Data, cloud and developer platforms
10 Confluent experts
These ten engineers and technology leads have worked with Confluent Kafka inside the companies that use it, including Kafka administrators and platform engineers. A reader can learn from them how in-house teams run Confluent Platform and Confluent Cloud clusters and plan migrations onto Confluent.
Professionals to explore
01—10Ashwin Kollambalath
LinkedInExperience: Configuration Engineer Advisor · Elevance Health
Configuration Engineer Advisor at Elevance Health since 2024 and former Sr Configuration Engineer there (2021–2024). The profile says that in the current role Ashwin handled end-to-end design and implementation of the Confluent Kafka Platform on-prem and on AWS, implemented an Apache Kafka cluster on-prem, migrated from Apache Kafka to Confluent Enterprise Kafka and created custom Docker images for KSQL and Connect.
Chetan Narasimhaiah
LinkedInExperience: Data and Kafka Architect · Verifone
Data and Kafka Architect at Verifone since 2021, where the profile says Chetan has technical ownership of the messaging platform that houses messaging technologies such as Confluent Kafka, Active MQ and FMQ, and designs sustainable, scalable architecture for production. Former Technical Team Lead at IG Group (2019–2021) and Lead Engineer at Target (2011–2019).
Guruswamy Punugupati
LinkedInExperience: Confluent Kafka Engineer · Australia Post
Confluent Kafka Engineer at Australia Post since 2025 and former Confluent Kafka Engineer at Bendigo Bank (2023–2025), two in-house roles whose titles name Confluent Kafka. Former Senior System Engineer at NAB (2023) and at Qantas (2022–2023), and former Senior Systems Engineer at NAB (2019).
Kaung Khine
LinkedInExperience: Software Engineer · Centene Corporation
Software Engineer at Centene Corporation since 2022, where the profile describes Kaung's work as an application software developer at Centene using Apache Kafka and Confluent Cloud. The profile also says Kaung holds the Confluent Certified Developer for Apache Kafka (CCDAK) certificate. Former Full Stack Java Developer - Bootcamp at mthree (2022).
Krupesh G Nag
LinkedInExperience: Confluent Kafka Engineer · Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Confluent Kafka Engineer at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank since 2024. Former Specialist, Data Platform Engineer Lead (2023–2024) and Associate, Data Platform Engineer (2020–2023) at TIAA, where the profile says Krupesh designed, implemented and optimized data infrastructure solutions; it cites 11+ years in data platform engineering and site reliability engineering.
Kumar Narendra
LinkedInExperience: AVP - Kafka admin · OCBC
AVP - Kafka admin at OCBC since 2023, where the profile says the work is as lead Kafka administrator, with responsibility for the design, planning and implementation of a migration from Cloudera to Confluent; it cites experience designing, building and administering Cloudera Kafka and Confluent Kafka. Former Lead Analyst at Bank of America (2010–2022).
Manikanta Ranganath
LinkedInExperience: Platform Engineer · Santander
Platform Engineer at Santander since 2025, where the profile says Manikanta is the sole platform engineer for a Confluent deployment moving 1M+ TPS across 7 independent clusters and 1,000+ topics serving payments, risk and data, and works on an enterprise Kafka and Confluent Cloud migration on AWS. Former Software Engineer at Wipro(UBS) (2021–2023).
Ravi Shankar
LinkedInExperience: Kafka Administrator · NatWest Group
Kafka Administrator at NatWest Group since 2021, where the profile says Ravi administered Confluent Kafka on AWS (v7.2) and Confluent Kafka on premise (v7.0) and managed Kafka cluster capacity, disk, CPU and memory. Former Team Leader at RBS (2012–2024) and Production Support Analyst at NatWest Group (2021–2024).
Sandeep Teja
LinkedInExperience: Confluent Kafka Engineer · Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation
Former Confluent Kafka Engineer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation (2020–2022) and Sr Kafka Engineer at Legal & General America since 2022. Former Sr.Kafka Developer at American Express (2018–2020) and Kafka Developer Kafka Tester at Ascension Healthcare Services (2015–2018).
Tamir Reuveni
LinkedInExperience: Head of Data Flow Engineers Kafka Infrastructure & Confluent Ecosystem Specialist · Bank Hapoalim בנק הפועלים
Head of Data Flow Engineers Kafka Infrastructure & Confluent Ecosystem Specialist at Bank Hapoalim בנק הפועלים since 2022, where the profile says Tamir leads a team of data and platform engineers designing, deploying and operating Kafka clusters on-prem and in the cloud along with Confluent Platform/Confluent Cloud. Former Software Developer at Pilat-ITCOM (2011–2014).
Choose the right perspective
Match the person's role to your question: hands-on Kafka administrators suit cluster operations, upgrades and capacity questions, while platform leads and architects suit migration, team structure and self-managed versus cloud decisions. Also weigh how recently they ran Confluent and whether they worked in a regulated setting like yours.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How did you decide between self-managed Confluent Platform and Confluent Cloud, and what would change your answer today?
- 02How did you plan and run a migration onto Confluent from another Kafka setup, and what did you do to avoid downtime for producers and consumers?
- 03What did day-to-day Kafka operations look like, including capacity planning, upgrades, monitoring and onboarding new teams onto the platform?
Reaching Confluent experts
How can I contact one of these Confluent experts?
Pick one of the 10 people on this page and choose "Book a paid call", or describe your project to find others. You offer a fee for a 15-minute call or a written answer, Instant Expert finds the person's work email and sends the invitation, and they decide whether to accept. The list covers 10 companies, including Elevance Health, Verifone and Australia Post, based on profile data retrieved on October 3, 2026. Being listed here doesn't mean someone has agreed to take calls.
How much does it cost to reach Confluent experts?
You choose the offer, starting at $5 per person. It includes Instant Expert's 20% fee, so an offer that pays the person $100 costs you $125. You're charged only when the person books the call or sends the answer.
What if they don't reply?
You pay nothing. Instant Expert sends follow-up reminders, and if the person hasn't booked or answered within 7 days, the request expires and any hold on your card is released. You can invite several of the 10 people on this list at once and cap your total spend, so you pay only for the ones who accept.
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot and may describe past or present roles. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
Request a correction or removal