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Last Updated July 31, 2025

Confluent Candidate Privacy Notice

This Confluent Candidate Privacy Notice (“Notice”) describes how and when Confluent, Inc., and its group companies (“Confluent,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) collect, use, and share certain Personal Information (defined below) of job applicants and prospective employees located in California or the European Economic Area including the United Kingdom (“Candidate(s)”). This Notice does not address Confluent’s privacy practices in relation to its employees, which are described in the Confluent Staff Privacy Policy.

This Notice supplements the general information about our privacy practices available in our Confluent Privacy Notice available here: https://www.confluent.io/legal/confluent-privacystatement/

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We recommend that you read this Notice in full to ensure you are fully informed. However, to make it easier for you to review those parts of this Notice which apply to you, we have divided up the document into the following sections:

1. Who We Are
2. Personal Information We Collect
3. Information Collection and Third Party Sources
4. Purposes of Use
5. Sharing of Personal Information
6. How long do we keep your Personal Information?
7. Automated Decision Making
8. Information for Applicants from the United States
9. Information for California Residents
10. Information for Residents of the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland and the United Kingdom
11. Changes to This Notice
12. Contact Information

1. Who We Are

Confluent is a company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Confluent is pioneering a fundamentally new category of data infrastructure with its data streaming platform putting data in motion. Confluent’s cloud-native platform is designed to be the intelligent connective tissue enabling real-time data, from multiple sources, to constantly stream across the  organization. With Confluent, organizations can harness the full power of continuously flowing data innovate and win in a digital-first world.

2. Personal Information We Collect

 In connection with your prospective employment or engagement with Confluent, we may collect, store, and use the following categories of information about you. This list is representative and not exhaustive. We refer to these categories as “Personal Information” throughout this Notice.

  • contact information and identifiers: such as your first and last name, online identifiers, account and usernames, aliases, IP address, email addresses, home and postal addresses, telephone numbers, and signatures;
  • facial images and audio information: such as photos, videos and/or voice interactions or recordings;
  • demographic data: such as age (including date of birth), gender, marital status, spouse and dependents, and certain sensitive data categories, described below;
  • professional and background information: such as resumes/CVs, references, recommendations, academic and education background and qualifications, work skills and experience, professional certifications and registrations, language capabilities, training courses attended, results of criminal background checks, results of drug and alcohol testing;
  • work permit status: such as immigration, residency, and related information;
  • benefits information: such as information for determining benefits and cost estimation, (which may require information about gender, age, including birth date, marital status, and Personal Information of spouse and dependents);
  • travel information: such as dates and length of travel, hotel names and locations, travel routes and departures, stops, and destination points, and rewards earned for travel;
  • analytics or monitoring data: including information required to access company systems and applications such as system ID, IP address, usernames, passwords, account details, device information, data necessary to facilitate proper operation, and logs, or other information that you submit or input into our systems through completion of forms, and information about your use of our IT systems;
  • social media data: including information posted in social media profiles and on recruiting websites, and user activity (posts, likes, replies, etc.);
  • public records: including data or information publicly available online or through official governmental channels; and
  • sensitive data, such as:
    • government-issued identifiers including, social security, taxpayer identification, driver’s license, state identification card, citizenship or immigration status, and/or national/ID passport numbers;
    • criminal offenses;
    • information about legally protected classes; such as
      • race/ethnic and national origin;
      • religious creed;
      • physical, medical, or mental health or condition and related accommodations;
      • marital status;
      • gender;
      • age; and
      • sexual orientation where permitted by law and on the basis of voluntary and consensual disclosure.

Sensitive data may also include data relating to political opinions; religious and philosophical beliefs, trade union membership; genetic data; biometric data; health data; account log-in, financial account, debit card, or credit card number in combination with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account; and contents of mail, email, and text messages unless Confluent is the intended recipient of the communication.

In some circumstances we may anonymize your Personal Information so that it can no longer be associated with you or linked to you in any way. Anonymized data is not Personal Information, and we may use such information without further notice to you.

3. Information Collection and Third Party Sources

We receive most Personal Information from you directly. For example, when you apply for a position at Confluent, we may collect Personal Information from your CV or resume, and through your interviews and correspondence with us.

