---
title: 'Principal, Product Manager at Confluent'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-product-manager-confluent-united-states-0p4fb930nc98'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Principal, Product Manager at Confluent

- **Company:** Confluent
- **Location:** United States
- **Compensation:** $273k–$328k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-07-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/confluent/f7356433-e9cd-437b-9048-587b11333bb1

## Job description

We’re not just building better tech. We’re rewriting how data moves and what the world can do with it. With Confluent, data doesn’t sit still. Our platform puts information in motion, streaming in near real-time so companies can react faster, build smarter, and deliver experiences as dynamic as the world around them.

It takes a certain kind of person to join this team. Those who ask hard questions, give honest feedback, and show up for each other. No egos, no solo acts. Just smart, curious humans pushing toward something bigger, together.

One Confluent. One Team. One Data Streaming Platform.

## ABOUT THE ROLE:

This Principal Product Manager role is a high-leverage Individual Contributor position responsible for the complete product strategy and execution for Apache Flink across Confluent Cloud and Platform. This is an ambiguous and technical domain that requires a seasoned leader who can build durable platform capabilities, translate complex systems into clear strategy, and operate independently.

## WHAT YOU WILL DO:

- Define and drive the multi-year product strategy and roadmap for Apache Flink across cloud and on-prem products.
- Establish structured processes to align product, engineering, GTM, and executive stakeholders.
- Identify high-leverage, 0-to-1 product opportunities for Flink and in adjacent areas like AI, data engineering, data warehousing, and event-driven applications.
- Define how Confluent Flink offerings will work across Confluent and IBM product portfolio.

## WHAT YOU WILL BRING:

- Proven ability to own and deliver product strategy for complex cloud data products for customers ranging from data engineers to software developers.
- Deep technical expertise in distributed systems, data engineering, and cloud. Domain expertise in streaming technologies such as Kafka, Flink, or Spark is a plus but not required.
- Experience leading product development across the entire lifecycle, scaling businesses from early product-market fit to substantial revenue.
- 10+ years of experience in product management for a technical software or cloud service product.

## WHAT GIVES YOU AN EDGE:

- Hands-on engineering or technical background, including comfort with systems design, API design, and several languages (e.g., Python, Java, Scala, SQL, etc.).
- Experience with open-source software and determining commercialization strategy while building the community.
- Track record in data infrastructure, analytics, AI/ML platforms, real-time systems, or streaming systems, especially where the product serves customers with a diversity of technical depth.

READY TO BUILD WHAT'S NEXT? LET’S GET IN MOTION.

## COME AS YOU ARE

Belonging isn’t a perk here. It’s the baseline. We work across time zones and backgrounds, knowing the best ideas come from different perspectives. And we make space for everyone to lead, grow, and challenge what’s possible.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Employment decisions are based on job-related criteria, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other classification protected by law.

## PRIVACY STATEMENT

Confluent is an IBM subsidiary which has been acquired by IBM and will be integrated into the IBM organization. By proceeding with this application, you understand that Confluent will share your personal information with other IBM affiliates involved in your recruitment process, wherever these are located. More Information on how IBM protects your personal information, including the safeguards in case of cross-border data transfer, are available here http://ibm.com/careers/us-en/privacy-policy/.

## About Confluent

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Confluent provides a cloud-native data streaming platform built by the original co-creators of Apache Kafka, enabling organizations to stream, process, and react to data in real time.
- **Entity Type**: Public (NASDAQ: CFLT)
- **Headquarters**: Mountain View, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2014
- **Founders**: Jay Kreps, Jun Rao, Neha Narkhede

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Data streaming infrastructure, real-time data platforms
- **Target customers**: B2B, enterprise, developers, and data engineers
- **Mission/purpose**: To create the foundational platform for data-in-motion, unleashing the power of continuously flowing data so companies can innovate and win in the modern digital world.

## Products & Services
- **Confluent Cloud**: Fully managed, cloud-native data streaming service powered by the Kora engine. Offers autoscaling, 99.99% uptime SLA, transparent consumption-based pricing, and support for GBps+ workloads.
- **Confluent Platform**: Self-managed distribution of Apache Kafka with enterprise features, including Confluent for Kubernetes and Ansible playbooks for easier on-prem or hybrid deployment.
- **Schema Registry**: Supports Avro, Protobuf, and JSON Schema for stream governance.
- **120+ Pre-built Connectors**: Integrates with databases, data warehouses, SaaS apps, and cloud services.
- **Cluster Linking**: Enables real-time topic mirroring, data replication, and workload migration across clusters without downtime.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available from provided sources (public company; SEC filings available)
- **Key Metric**: Not publicly available from provided sources (public company; annual revenue disclosed in 10-K filings)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not disclosed in provided sources (public company with institutional investors; partners include major cloud providers)
- **Growth Signals**: 3,263 total employees (Built In), remote-first hiring across 25+ countries, hyper-growth mode, expanding engineering and sales teams globally.

## Competitive Advantages
- Founded by the original co-creators of Apache Kafka, ensuring deep platform expertise and compatibility.
- Complete, enterprise-grade platform with cloud-native architecture (Kora engine) that scales 10x faster than traditional Kafka and delivers 20-90%+ throughput savings.
- Fully compatible with Apache Kafka, allowing seamless migration and hybrid deployments.
- Strong security and compliance posture: SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS certifications.
- 99.99% uptime SLA for production workloads and transparent consumption-based pricing.

## Strategic Focus
- Enabling real-time AI and event-driven applications.
- Expanding global footprint with offices in Mountain View, London, Toronto, Bengaluru, Dubai, and Reston.
- Building a complete ecosystem of connectors and governance tools to simplify data streaming adoption.
- Scaling the platform to handle AI workloads and real-time microservices.

## Why Work Here
- **Remote-first culture**: Work where you thrive – home, office, or anywhere in between. Offices available in 9 locations globally.
- **Flexibility**: Flexible time off, volunteer time off, and support for all paths to parenthood.
- **Compensation**: Competitive equity program with no cliff, plus a one-time home office reimbursement of up to $500 USD.
- **Culture**: Values include “Prioritize Ruthlessly,” “One Team,” “Smart, Humble, and Empathetic,” “Lead with Courage and Honor,” and “Earn Our Customers’ Love.” Direct access to leadership via #ask-estaff Slack channel.
- **Growth**: Hyper-growth environment with opportunities to work on cutting-edge data streaming technology. Engineering roles span senior software engineers, staff engineers, and engineering managers.

## Sources
1. [careers.confluent.io](https://careers.confluent.io/)
2. [confluent.io](https://www.confluent.io/)
3. [confluent.io/about](https://www.confluent.io/about/)
4. [builtin.com/company/confluent](https://builtin.com/company/confluent)
5. [careers.confluent.io/life-at-confluent](https://careers.confluent.io/life-at-confluent)
6. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/confluent](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/confluent)

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