Principal Software Engineer, Search Infra, Elasticsearch

Elastic

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Remote

Quick summary

Work type: Remote
Location: Remote
Posted: 6 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live today

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How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $218k

$138k most similar roles pay here $289k

This listing doesn't post a salary. Most similar roles pay $193,825–$241,750.

Based on 240 similar postings.

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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 272 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $133,100–$210,600 across 93 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Software Engineer, Search Infra, Elasticsearch

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Principal Software Engineer - Search Infra - Elasticsearch joins the search infrastructure team to provide technical vision and direction for core capabilities including indexing, retrieval, and relevance. This role involves defining and building next-generation features while researching advances in data structures and retrieval algorithms to ensure high-performance foundations. The successful candidate will collaborate with product teams to shape long-term roadmaps and mentor other engineers. Key requirements include deep expertise in search internals and experience with large-scale distributed systems. Technical skills required include core Java, advanced data structures, concurrency constructs, and familiarity with technologies like Elasticsearch, Lucene, or Solr. The role focuses on solving complex problems within the search and information retrieval space by optimizing query execution and improving the underlying infrastructure of the platform to support robust, high-performance software systems for diverse users.

What does a Software Engineer earn in Remote?

Median $202482 from 350 postings across 56 companies.

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Skills

Elasticsearch Lucene Java Solr Distributed Systems Information Retrieval Data Structures Concurrency Open Source GitHub Search Infrastructure Indexing Query Execution

What you'll do

Define, lead, and contribute to the evolution of core search and indexing capabilities.
Research advances in search infrastructure, data structures, and retrieval algorithms.
Provide technical vision and direction for Elasticsearch’s core search infrastructure.
Drive an innovative roadmap for indexing, query execution, and relevance layers.
Act as a go-to expert to improve specific domains of the search platform.
Mentor expert engineers by providing both technical and professional guidance.
Develop high-performance software using Java and advanced data structures.
Manage projects from concept to completion including technical design and component development.

What we're looking for

Experience leading technical projects in search infrastructure and distributed systems.
Experience mentoring expert engineers through technical and professional guidance.
Experience defining long-term technical vision for core search or retrieval systems across teams.
Hands-on experience with search and indexing technologies such as Elasticsearch, Lucene, or Solr.
Proficiency in core Java, advanced data structures, concurrency constructs, and modern language features like lambdas.
Ability to work autonomously from concept to completion including technical design and collaboration.
Experience with large-scale data systems or distributed storage engines.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills for collaborating across distributed teams.
Experience building with Elasticsearch and understanding search theory (preferred).
Experience with open source projects and familiar with various source control workflows and CI (preferred).

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