We also sometimes receive Personal Information from third parties, including recruitment agencies, job boards, background check providers, social media and online searches (such as public databases and/or websites like LinkedIn, as permitted by law), former employers, and  personal references. We collect Personal Information about you from third parties (including publicly available sources) in order to: verify information about your credentials, such as education, qualifications, and prior employment, follow-up on references that you may provide, and conduct background investigations.

If you travel for a job interview or incur expenses in the recruitment process, we may also collect your Personal Information from our service providers (e.g., expense reimbursement services), or travel partners (e.g., travel agents and portals, car service, and ride share companies).

4. Purposes of Use

Confluent collects, uses, retains, and discloses Personal Information as appropriate for the purpose of determining your qualifications for current or future employment and reaching a hiring decision, administer and carry out the recruitment and hiring process, and for operational, business, safety, and security purposes as described in this Notice.

For example, we may use your Personal Information to broadly evaluate how you fit into our organizational and hiring needs. We may also use systems application data to ensure network and information security, policy compliance, and to prevent fraud and abuse. Finally, we may use sensitive categories of data, such as Personal Information relating to your race, ethnic background, or sexual orientation, to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting, when legally required or permissible. We do not collect or use the Personal Information you submit as a job applicant for purposes unrelated to the hiring and onboarding processes.

Purposes of Use  Categories of Personal Information
Human Resources Uses  
Recruitment and hiring decisions Contact information and identifiers; facial images, and audio information; professional and background information; analytics or monitoring data; social media data; public records; sensitive data
Travel and expense reimbursements Contact information and identifiers; travel information; analytics or monitoring data
Benefits eligibility determination Contact information and identifiers; demographic data; benefits information; analytics or monitoring data, sensitive data
Equal employment opportunity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility programs Contact information and identifiers; demographic data; sensitive data
Legal and policy compliance administration and enforcement (including for anti-discrimination laws and government reporting obligations) Contact information and identifiers; facial images, and audio information; demographic data; professional and background information; work permit status; analytics or monitoring data, sensitive data
Business Uses  

Managing, monitoring, protecting, and improving, Confluent Systems, assets and resources, including preventing access and use of confidential information

 Contact information and identifiers; facial images, and audio information; demographic data; professional and background information; travel information; analytics or monitoring data; sensitive data
Managing, monitoring, protecting, and improving the Confluent workplace, including its facilities, on-site services, occupancy levels, security systems, and guest logs Contact information and identifiers; facial images, and audio information; demographic data; professional and background information; personal vehicle information; travel information; analytics or monitoring data; sensitive data
Managing and improving workplace efficiency and effectiveness Contact information and identifiers; facial images, and audio information; demographic data; travel information; analytics or monitoring data; sensitive data
Communications and collaboration Contact information and identifiers; facial images, and audio information; demographic data; travel information; analytics or monitoring data; sensitive data
Delivery of information, goods and services Contact information and identifiers; sensitive data
Legal and policy compliance administration and enforcement Contact information and identifiers; visual, facial images, and audio information; demographic data; professional and background information; travel information; analytics or monitoring data; sensitive data
Research and improvement of Confluent processes, products, services, and technology Contact information and identifiers; visual, facial images, and audio information; demographic data; professional and background information; travel  information; analytics or monitoring data; sensitive data

If you become a Confluent employee, Personal Information that was collected as part of the application and hiring process will become part of your employee file and will be used in the manner described in our Confluent Staff Privacy Policy and other employee privacy notices.

5. Sharing of Personal Information

We share Personal Information with your consent or for the purposes described in this Notice. For example, we share Personal Information with:

  • Our subsidiaries and affiliates, including across business processes and common data
    systems;
  • Third party vendors or advisors working on our behalf, including companies we've hired to provide recruiting, hiring, travel, and administrative services, systems providers, or third party vendors whose services or applications we otherwise use or rely on during the recruiting process;
  • As required by law or subpoena or if we reasonably believe that such action is necessary to comply with the law or the reasonable requests of law enforcement, to enforce our Terms of Use or other agreements or to protect the security or integrity of our website, products, and services, and/or to exercise or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Confluent, our staff, customers, users, or others.

