Confluent Champion Scales Solutions Engineering in EMEA

Leandro Galli began programming computers at the age of 12. So it’s no surprise that his career led him to Confluent, as a Senior Solutions Engineer, spearheading the growth for our team in the Middle East.

Let’s delve into Leandro’s career so far and what he’s learnt in his 4 years at Confluent, helping to scale the EMEA region.

Tell us about your path to Confluent and what got you here? 

Before joining Confluent, I worked for companies of all sizes. Starting as a developer in Brazil, I then went on to work in the telecommunications industry, as a worldwide consultant, based out of Spain. After almost 20 years in the telecom sector, I started to see customers using Apache Kafka, and, as an engineer, this really caught my attention. I wanted to find out why and how Kafka was making such a huge difference — and it was then that I discovered Confluent. 

I joined the Confluent team in 2020, working as a solutions engineer in Spain, as it sounded like an amazing opportunity. Back in 2020, I was the only solutions engineer helping fast-growing and digital native companies to adopt our technology across the EMEA region. And the opportunity paid off – by 2021 the team had grown tenfold. 

I look back to the beginning of my journey with Confluent with fond memories. The year of 2021 was a year in my career with many changes, where I was able to make a huge difference while working with (and learning from) fast-growing and digital native customers.

Tell us about your current team and the role you play?

The team in Spain continued to grow significantly, but in 2022 I had the opportunity to become a senior solutions engineer in Dubai, which is where I’m now based. 

I’ve now taken the next step in my Confluent career and I’m working with larger enterprise customers that are looking for ways to improve how they operate. It’s a new territory and I’m surrounded by brilliant people that love supporting our customers with their innovative strategies.

I’m loving the challenge of adapting my learnings from my previous team to the Middle East region, where customers are also eager to learn and ready to take the next step in their data streaming journey.

Tell us about an interesting project that you are currently working on.

There are so many interesting things that come into my mind that it is difficult to pick only one.

At Confluent, I’m constantly engaged with different teams across the business. For example, I’m always preparing for an upcoming event together with our colleagues from Marketing, where I will either be speaking or supporting. I’m also in constant touch with our partners, who help us to provide guidance to our customers in the region. And my relationships with product managers and engineers allow me to be fully transparent and confident when talking to customers about what we can offer.

The main part of my role revolves around customer engagement. Here, I make sure that data streaming is the right fit for what customers need. For example,, I have one customer that is finishing the implementation for a real-time fraud detection use case and another that is finalising an architecture modernization that will improve life for people living in the UAE.

Collaboration at Confluent is an important aspect of all of our roles. It is incredibly powerful. I really enjoy the sense of teamwork and how it brings a smooth experience to our customers.

How would you describe Confluent’s company culture?

Confluent’s values of being smart, humble and empathetic really resonated with me when I was first interviewing for my role. And four years in, I see these values every single day. I’m always learning from other people, colleagues are open to new ideas, and we are consistently helping each other. 

It’s amazing to see how everyone at Confluent is growing in the same direction. We are building something new, a new category for data infrastructure, and we all want our customers to be successful in their data in motion journey. And that shines through in everything we do.

What made you interested in working at Confluent?

Number one was Confluent’s technology. For the past 15 years, I’ve been working with software companies that were trying to make something new. Nothing that I’ve seen has been as disruptive as data streaming.

Number two was the opportunity to make a difference for more businesses, not limited to the telco industry.

And number three was the people. 

Finally, what’s the best decision you made in your career?

I studied in Brazil and through my degree I had the opportunity to study in France for a year through a scholarship. That was my first international experience and, after that, I didn’t stop travelling. I studied in France, then moved to Spain, where I worked for multiple companies worldwide, and now I’m in Dubai.

Through these experiences, I've learnt to speak English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, while being involved in many multicultural teams. That initial scholarship opportunity definitely opened a lot of doors and helped me contribute in many areas across many geographies. It really paid off and without it, I wouldn't be where I am in my career today.