Principal Software Engineer, Application Networking, Platform Infrastructure

Elastic

Confirmed live yesterday High trust

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
Posted
7 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live yesterday

Market check

Salary context

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $192k
$100k most similar roles pay here $249k

This listing doesn't post a salary. Most similar roles pay $169,550–$214,800.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About Elastic

Elastic is the company behind Elasticsearch and the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and Logstash). It sells search, observability, and security products built on that search engine, primarily through its Elastic Cloud managed service.

Elastic currently has 240 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $133,100–$210,600 across 91 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at Elastic

At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Software Engineer, Application Networking, Platform Infrastructure

Principal Software Engineer (Application Networking) - Platform Infrastructure joins the Platform Infrastructure team to define the future of Elastic Cloud application networking. This role focuses on designing and building high-performance, scalable systems for Ingress, security controls, private connectivity, and DNS management. The engineer will drive technical vision, lead multi-quarter cross-organizational projects, and manage complex incident investigations while mentoring other engineers. Key responsibilities include improving service reliability, performance, and cost efficiency across the platform. Required expertise includes cloud-native architecture, large-scale distributed systems, and advanced application networking. Candidates should be proficient in managing infrastructure that supports the Elastic stack. Preferred skills include experience with Kubernetes networking tools like Cilium, external-dns, Envoy Gateway, and Crossplane, along with familiarity with major cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, or GCP and their respective networking ecosystems.

What does a Software Engineer earn?

Median $197500 from 2196 postings across 133 companies.

See salary data

What you'll do

  • Define technical direction and architecture for major application networking initiatives from proposal to general availability.
  • Lead the development of Ingress, private connectivity, DNS, and security controls for Elastic Cloud.
  • Manage multi-quarter, cross-organizational projects that other engineering teams rely on for their infrastructure.
  • Resolve complex incident investigations and lead high-level operational reviews to improve service reliability.
  • Serve as a technical advisor and mentor to engineers across the organization to set software standards.
  • Advise product management and senior stakeholders on technical trade-offs, feasibility, and roadmap direction.
  • Identify and implement improvements for security, stability, and cost efficiency across the platform.

What we're looking for

  • Experience setting technical direction for complex distributed systems at a Staff or Principal level.
  • Deep expertise in application networking and cloud-native architecture.
  • Knowledge of designing, operating, and evolving Ingress, private connectivity, DNS, and security controls.
  • Experience building large-scale distributed systems rather than using off-the-shelf services.
  • Experience operating high-availability SaaS platforms and managing incident response.
  • Proven track record of using AI to accelerate development and debug complex systems.
  • Ability to lead multi-quarter, cross-organizational projects and mentor other engineers.
  • Experience with Kubernetes networking (Cilium, external-dns, Envoy Gateway, Crossplane) or major cloud providers is a plus.

More like this

Similar roles