We may also disclose Personal Information as part of a corporate transaction or proceeding such as a merger, financing, acquisition, bankruptcy, dissolution, or at transfer, divestiture, or sale of all or a portion of our business or assets. Your information may also be disclosed to governmental entities in compliance with applicable law in the United States and other countries.

Your Personal Information is transferred to and processed in the United States by Confluent and third parties providing services to Confluent, and may also be transferred to other countries if necessary for the application process (e.g., in order to share the data with local hiring managers). Confluent has put in place adequate measures, such as standard contractual clauses, to adequately protect cross-border transfers, and requires all of its agents to abide by applicable privacy and data protection requirements in the jurisdictions in which they operate.

6. How long do we keep your Personal Information?

If you are successful in your application your data will be kept in your personnel file. If you are unsuccessful, your data will normally be anonymized thirty-six months after you have been informed that you were unsuccessful allowing for legal and policy compliance administration and enforcement as applicable.

7. Automated Decision Making

Confluent may make certain decisions based solely on automated processing in a variety of ways (including through the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence) to support and improve business operations. Confluent does not, however, subject your Personal Information to automated decision making that produces legal or similarly significant effects. To exercise any rights and choices available, you can contact us using any of the contact details provided under the "Contact Information" heading below.

8. Information for Applicants from the United States

Confluent may deploy certain automated tools to perform specific recruiting tasks that rely on machine learning (also referred to as Automated Intelligence or AI.) These tools automatically score you with a rating based on the match of the information provided by you with the job requisition basic and preferred qualifications. Confluent recruiters utilize the screening score as a guide to further evaluate candidates; the score does not automatically result in a decision as to whether the candidate moves forward.

Confluent keeps your application information for 3 years, and processes it in order to consider you for additional and future job openings at Confluent using a process that uses AI. This process compares the information provided by you against additional and future job requisitions, and alerts Confluent recruiters when there are matches, and recruiters may contact you regarding those requisitions.

If you wish to opt-out of either of these uses of your Personal Information, please submit a request using the information from the Contact Information section below.

9. Information for Applicants from California

Candidates located in California have the following data protection rights:

  • Know and Access: You have the right to request to know and access the Personal Information that we have collected about you over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable request, we may disclose to you:
    • the categories of Personal Information we have collected about you;
    • the categories of sources from which your Personal Information was collected;
    • the business or commercial purposes for collecting that Personal Information;
    • the categories of third parties to whom we have disclosed that Personal Information; and
    • the specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about you.

You have the right to receive your Personal Information in a portable and commonly used format.

  • Correct: You have the right to request that we correct any of your Personal Information that we have collected from you that is inaccurate.
  • Delete: You may have the right to request that we delete certain Personal Information we have collected from you.
  • Opt out of the Sale and Sharing of your Personal Information: If applicable, you have the right to request that a business not "sell" or "share" your Personal Information with a third party, as those terms are defined under the CCPA.
  • Limit the use and disclosure of sensitive Personal Information: We do not use or disclose "sensitive Personal Information,” as defined by the CCPA, for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you, or in any way that would require a right to limit under the CCPA. As a result, we do not offer an ability to limit the use or disclosure of sensitive Personal Information.
  • Non-Discrimination: You have the right to not be discriminated against for exercising any of your privacy rights.

Please note that the rights described above are not absolute, and where an exception under applicable law applies, we may be entitled to refuse requests in whole or in part.

You can make any of these requests by using the contact details outlined below. We will respond and address all requests in accordance with the applicable data protection laws. Please note that we may request certain information from you to enable us to confirm your identity. Please also note that in California, an authorized agent may submit a rights request on your behalf. We may require an authorized agent to verify their authority to submit a request on your behalf and may also require to you to confirm with us that you provided the agent permission to submit the request or to verify your own identity directly with us.

10. Information for Applicants from the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland and the United Kingdom

This section applies to Personal Information originating from the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom, and is not intended to create any rights beyond those that exist under the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 ("GDPR") or other applicable privacy and data protection laws.

