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Elastic

Senior Software Engineer - Vector Search - Elasticsearch

Elastic
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senior full-time €85,600-€135,500 EUR Ireland

First indexed 28 Aug 2026

Description

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 Senior Software Engineer to join the Elasticsearch - Search Relevance 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 search engine 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 Elasticsearch 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

  • You have implemented novel techniques in vector similarity on a search platform with a large user base or progressed the field of academic research in vector similarity information retrieval.
  • Professional experience with search or vector databases, and you used HNSW, IVF, or other relevant algorithms and libraries on search platforms at scale.
  • You have solid 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.
  • You have a proven track record of using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code.
  • You possess the ability to collaborate across functions and teams and seamlessly transition between different projects, codebases, or teams based on business priorities.
  • You work autonomously and can drive decisions and results in a distributed team.

Bonus Points

  • You've built things with Elasticsearch before.
  • You've worked with open source projects and are familiar with different styles of source control workflow and continuous integration.
  • Experience with data storage technology.
  • You have experience designing, leading, and owning cross-functional initiatives.

The typical starting salary range for this role is: €85,600-€135,500 EUR

Additional Information - We Take Care of Our People As a distributed company, diversity drives our identity.

  • Competitive pay based on the work you do here and not your previous salary
  • Health coverage for you and your family in many locations
  • Ability to craft your calendar with flexible locations and schedules for many roles
  • Generous number of vacation days each year
  • Increase your impact - We match up to $2000 (or local currency equivalent) for financial donations and service
  • Up to 40 hours each year to use toward volunteer projects you love
  • Embracing parenthood with minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave
This listing is enriched and indexed by YubHub. To apply, use the employer's original posting: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/elastic/jobs/8161569