Principal Software Engineer, Search Infra, Elasticsearch

Elastic

Confirmed live today Low trust

Remote

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Work type: Remote
Location: Remote
Posted: 3 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 Infra team to provide technical vision and direction for core search infrastructure, including indexing, retrieval, and relevance. This role involves researching advances in data structures and retrieval algorithms while defining the long-term roadmap for Elasticsearch’s capabilities. The engineer will collaborate with product teams to shape the evolution of query execution and relevance layers. Key requirements include expertise in distributed systems, large-scale search platforms, and core Java, including advanced concurrency constructs and lambda features. Candidates must have hands-on experience with technologies such as Elasticsearch, Lucene, or Solr. The role focuses on solving complex problems in information retrieval by building high-performance software for the search infrastructure layer, ensuring efficient data processing and robust indexing capabilities within a distributed environment.

What does a Software Engineer earn in Remote?

Median $202482 from 350 postings across 56 companies.

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Skills

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

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.
Develop an innovative roadmap for indexing, query execution, and relevance layers.
Serve as a go-to expert to improve specific domains of the search platform.
Mentor other engineers by providing technical and professional guidance.
Manage projects from concept to completion, including both technical design and implementation.
Ensure all code follows secure software development frameworks and data protection standards.

What we're looking for

Experience leading technical projects in search infrastructure and distributed systems.
Experience mentoring expert engineers with 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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