Staff Engineer

Responsibilities

• Own the internal Kafka distribution, including branch management, patch curation, release cutting, and upgrade planning
• Contribute upstream to Apache Kafka through bug fixes, KIPs, code reviews, and design discussions
• Diagnose and resolve deep broker and controller issues involving replication, KRaft consensus, log storage, and protocol handling
• Develop custom patches for production-specific needs such as performance tuning, observability hooks, and operational safety valves
• Establish engineering practices for Kafka development, including testing, benchmarking, and patch validation
• Mentor engineers and act as the internal authority on Kafka internals to advise platform teams on architecture and capacity planning
• Interface with audit and compliance teams to ensure the Kafka distribution meets regulatory standards

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in systems or infrastructure software engineering
• Deep familiarity with the Kafka codebase (broker, controller, or client internals)
• Proven track record of upstream contributions to Apache Kafka or similar projects
• Strong fundamentals in distributed systems (consensus protocols, replication, log-structured storage)
• Proficiency in systems-level programming, including JVM internals, OS-level I/O, and networking
• Experience maintaining a fork or distribution and managing the tension between local patches and upstream merges

Preferred Qualifications

• Apache Kafka Committer or PMC member status
• Hands-on experience with KRaft (ZooKeeper-free controller)
• Experience authoring or co-authoring a KIP
• Deep knowledge of Kafka Streams or Kafka Connect internals
• Familiarity with Kafka's test infrastructure, such as Trogdor or ducktape

Benefits

• Comprehensive insurance including Medical, Critical Illness, Accidental, and Life Insurance
• Wellness programs and onsite medical center access
• Parental support including maternity, paternity, and adoption assistance
• Retirement benefits including PF contributions and NPS
• Mobility and relocation support

About the Company

PhonePe is a leading digital payments platform in India, serving over 600 million registered users and 40 million merchants. We process over 330 million transactions daily and are dedicated to unlocking the flow of money and access to services for every Indian through a diverse portfolio of financial and consumer tech businesses.