. You’ll be hands-on with day-to-day Kafka operations, reliability, tuning, and high availability for payment gateway solutions that process billions of transactions annually on-prem and in AWS Cloud. Beyond keeping the lights on, you’ll play a key role in building the data pipelines—of which Kafka is a core component—that power Verifone’s new AI, machine-learning, and analytics initiatives. You’ll also be part of an active effort to migrate Kafka and related services to Kubernetes, giving you hands-on experience with a meaningful infrastructure modernization project. The technology footprint is broad: Redis, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Snowflake, and more—so you’ll grow well beyond a single-technology niche.
Key Responsibilities:
- Kafka Operations & Reliability: Manage and support Apache Kafka clusters (including MSK), Kafka Connect ecosystem, and KSQL for high-throughput, fault-tolerant messaging and event-streaming pipelines. Monitor system health, set up alerts, and drive incident response and root cause analysis (RCA). Handle day-to-day operational tasks including offset management, lag monitoring, consumer group management, and cluster rebalancing. Perform routine cluster maintenance: upgrades, configuration changes, scaling, and health checks.
- Scripting, Automation & DevOps: Develop and manage automation scripts using Python and Shell scripting to reduce manual toil and improve operational efficiency. Design, implement, and maintain robust CI/CD pipelines for patching automation. Build and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or similar. Containerize and orchestrate workloads using Docker and Kubernetes, with the opportunity to help migrate Kafka and related services to Kubernetes.
- Data Pipeline Development: Build and optimize end-to-end data pipelines, with Kafka as a core streaming component alongside batch and ETL processes, enabling new AI, ML, and analytics use cases. Collaborate with development teams to implement best practices for data flow, security, scalability, and performance. Continuously identify and implement improvements to the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
- Cloud & Infrastructure: Manage cloud infrastructure on AWS (VMs, networking, storage, IAM, etc.). Support cloud migration tasks and assist in moving workloads between on-prem and cloud environments.
Required Qualifications / Skills:
- 4+ years of overall engineering experience with 2+ years of hands-on experience supporting Kafka infrastructure in a large-scale production environment.
- Kafka Producer/Consumer microservices concepts and Kafka distributed architecture.
- Solid Linux fundamentals: networking basics, logs, system troubleshooting, process/memory, disk.
- Strong scripting and automation skills (Python, Bash) with a track record of reducing operational toil.
- CI/CD pipeline development and Infrastructure-as-Code experience (Terraform preferred).
- Cloud engineering skills, preferably AWS (EC2, VPC, IAM, MSK/ElastiCache, CloudWatch).
- Familiarity with observability tools (metrics/logs/tracing concepts) and incident response practices.
- Basic understanding of distributed systems tradeoffs (availability, consistency, partitions, backpressure).
- Strong communication and presentation skills with emphasis on executive communication.
- Flexible with regards to working shifts; on-call and weekends.
Preferred Skills (Highly Desired):
- Data Engineering & Pipelines: Data engineering skills including data analytics, data processing, ETL, and data lake technologies (batch and streaming, file formats like Parquet, table formats like Iceberg/Delta/Hudi, basic orchestration). Experience with AWS data tools (Athena, Glue, Iceberg, Redshift, etc.). Exposure to Kafka Streams, Apache Flink, or similar stream processing frameworks.
- Database & Caching Technologies: Operate Redis deployments for caching, ephemeral state, queues/streams, and rate limiting use cases. Relational DB experience: PostgreSQL and/or MySQL (indexing basics, vacuum/analyze, query plans, replication fundamentals). MongoDB operational familiarity (replica sets, elections, oplog basics, backup/restore).
- Infrastructure & Security: Container/Kubernetes familiarity (deployments, stateful workloads, storage classes). On-prem experience (VMware/KVM, storage, networking). Security fundamentals: least privilege, secrets management, encryption-in-transit/at-rest concepts. Experience working with PCI (Payment Card Industry Data Security) standards.
What We Offer:
- Direct impact on Verifone’s global payment infrastructure—your work keeps billions of transactions flowing reliably every year.
- Ground-floor involvement in building the data pipelines that will drive Verifone’s AI, machine learning, and analytics strategy.
- Hands-on participation in a Kafka-to-Kubernetes migration—a resume-building modernization project from day one.
- Multi-technology exposure—Kafka, Redis, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Snowflake—so you grow as a well-rounded platform engineer, not a single-tool specialist.
- Mentorship from senior engineers and Kafka architects with deep production experience.
- Clear career progression path from mid-level to senior and lead engineer.
- Funded certification paths—Confluent (CCDAK, Certified Administrator), AWS (Solutions Architect, MSK Specialty), CKA—plus budget for courses and technical conferences.
- Hybrid/remote working flexibility with a collaborative team culture.
- Competitive compensation with performance-based incentives.
Verifone is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Verifone is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.
Kafka DevOps Engineer in Ashford employer: GoTo Meeting
Verifone is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment where you can directly impact global payment infrastructure and engage in cutting-edge projects like the Kafka-to-Kubernetes migration. With a strong emphasis on employee growth, mentorship from experienced engineers, and funded certification paths, you'll have ample opportunities to advance your career while enjoying a collaborative culture that values diversity and flexibility in hybrid working arrangements.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Kafka DevOps Engineer in Ashford
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to folks in the industry, attend meetups, and connect with current Verifone employees on LinkedIn. A friendly chat can sometimes lead to opportunities that aren’t even advertised!
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Create a GitHub repository showcasing your Kafka projects or any automation scripts you've developed. This gives potential employers a tangible look at what you can do—plus, it’s a great conversation starter during interviews.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for technical interviews by brushing up on your scripting and DevOps knowledge. Practice common scenarios you might face as a Kafka DevOps Engineer, like troubleshooting cluster issues or optimising data pipelines. We want you to feel confident when it’s showtime!
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, we love seeing candidates who are proactive about their job search!
We think you need these skills to ace Kafka DevOps Engineer in Ashford
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV:Make sure your CV is tailored to the Kafka DevOps Engineer role. Highlight your experience with Kafka, scripting, and cloud technologies. We want to see how your skills match what we're looking for!
Show Off Your Projects:If you've worked on any relevant projects, especially those involving Kafka or cloud migrations, make sure to mention them. We love seeing practical examples of your work and how you’ve tackled challenges.
Be Clear and Concise:When writing your application, keep it clear and to the point. Use bullet points where possible to make it easy for us to read through your qualifications and experiences quickly.
Apply Through Our Website:Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. We can’t wait to hear from you!
How to prepare for a job interview at GoTo Meeting
✨Know Your Kafka Inside Out
Make sure you brush up on your Kafka knowledge before the interview. Understand the core concepts like producers, consumers, and distributed architecture. Be ready to discuss your hands-on experience with Kafka clusters and how you've managed them in a production environment.
✨Show Off Your Scripting Skills
Since this role emphasises scripting and automation, prepare to showcase your Python and Shell scripting skills. Bring examples of scripts you've developed to reduce manual tasks or improve operational efficiency. If you can, demonstrate how you've implemented CI/CD pipelines or Infrastructure as Code.
✨Get Familiar with Cloud and Kubernetes
As the role involves cloud infrastructure management and migrating services to Kubernetes, make sure you're comfortable discussing AWS services and Kubernetes concepts. Be prepared to talk about any relevant projects you've worked on that involved cloud migration or container orchestration.
✨Communicate Clearly and Confidently
Strong communication skills are key for this position. Practice explaining complex technical concepts in simple terms, as you may need to present ideas to non-technical stakeholders. Show that you can articulate your thoughts clearly and confidently during the interview.