A. Transfers of Personal Information outside the European Economic Area

When we transfer Personal Information from the EEA, the UK, and from Switzerland to the United States or other countries which have not been determined by the European Commission to have laws that provide an adequate level of data protection, we use legal mechanisms, including contracts, designed to help ensure your rights pertaining to your Personal Information are protected. Specifically, our website servers are located in the United States and our affiliates, partners, third parties and service providers operate in the United States, European Economic Area, Canada, India, and Australia. When we collect your Personal Information, we may process it for the purposes detailed in the Notice, in any country that members of our group or third party data processors are located. We have taken appropriate safeguards to require that your Personal Information will remain protected in accordance with this Notice. The safeguard Confluent primarily relies upon is the European Commission approved standard contractual data protection clauses. For more information about these mechanisms, please contact us using the contact details provided in the “Contact details” section in the Notice.

B. Legal grounds for processing Personal Information

"Process" and "Processing" means any operation or set of operations which is performed on your Personal Information, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

In order to comply with European data privacy laws, we need to have legal bases for using your Personal Information for the purposes described in this Notice. In nearly all cases, our legal basis will be one or more of the following:

(a) our use of your Personal Information is necessary for the performance of our obligations under a contract with you (for example, to pay you, communicate with you, or confer benefits upon you); and/or

(b) our use of your Personal Information is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, including as your potential employer/engager (for example, by providing information to tax authorities, or conducting legally required work authorization checks); and/or

(c) our use of your Personal Information is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party (for example, to operationalize a groupwide company structure, information sharing, and internal reporting, to perform our obligations to customers and maintain good relations with them, to ensure a safe and secure working environment and prevent fraud or other harms, or in connection with corporate transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, or debt or equity financings); and/or

(d) less commonly, our use of your Personal Information is necessary to protect a person’s vital interests, or to perform a task carried out in the public interest.

Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of your Personal Information.

C. Processing Sensitive Personal Information

Sensitive Personal Information, also known as "sensitive personal data" or "special categories" of personal data, require higher levels of protection. Special category data is Personal Information relating to racial or ethnic origins; political opinions; religious and philosophical beliefs, trade union membership; genetic data; biometric data; health data; sex life or sexual orientation. We may process sensitive Personal Information with your explicit written consent. We may also process sensitive Personal Information when:

(a) It is needed to carry out our legal obligations and/or exercise certain legal rights (such as in the field of employment law);

(b) It is in the public interest (such as for equal opportunities monitoring or in relation to an occupational pension scheme);

(c) It has already been manifestly made public by you;

(d) It is needed to assess your working capacity on health grounds; or

(e) it is needed to protect a person’s vital interests and you are not capable of giving your consent.

We may occasionally ask you for your consent to process certain sensitive data. Your consent is not a condition of your application with us, and you may withdraw any consent given in such circumstance by contacting privacy@confluent.io.

D. Your Privacy Rights – EEA/UK candidates only

Candidates located in the EEA and UK may have the following rights under applicable data protection laws:

  • You may access, correct, or request deletion of your Personal Information.
  • You can object to processing of your Personal Information, ask us to restrict processing of your Personal Information or request portability of your Personal Information (i.e. your data to be transmitted to another data controller in a machine readable and standardised format).
  • If we have relied on your consent as a ground for processing, you may withdraw your consent at any time for future processing. However, if you do so that will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your Personal Information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

Please note that certain conditions and exceptions may apply to these rights and that application of the above rights may vary depending on the type of Personal Information involved, and our particular basis for processing the Personal Information. You can make any of these requests by contacting peoplesupport@confluent.io and/or privacy@confluent.io. We will respond to requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

11. Changes to This Notice

Confluent may occasionally update this Notice to reflect changes in law or in Confluent’s practices or procedures. If we make material changes to this Notice or how we use your Personal Information, we will notify you of such changes or obtain your consent, where required by law.

12. Contact Information

Candidates may contact peoplesupport@confluent.io and/or privacy@confluent.io with any questions or complaints regarding Confluent’s compliance with this Notice.

Our main address is 899 West Evelyn, Mountain View, CA 94041, USA.

Our EU representative’s contact information is Confluent Germany GmbH c/o Osborne Clarke, Innere Kanalstraße 15, D-50823 Cologne, Germany and may also be reached at privacy@confluent.io.

Our United Kingdom representative’s contact information is Confluent Europe Ltd. - EMEA, 1 Bedford Street London WC2E 9HG and may also be reached at privacy@confluent.io.