Middleware Consultant (India)

Description Role: Middleware Engineer (IBM MQ & Kafka Development & Support) Overview We are looking for a Middleware Engineer with strong expertise in IBM MQ and Apache Kafka to support and enhance enterprise messaging platforms. The role involves development, integration, production support, and performance optimization for real-time and asynchronous messaging systems. Responsibilities Key Responsibilities Messaging Platform Management - Administer and support: - IBM MQ (Queue Managers, Channels, Queues) - Apache Kafka (Topics, Brokers, Partitions, Clusters) - Configure and manage message routing, transformation, and integration flows - Handle queue/topic setup, retention policies, and message persistence Development & Integration - Develop and maintain message producers/consumers using MQ and Kafka - Build integration solutions using: - Java / Spring Boot / Kafka Streams / MQ APIs - Implement event-driven and asynchronous architectures - Design and manage data streaming pipelines Production Support - Provide L2/L3 support for messaging platforms and integrations - Monitor queue depth, lag, consumer health, and throughput - Perform incident management, RCA, and problem resolution - Ensure high availability, failover, and disaster recovery readiness Performance & Optimization - Optimize: - Message throughput and latency - Kafka partitioning and consumer groups - MQ queue performance and channel configurations - Conduct capacity planning and scaling strategies Automation & DevOps - Build automation scripts using: - Shell / Python / Ansible - Integrate messaging platforms with: - CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, Jenkins) - Support infrastructure automation and configuration management Security & Compliance - Manage: - MQ security (SSL/TLS, authentication, authorization) - Kafka security (SASL, ACLs, encryption) - Ensure compliance with enterprise security standards Collaboration - Work with: - Application teams, DevOps, and infrastructure teams - Support application onboarding onto MQ/Kafka platforms Participate in release management and deployments Qualifications Required Skills & Experience Core Technical Skills - Strong hands-on experience in: - IBM MQ Administration & Development - Apache Kafka (cluster setup, topic management, troubleshooting) - Expertise in: - Messaging patterns (Pub/Sub, Point-to-Point, Event Streaming) Development Skills - Experience with: - Kafka Streams / Kafka Connect - IBM MQ APIs Support & Monitoring - Monitoring tools: - Dynatrace / Splunk / Prometheus / Grafana - DevOps & Automation - Knowledge of: - CI/CD tools (Azure DevOps, Jenkins) - Containerization (Docker, Kubernetes valuable to have) - - Cloud Exposure (Preferred) - Experience with: - Azure Event Hubs / AWS MSK (Kafka equivalents) - Hybrid or cloud-native messaging architectures - - Soft Skills - Strong analytical and troubleshooting abilities - Proactive operational mindset - Effective communication with cross-functional teams - Ability to work in high-pressure production environments Experience - 10+ years in Middleware / Messaging platforms - Experience in BFSI domain (preferred) .