Principal Software Engineer - Vector Search - Elasticsearch

Elastic
Romania
Workplace: OnsiteFull timeRON 326,400 - 516,400 annuallyFunction: Software EngineeringSkills: ["Collaboration","Communication","Autonomy","Code review","Problem-solving"]

Join Elasticsearch’s globally distributed Search team to lead initiatives that improve vector similarity search. You’ll design and implement new vector search features, enhance existing functionality, and resolve complex bugs—often inventing algorithms or data structures. Work closely with engineers and the open-source community, write idiomatic modern Java, and become the go-to expert for Elasticsearch’s vector similarity implementation to deliver speed and relevance at scale.

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FursaFursa
Elastic
Elastic
2 days ago

Principal Software Engineer - Vector Search - Elasticsearch

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Last checked: 5 hours agoStatus: Live

Job Summary

Join Elasticsearch’s globally distributed Search team to lead initiatives that improve vector similarity search. You’ll design and implement new vector search features, enhance existing functionality, and resolve complex bugs—often inventing algorithms or data structures. Work closely with engineers and the open-source community, write idiomatic modern Java, and become the go-to expert for Elasticsearch’s vector similarity implementation to deliver speed and relevance at scale.
Location: Romania
Workplace: Onsite
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Software Engineering
Seniority: Mid level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Lead initiatives within Elasticsearch to deliver an industry-leading vector database offering focused on speed and relevance.
  • •Build and fix vector search features and bugs while making the codebase easier to understand.
  • •Work with a globally distributed team to improve Elasticsearch’s vector search capabilities.
  • •Serve as an expert on Elasticsearch’s vector similarity implementation to answer questions and improve the area.
  • •Collaborate with the open-source community on issues and pull requests, sometimes triaging and sometimes handling directly.

Pay and Benefits

Salary: RON 326,400 - 516,400 annually
Perks:Health InsurancePaid LeaveParental LeaveVolunteer Projects

Key Requirements

  • •Implement novel techniques in vector similarity for search platforms with large user bases or contribute to academic research in vector similarity information retrieval.
  • •Hands-on professional experience with vector similarity and vector databases using algorithms and libraries such as HNSW, IVF, or similar.
  • •Strong core Java skills, including data structures, concurrency constructs, and modern language features like lambdas.
  • •Ability to take projects from technical design through delivery with guidance and collaboration across engineers.
  • •Experience with data storage technologies such as Elasticsearch, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or Cassandra, and understanding why they work.
Experience:Vector similarityVector databasesSearch platformsOpen source
Skills:CollaborationCommunicationAutonomyCode reviewProblem-solving
Tech Stack:JavaElasticsearchLuceneVector similarityVector databasesHNSWIVFSolrPostgreSQLMongoDBCassandraGitHubZoomSlack

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