Principal Software Engineer - Search Algorithms - Elasticsearch

Elastic, the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real time, using all their data, at scale , unleashing the potential of businesses and people.

We're looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join the Elasticsearch - Search team. This globally-distributed team of expert engineers focuses on delivering a robust and feature-rich search experience, including contributing to improving the search experience in Lucene.

What You Will Be Doing

• Lead initiatives within Elasticsearch to produce an industry-leading vector database offering, supplying unparalleled speed and relevance in search.
• Contribute to Elasticsearch full time, building new search features and fixing intriguing bugs, all while making the code easier to understand.
• Work with a globally distributed team of experienced engineers focused on the vector search capabilities of Elasticsearch.
• Be an expert on how Elasticsearch implements vector similarity in support of search relevance.
• Work with community members from all over the world on issues and pull requests.
• Write idiomatic modern Java -- Elasticsearch is 99.8% Java!

What You Bring Along

• Professional experience with vector similarity and vector databases, and you used HNSW, IVF, or other relevant algorithms and libraries on search platforms at scale.
• Strong skills in core Java and are conversant in the standard library of data structures and concurrency constructs.
• You work with a high level of autonomy, and are able to take on projects and guide them from beginning to end.
• You're comfortable developing collaboratively.
• You've used several data storage technologies like Elasticsearch, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or Cassandra.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Proven track record of using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code.
• Possess the ability to collaborate across functions and teams.

Bonus Points

• You've built things with Elasticsearch before.
• You've worked with open source projects.
• Experience with data storage technology.
• Experience designing, leading and owning cross-functional initiatives.

The typical starting salary range for this role is: $159,800-$252,800 USD In select locations, an alternate range may apply: $191,900-$303,500 USD

Additional Information - We Take Care of Our People

• Competitive pay
• Health coverage for you and your family
• Flexible locations and schedules
• Generous number of vacation days each year
• Increase your impact - We match up to $2000 for financial donations and service
• Up to 40 hours each year to use toward volunteer projects
• Embracing parenthood with minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave