System Engineer-Platform/Kafka/Messaging

O'Reilly Automotive Inc

MO

JOB DETAILS
SKILLS
Access Control, Apache Avro, Apache Kafka, Authentication, Automation, Best Practices, Brokerage, Cloud Computing, Configuration Management, Continuous Deployment/Delivery, Continuous Integration, Cryptography, DevOps, Disaster Recovery, Distributed Applications, Docker, Documentation, Elasticsearch, GCP (Good Clinical Practices), Git, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), High Throughput, Hybrid Cloud, IBM WebSphere MQ (Message Queue), Incident Response, JDBC (Java Database Connectivity), JSON, Kerberos, LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), Leadership, Mentoring, Messaging Middleware, Messaging Technology, Microservices, Migration Strategy, PCI, Parts Sales, People Management, Performance Tuning/Optimization, Philosophy, Prototyping, RabbitMQ, Realtime Communications, Regulations, Regulatory Compliance, Replication and Remote Mirroring, SASL (Simple Authentication and Security Layer), SSL-TLS (Secure Socket Layer - Transport Layer Security), Service Level Agreement (SLA), Software Engineering, Stock Purchase Plans, System Migration, Systems Engineering, Systems Maintenance
LOCATION
MO
POSTED
19 days ago

The Systems Engineer Platform - Messaging Platform will play a key role in designing, implementing, and maintaining enterprise messaging systems that support both real-time and asynchronous communication between distributed applications and services. This role focuses on ensuring robust, scalable, secure, and cost-efficient messaging solutions across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments. The engineer will work closely with architects, developers, infrastructure, and DevOps teams to standardize messaging platforms and promote modern integration patterns that align with the organization's digital transformation goals.

This is an on-site position located in Springfield, MO.

Responsibilities and Duties:

Messaging Platform Engineering

Design and operate scalable messaging platforms (Kafka, Pub/Sub, legacy MQ) supporting high-throughput, low-latency event streaming. Manage topics, schemas (Avro/JSON/Protobuf), connectors, and stream processing (Kafka Streams/KSQLDB). Enforce governance for naming, retention, access control, and multi-tenancy, while ensuring reliable delivery (retries, DLQs, idempotency, exactly-once).

Infrastructure as Code & Automation

Automate messaging infrastructure using Terraform, Helm, and Kubernetes (e.g., Strimzi), with Git-based configuration management. Build CI/CD pipelines for deployments, upgrades, and topic provisioning, including drift detection and self-healing workflows.

Security & Governance

Implement secure messaging with IAM integration (GCP, LDAP, Kerberos), TLS/mTLS, and ACLs. Align with compliance standards (PCI, HIPAA) and Zero Trust principles, including data classification, logging, and anomaly detection.

Monitoring & Reliability

Establish observability using Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, or GCP tools. Monitor SLAs/SLOs, consumer lag, broker health, and replication. Lead incident response, RCA, and disaster recovery planning.

Integration & Developer Enablement

Enable teams with reusable connectors, SDKs, and event-driven patterns. Provide guidance on schema evolution, idempotency, and domain-driven event design, supported by self-service tools and documentation.

Platform Modernization & Migration

Drive migration from legacy systems to modern streaming platforms, evaluating new technologies (e.g., Pulsar, Redpanda). Lead migration strategies, dual-write patterns, and multi-region replication.

Collaboration & Leadership

Collaborate with cross-functional teams on architecture and governance, contribute to event-driven and data mesh strategies, and mentor engineers while promoting best practices.

Skills:

Required:

  • 3+ years with enterprise messaging platforms (Kafka, Pub/Sub), including deep knowledge of Kafka architecture (brokers, partitions, replication, schema management, streams, and connectors).
  • Strong experience designing high-throughput, low-latency event-driven systems with governance, topic management, and access control.
  • Hands-on experience with GCP messaging services (Pub/Sub, Eventarc) and hybrid architectures, including secure connectivity, IAM, and multi-region designs.
  • Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code and automation using Terraform, Kubernetes/Helm, and CI/CD tools, with GitOps-based configuration management.
  • Solid background in security and compliance, including encryption (TLS/mTLS), authentication (SASL, IAM), and regulatory standards (PCI, SOC2, HIPAA).
  • Experience implementing observability with Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, and GCP tools, including monitoring lag, throughput, and distributed tracing.
  • Strong performance tuning and reliability practices, including scaling, backpressure handling, DLQs, retries, and cross-region replication.
  • Focus on developer enablement through reusable tools, self-service platforms, schema governance, and event-driven best practices.
  • Ability to evaluate and prototype messaging technologies (e.g., Pulsar, RabbitMQ), lead POCs, and drive adoption of modern streaming and data integration patterns.

Desired:

  • Experience running Kafka on Kubernetes (Strimzi/Confluent Operator), including scaling, configuration, and multi-tenant architectures.
  • Strong foundation in event-driven architecture, microservices communication, and asynchronous messaging patterns.
  • Hands-on experience with real-time processing tools (Kafka Streams, Flink, Spark) and Kafka Connect integrations (Debezium, JDBC, Elasticsearch).
  • Proficiency in schema management (Avro, Protobuf) and schema registries (Confluent, Apicurio).
  • Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes (GKE), and service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd) for secure, cloud-native deployments.
  • Experience with cloud messaging and analytics tools (GCP Pub/Sub, Dataflow) and migrating from legacy systems (e.g., IBM MQ, RabbitMQ).
  • Strong knowledge of security and access control (ACLs, SASL/SCRAM, Kerberos, IAM) and message delivery semantics (at-least-once, exactly-once).
  • Experience with observability (Prometheus, Grafana, GCP Monitoring), CI/CD automation for Kafka resources, and data governance tools (Dataplex, Collibra).
  • Industry experience, certifications, and ability to lead design discussions, mentor teams, and work within agile environments.

O'Reilly Auto Parts has a proven track record of growth and stability. O'Reilly is full of successful career stories and believes in a strong promote-from-within philosophy, encouraging you to grow your career along with the organization.

Total Compensation Package:

  • Competitive Wages & Paid Time Off

  • Stock Purchase Plan & 401k with Employer Contributions Starting Day One

  • Medical, Dental, & Vision Insurance with Optional Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

  • Team Member Health/Wellbeing Programs

  • Tuition Educational Assistance Programs

  • Opportunities for Career Growth

O'Reilly Auto Parts is an equal opportunity employer. The Company does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin or ancestry (including immigration status or citizenship), sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation, and related medical conditions,) age (40 and over), veteran status, uniformed service member status, physical or mental disability, genetic information (including testing or characteristics) or another protected status as defined by local, state, or federal law, as applicable.

Qualified individuals with a disability may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or employment process, please send an email to: rar@oreillyauto.com or call (800) 471-7431 option , and provide your requested accommodation, and position details.

About the Company

O

O'Reilly Automotive Inc

It started with a father and son - Charles Francis "C.F." and Charles H. "Chub" O’Reilly. Together they had the courage and confidence to venture out on their own. Along with 11 others who shared the same desire to offer great customer service and auto parts availability, the doors of O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. opened on December 2, 1957.

Now, more than 61 years later, the 77,000-plus team members at O’Reilly Auto Parts are proud of the company’s achievements over the years.

During our early years, we focused on sales and slow and steady growth. At the end of our first year, sales totaled $700,000, and by 1961 volume reached $1.3 million. For the first seven years of operation, there was one store in Springfield, MO, until the second opened in July 1964. In March 1975, annual sales volume rose to $7 million and a 52,000 square-foot facility was built in Springfield for the O’Reilly/Ozark warehouse operation. By that time, the company had nine stores, all located in southwest Missouri.

The long range plans and stability of the company were solidified by a public offering of company stock in April 1993. Since that time, the Company has grown through new store and distribution center openings, as well as numerous mergers and acquisitions. O’Reilly currently operates stores in 47 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and distribution centers in 27 locations.

Dramatic changes in technology, inventory control, facilities, and sheer size mark the O’Reilly growth and success story. But, it is our spirit of teamwork - how important it was then and how important it remains - that drives our performance. The company’s values and culture that started with the original 13 employee/owners remain evident and strong as we expand and develop Team O’Reilly.

We serve two distinct customer bases - the professional (installer) customers who provide auto repair services to their customers (DIFM - do it for me), and retail "walk-in" customers (DIY - do it yourself). Our dual-market strategy continues to differentiate us from the competition and is a major factor in our ongoing success. Depending on a store’s professional versus retail customer mix, more than 95 percent of our locations have team members dedicated to our professional customers, offering them separate counters, phone lines, and a delivery fleet that totals 18,455 vehicles. We also have a professional sales team, consisting of territory sales managers and in-store sales specialists, responsible for calling on our professional customers and building sound business partnerships to ensure O’Reilly is the First Call for their auto parts needs.

COMPANY SIZE
10,000 employees or more
INDUSTRY
Automotive Sales and Repair Services
FOUNDED
1957
WEBSITE
https://corporate.oreillyauto.com/onlineapplication/careerpage