Field CTO

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:As a Field CTO at Confluent, you will serve as both a technical strategist and a trusted advisor, engaging with our GTM and R&D teams to propel the adoption of Confluent platforms among key strategic customers. Your responsibilities will include creating influential thought leadership content and delivering practical insights internally aimed at enhancing our product offerings. This involves translating customer feedback into actionable product features and engaging directly with important stakeholders within customer organizations to address their business challenges and showcase the value Confluent can offer. Beyond internal collaborations, you'll also stand as the public face of Confluent's technical vision, representing the company at various public events such as conferences and workshops. Additionally, you'll play a crucial role in mentoring and guiding both our internal technical teams and those at customer sites, ensuring they successfully implement and optimize Confluent solutions, thereby strengthening our customer relationships and reinforcing our market position.What You Will Do:Develop and refine Confluent's technical strategy in collaboration with our product and engineering teams to meet market needsDeliver compelling presentations and technical briefings to a variety of audiences, including engineers, developers, architects, and executives to both prospective and existing customers both virtually and in personBuild strong relationships with decision-makers and influencers within our customers' organizations to secure and expand Confluent adoptionAct as a conduit between the field and our product teams, gathering and prioritizing product feedback and feature requestsFoster a community of Confluent users and contributors, enhancing our ecosystem and its value to our customersPartner with our field teams to produce strategic outcomes for our global theaters and enable our account teams to more effectively create value for our customersWhat You Will Bring:10+ years of experience in a customer-facing technology advocate role, such as Solutions Architect, Pre-Sales Engineer, or Technical Consultant, ideally in the software or data platform spaceStrong technical foundation and ability to understand complex distributed systems, software architecture, and data streaming technologiesExceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven track record of building relationships with stakeholders at all levelsDemonstrated ability to translate technical features into business benefits and to articulate these effectively to a non-technical audienceBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experienceWhat Gives You an Edge:Prior experience with Kafka or similar streaming data technologiesDeep understanding of cloud ecosystems and experience with public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)Active participation in open-source communities or previous experience working on open-source projectsProven ability to lead and influence cross-functional teams in product development or go-to-market strategiesExperience working in fast-paced, high-growth technology companiesExperience in strategic customer-facing roles influencing decision-makers and key technology leadersReady to build what's next? Let's get in motion.Come As You AreBelonging 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.