Senior Software Engineer – Vector Search (Elasticsearch)

About the role

Elastic is looking for a senior software engineer to join the Elasticsearch Search Relevance team and drive the development of vector‑search capabilities. You will work with a globally distributed group of experts to shape the future of search relevance and performance.

Key responsibilities

• Lead initiatives that deliver industry‑leading speed and relevance for Elasticsearch.
• Design and implement new search features, fix complex bugs, and improve code readability.
• Invent or adopt algorithms and data structures, sometimes working close to the operating system and hardware.
• Collaborate with community contributors on issues, pull requests, and triage.
• Write idiomatic modern Java code for a codebase that is 99.8% Java.

Required profile

• Proven experience implementing novel vector similarity techniques on large‑scale search platforms.
• Hands‑on experience with search or vector databases using HNSW, IVF or similar algorithms.
• Strong autonomy in taking projects from design through delivery.
• Comfortable giving and receiving code feedback in an asynchronous, distributed environment.
• Ability to collaborate across functions and switch between projects as priorities change.

Required skills

• Core Java (including concurrency constructs, lambdas, standard library data structures).
• Elasticsearch and Lucene internals.
• Vector similarity algorithms such as HNSW and IVF.
• Experience with data storage technologies (Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Cassandra).
• AI‑assisted development and debugging techniques.

What we offer

• Competitive base salary (€55,800 – €88,300 per year) with transparent pay philosophy.
• Health coverage for you and your family in many locations.
• Flexible location and schedule to support a distributed workforce.
• Generous vacation allowance and parental leave (minimum 16 weeks).
• Company‑matched charitable donations up to $2,000 (or local equivalent) and paid volunteer time.