Principal Software Engineer - Search Algorithms - Elasticsearch

Elastic
Spain
Workplace: OnsiteFull timeEUR 80,400 - 127,200 annuallyFunction: Software EngineeringSkills: ["Communication","Collaboration","Autonomy","Code review","Cross-functional collaboration"]

Lead initiatives in Elasticsearch’s vector search to build an industry-leading vector database with top speed and relevance. Design and implement new vector similarity features, improve existing vector search functionality, and resolve complex bugs, occasionally inventing algorithms or data structures. Work with a globally distributed team and the community, contribute to Lucene-related search improvements, and write idiomatic modern Java to make the codebase easier to understand.

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FursaFursa
Elastic
Elastic
17 hours ago

Principal Software Engineer - Search Algorithms - Elasticsearch

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Source: Company careers pageValidated by: Fursa AI
Last checked: 7 hours agoStatus: Live

Job Summary

Lead initiatives in Elasticsearch’s vector search to build an industry-leading vector database with top speed and relevance. Design and implement new vector similarity features, improve existing vector search functionality, and resolve complex bugs, occasionally inventing algorithms or data structures. Work with a globally distributed team and the community, contribute to Lucene-related search improvements, and write idiomatic modern Java to make the codebase easier to understand.
Location: Spain
Workplace: Onsite
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Software Engineering
Seniority: Sr. Manager level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Lead initiatives within Elasticsearch to produce an industry-leading vector database offering with speed and relevance.
  • •Build new vector search features and fix bugs while making the code easier to understand, sometimes designing algorithms/data structures.
  • •Improve and own Elasticsearch’s implementation of vector similarity for search relevance, answering expert questions on this area.
  • •Collaborate with a globally distributed engineering team focused on Elasticsearch vector search capabilities.
  • •Contribute to community issues and pull requests, including triaging and handling changes, and support Lucene-related search experience improvements.

Pay and Benefits

Salary: EUR 80,400 - 127,200 annually
Perks:Health InsuranceParental LeavePaid LeaveVolunteer Hours

Key Requirements

  • •Professional experience with vector similarity and vector databases at scale, including using algorithms/libraries such as HNSW or IVF.
  • •Strong core Java skills and familiarity with data structures and concurrency constructs, including lambdas.
  • •Ability to take on projects end-to-end with technical design ownership and collaboration with other engineers.
  • •Experience with search/data storage technologies such as Elasticsearch, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or Cassandra and an understanding of their workings.
  • •Excellent verbal and written communication skills and a track record of using AI to accelerate development and debug/optimize complex systems.
Experience:Vector searchVector databasesSearchOpen source
Skills:CommunicationCollaborationAutonomyCode reviewCross-functional collaboration
Tech Stack:JavaElasticsearchLuceneHNSWIVFVector similarity searchLambdasGitHubZoomSlackSolrPostgreSQLMongoDBCassandra

Company Brief

Elastic
Builds the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, Logstash) and provides search, observability, and security solutions that enable organizations to search, analyze, and protect data in real time across applications, infrastructure, and enterprises.
Industry: Data Infrastructure
Company Size: Enterprise (1,001+ employees)
Revenue: USD 1B+
Growth: Public Company
Valuation: Public Company (Market Cap in USD)
Funding: IPO / Publicly Listed
Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Founded: 2012
WebsiteLinkedIn