← All roles

Principal Software Engineer - Storage Engine - Elasticsearch

Elastic· Platform - Elasticsearch
Apply on company site
Remote$159.8k - $252.8kfull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Principal Software Engineer to lead the architectural evolution of Elasticsearch's core storage and query engine, focusing on storage efficiency, query processing, and data layouts for object storage within a globally distributed, remote team.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the architectural evolution of core storage engine components, continually addressing performance bottlenecks in indexing layouts, serialization formats, and resource utilization.
  • Lead cross organizational initiatives to develop observability solutions.
  • Collaborate with a globally distributed team focused on logs and metrics capabilities of Elasticsearch.
  • Drive continuous operational and system improvements by promoting best practices and architectural clarity across the platform.
  • Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) across key areas of Elasticsearch and mentor the wider engineering organization.
  • Triage, resolve, and review issues and pull requests with a global community and domain experts as needed.
  • Write idiomatic modern Java – Elasticsearch is 99.8% Java!

Qualifications

  • Ability to collaborate across functions and transition between projects or teams based on priorities.
  • Autonomous in driving decisions and results in a distributed team via asynchronous, direct, and transparent communication.
  • Proven track record of using AI to accelerate development, debugging, and optimization, while owning final outcomes.
  • Prompt-engineering mindset to leverage AI agents effectively with sound engineering judgment.
  • Experience indexing, storing, and querying time-series or logs data using novel techniques.
  • Experience with one or more data storage technologies (e.g., Elasticsearch, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Prometheus).
  • Strong core Java skills with deep understanding of concurrency primitives and ability to design/optimize data structures and algorithms.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication; collaborative and respectful across distributed teams.

Skills

Required:JavaDistributed Systems & Performance
Nice to have:AI in Software Development

Benefits

  • Company-matched 401k with dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% of eligible earnings
  • Stock program eligibility
  • Flexible location and schedules
  • Competitive pay
  • Health coverage for employees and family in many locations
  • Generous vacation days
  • Volunteer donation matching up to $2000
  • Up to 16 weeks parental leave and family-friendly policies
Last updated Sep 10, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
Elastic logo

About Elastic

The open source platform that powers search, observability, security, and more ...

Power insights and outcomes with The Elastic Search AI Platform. See into your data and find answers that matter with enterprise solutions designed to help you accelerate time to insight.

searchobservabilitysecurityAIenterprise solutionsvector database
Company profileWebsite

More open roles at Elastic