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Senior Software Engineer - Search Algorithms - Elasticsearch

Elastic· Platform - Elasticsearch
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Hybrid (Ireland)€85.6k - €135.5kfull-timePosted 1mo ago

About the role

Senior Software Engineer on the Elasticsearch - Search Relevance team responsible for technical direction, design and implementation of new search features, enhancements to search functionality, and bug resolution within a globally-distributed team focused on search relevance and vector search capabilities.

Responsibilities

  • 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.
  • Sometimes you'll need to invent a new algorithm or data structure. Or find one and implement it. Sometimes you'll need to get close to the operating system and hardware.
  • Work with a globally distributed team of experienced engineers focused on the vector search capabilities of Elasticsearch.
  • Be an expert on Elasticsearch search relevance. You'll identify and drive improvements this area based on your questions and your instincts.
  • Work with community members from all over the world on issues and pull requests, sometimes triaging them and handing them off to other experts and sometimes handling them yourself.
  • Write idiomatic modern Java -- Elasticsearch is 99.8% Java!

Qualifications

  • Professional experience with search or vector databases, and experience with HNSW, IVF, or other relevant algorithms and libraries on search platforms at scale.
  • Solid skills in core Java and familiarity with data structures, concurrency constructs, and features like lambdas.
  • Ability to work autonomously, guide projects from design to delivery, and collaborate with other engineers to develop components.
  • Experience collaborating across teams and, ideally, asynchronously over the internet.
  • Experience with data storage technologies such as Elasticsearch, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or Cassandra.
  • Proven track record of using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code while owning final outcomes.
  • Ability to adapt across projects, codebases, or teams based on business priorities, maintaining distributed-team communication.

Skills

Required:Search relevance optimizationJavaVector search / algorithms (e.g., HNSW, IVF)

Benefits

  • Competitive pay based on the work you do here and not your previous salary
  • Health coverage for you and your family in many locations
  • Flexible calendar with location and schedule flexibility for many roles
  • Generous number of vacation days each year
  • Company matches 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
  • Minimum of 16 weeks parental leave
Last updated Sep 3, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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