Opportunity at
ElasticPrincipal Software Developer - Search Infra - Elasticsearch
This full-time Principal Software Developer role is on the Elasticsearch Search Infra team in the United States and is listed as on-site. The team is globally…
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About This Role
This full-time Principal Software Developer role is on the Elasticsearch Search Infra team in the United States and is listed as on-site. The team is globally distributed and builds a strong, feature-rich search experience, including improvements to search in Lucene. The developer sets the technical roadmap and steering for Elasticsearch's core search infrastructure, which covers indexing, retrieval and relevance. The role defines and leads the next wave of search capabilities,…
Job Description
This full-time Principal Software Developer role is on the Elasticsearch Search Infra team in the United States and is listed as on-site. The team is globally distributed and builds a strong, feature-rich search experience, including improvements to search in Lucene.
The developer sets the technical roadmap and steering for Elasticsearch's core search infrastructure, which covers indexing, retrieval and relevance. The role defines and leads the next wave of search capabilities, studies advances in data structures and retrieval algorithms, and helps shape the long-term plan with partners and product teams. The developer is expected to become the recognised reference point across multiple Elasticsearch areas.
Candidates should have led technical projects in search or distributed systems, built and run sophisticated search platforms and mentored expert engineers. A defined multi-year plan for a search or retrieval engine at the core is needed, along with hands-on experience with Elasticsearch, Lucene or Solr. Strong core Java skills, including concurrency, advanced data structures and newer language features, are required, and the role calls for high autonomy and a supportive, empathetic approach to colleagues.
Base salary is the only form of pay, with no variable component. The posting gives a typical starting range of $154,000 to $243,600 CAD. Eligibility for Elastic's stock program and a Registered Retirement Savings Plan the company matches dollar for dollar on eligible earnings up to 6 percent, are also described.
Responsibilities
- Set the technical roadmap and steering for indexing, retrieval and relevance
- Define and lead the next wave of search and indexing capabilities
- Study recent progress in search infrastructure, its data structures and retrieval methods
- Shape the long-term search roadmap with partners and product teams
- Become the go-to reference point across multiple Elasticsearch areas
Requirements
- Experience leading technical projects in search infrastructure or distributed systems
- Experience running complex search platforms in production
- Experience mentoring expert engineers
- Defined multi-year plan for a search or retrieval engine at the core
- Hands-on experience with Elasticsearch, Lucene or Solr
- Strong core Java skills, including concurrency and newer language features
- High autonomy and a supportive, empathetic working style
- Excellent verbal and written communication
Qualifications
- Background in large-scale data or search platforms and distributed storage engines
- Experience with open source projects and source control and CI workflows
Core Skills
Benefits
- Eligibility for Elastic's stock program
- Registered Retirement Savings Plan the company matches dollar for dollar on eligible earnings, up to 6 percent
- Competitive pay set by the work performed, not by previous salary
- Health coverage for employees and their families in many locations
- Scheduling and location flexibility for many roles
- Generous annual vacation allowance
- Company match of up to $2,000 (or local equivalent) for donations and service
- Up to 40 hours a year available for volunteer work
- At least 16 weeks of parental leave
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
Where is this role based?
The listing gives the United States as the location and marks the role as on-site.
What is the salary range?
The posting gives a typical starting base salary range of $154,000 to $243,600 CAD. Base salary is the only form of pay, with no variable component.
What experience is expected?
Experience leading technical projects in search or distributed systems, mentoring expert engineers and defining a multi-year technical plan is expected.
Is the role full-time?
Yes. The listing states full-time employment.
Are equity and retirement benefits mentioned?
Yes. The posting describes eligibility for Elastic's stock program and a Registered Retirement Savings Plan that the company matches.
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