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Senior Software Engineer - Performance Tuning - Elasticsearch

Elastic· Platform - Elasticsearch
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Remote$133.1k - $210.6kFull-timePosted 2mo ago

About the role

Senior Software Engineer on the Elasticsearch Performance team focused on performance engineering, optimization, benchmarking, and AI-assisted optimization to improve the performance, predictability, and scalability of Elasticsearch.

Responsibilities

  • Contributing to core performance engineering initiatives from development to production, focusing on the delivery of impactful optimizations. Executing technical designs and plans for architectural and code-level performance improvements.
  • Implementing foundational performance models and methodologies for complex, distributed systems.
  • Supporting optimization strategies to ensure Elasticsearch remains performant, predictable, and scalable in diverse environments.
  • Profiling and analyzing system behavior to identify bottlenecks in logging, metrics, vector search, and ES|QL.
  • Ensuring robust performance benchmarks and regression detection for both stateful and stateless (Serverless) architectures.
  • Collaborating with peers across the team to apply performance-focused development practices into new features.
  • Contributing to automation efforts by building AI-assisted optimization harnesses that streamline profiling, hypothesis testing, and benchmarking.
  • Providing technical guidance and peer reviews to other engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence.

Qualifications

  • Deep knowledge of Java internals and JVM memory management. Understanding of concurrency models. Ability to write high-performance, thread-safe, and lock-free code. Experience with large open-source and enterprise codebases.
  • Proven experience in profiling and optimizing distributed systems, including benchmarking tools (e.g., JMH, Rally), identifying performance regressions, and implementing algorithmic or hardware-aware optimizations.
  • Solid comprehension of distributed systems architecture, including partition tolerance, cluster state propagation, and scaling challenges in large-scale data stores.
  • Proven track record of using AI or advanced tooling to accelerate optimization, debug complex performance issues, and automate benchmarking workflows.
  • Ability to collaborate effectively within a team and across functions, and to transition between projects, codebases, or teams based on business priorities.
  • Ability to work autonomously, drive decisions, and contribute to a distributed team with asynchronous, direct, and transparent communication.

Skills

Required:Java internals and JVM memory managementDistributed systems profiling and optimizationAI-assisted optimization tooling

Benefits

  • Stock program participation
  • Company-matched 401k with dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% of eligible earnings
  • Health coverage for employee and family in many locations
  • Flexible locations and schedules
  • Generous vacation days
  • Donations matching up to $2000 (or local currency equivalent)
  • Up to 40 hours/year toward volunteer projects
  • Parental leave minimum 16 weeks
Last updated Aug 20, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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