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Kafka Administrator - Ansible Maryland, Woodlawn 09/14/2026 Contract Active

Job Summary

The Kafka Administrator - Ansible will administer production Confluent Kafka environments and develop enterprise-grade automation solutions using Ansible. The role requires strong expertise in Kafka administration, Ansible playbooks and automation, Linux systems, scripting, security, monitoring, CI/CD, and hybrid infrastructure. The administrator will automate manual processes, troubleshoot Kafka performance and operational issues, secure Kafka environments, and collaborate across infrastructure and development teams. Fingerprinting and background verification are required. Key Responsibilities

• Administer and support Confluent Kafka clusters in production environments.
  
• Automate Kafka deployment, configuration, maintenance, and operational processes using Ansible.
  
• Develop, maintain, and troubleshoot Ansible playbooks, roles, and modules.
  
• Design idempotent, scalable, and reusable automation solutions.
  
• Implement and manage automation using Ansible Tower/AWX.
  
• Integrate Ansible automation with CI/CD pipelines and Git-based workflows.
  
• Develop automation scripts using Python and Bash.
  
• Administer Linux environments, including SELinux, systemd, permissions, and networking.
  
• Secure Kafka environments using SSL/TLS, SASL, RBAC, and Metadata Service (MDS).
  
• Monitor Kafka and infrastructure environments using Prometheus, Thanos, and Grafana.
  
• Diagnose and resolve Kafka performance, replication, partitioning, and consumer-lag issues.
  
• Manage Kafka topics, schemas, and connector integrations.
  
• Secure automation credentials and secrets using Ansible Vault and other secure secrets-management practices.
  
• Automate hybrid Linux, Windows, and cloud infrastructure.
  
• Support Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, and Git-based development and deployment workflows.
  
• Convert manual operational processes into automated workflows.
  
• Develop enterprise-grade automation solutions that improve reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency. Required Qualifications
  
• Bachelor's degree with 7 years of relevant professional experience.
  
• Strong experience administering Confluent Kafka clusters in production.
  
• Proven experience automating Kafka deployment and operations using Ansible.
  
• Extensive experience developing and troubleshooting Ansible playbooks, roles, and modules.
  
• Experience designing idempotent and scalable automation.
  
• Hands-on experience with Ansible Tower/AWX.
  
• Experience integrating automation with CI/CD pipelines and Git workflows.
  
• Strong Python and Bash scripting skills.
  
• Hands-on Linux administration experience, including SELinux, systemd, permissions, and networking.
  
• Experience securing Kafka environments using SSL/TLS, SASL, RBAC, and MDS.
  
• Experience with Prometheus, Thanos, and Grafana.
  
• Experience diagnosing Kafka performance, replication, partitioning, and consumer-lag issues.
  
• Experience managing Kafka topics, schemas, and connector integrations.
  
• Experience using Ansible Vault and secure secrets-management practices.
  
• Experience automating hybrid Linux, Windows, and cloud infrastructure.
  
• Experience with Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, and Git.
  
• Ability to develop enterprise-grade automation solutions and convert manual processes into automated workflows. Preferred Qualifications
  
• Experience with Confluent Cloud or hybrid Kafka architectures.
  
• Experience with Kafka Raft Metadata Mode (KRaft) and migrations from ZooKeeper.
  
• Experience with Kubernetes-based Kafka deployments using technologies such as Strimzi and Confluent Operator.
  
• Experience with Kafka performance tuning involving I/O, JVM, and networking.
  
• Experience working with federal compliance and security frameworks.