**Introduction** A career in IBM Consulting is rooted by long-term relationships and close collaboration with clients across the globe. You'll work with visionaries across multiple industries to improve the hybrid cloud and AI journey for the most innovative and valuable companies in the world. Your ability to accelerate impact and make meaningful change for your clients is enabled by our strategic partner ecosystem and our robust technology platforms across the IBM portfolio. **Your role and responsibilities** * Design, develop, and maintain scalable and efficient backend services using Python. * Implement and manage Kafka-based messaging systems for real-time data ingestion, processing, and distribution. * Build and maintain data pipelines and stream processing applications using Kafka Streams, Kafka Connect, or similar technologies. * Collaborate with DevOps and Data Engineering teams to ensure seamless integration and deployment of services. * Optimize application performance and scalability through profiling, tuning, and refactoring. * Ensure high code quality through unit testing, code reviews, and adherence to software development best practices. * Monitor and troubleshoot production issues related to Kafka and backend services. **Required technical and professional expertise** * Minimum 8 years of experience in Python development. * Strong experience in building and maintaining Kafka-based systems. * Proficiency in developing stream processing applications using Kafka Streams or Kafka Connect. * Solid understanding of backend architecture, RESTful APIs, and microservices. * Experience with CI/CD tools and deployment pipelines. * Strong debugging and performance optimization skills. * Familiarity with unit testing frameworks and code quality tools. **Preferred technical and professional experience** * Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP). * Exposure to containerization and orchestration tools like Docker and Kubernetes. * Knowledge of data engineering concepts and tools. * Experience with monitoring tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, or ELK stack. * Familiarity with NoSQL databases, caching systems, and distributed computing. * Contributions to open-source Python projects or active participation in developer communities. IBM 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, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, caste, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, veteran status, or other characteristics. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.