Elastic
Senior Software Engineer - Search Algorithms - Elasticsearch
$133K–$253K
United States +1 · Senior · Full-time · Posted Aug 27, 2026
- Location
- United States
Distributed, Global - Experience
- Professional experience with search or vector databases is required; no number of years is stated.
- Visa sponsorship
- An export license may be required as a condition of employment for individuals located in or nationals of the listed sanctioned countries and regions.
About the job
Develop and improve Elasticsearch search and vector-search capabilities, including relevance features, algorithms, data structures, and bug fixes.
What you'll do
- Lead Elasticsearch search initiatives and contribute to technical direction, feature design, implementation, and bug resolution.
- Improve search relevance, speed, and vector-search capabilities; make code easier to understand.
- Collaborate with distributed teams and community members on code reviews, issues, and pull requests.
What they ask for
- Professional experience with search or vector databases and use of HNSW, IVF, or other relevant algorithms and libraries on search platforms at scale.
- Strong core Java skills, including data structures, concurrency constructs, and lambdas.
- Ability to autonomously lead projects from technical design through delivery and collaborate across teams.
- Proven use of AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code while owning outcomes.
Nice to have
- Prior experience building with Elasticsearch.
- Open-source project experience and familiarity with source-control workflows and continuous integration.
Pay
$133,100 — $210,600 USD (base salary); $159,900 — $252,900 USD (base salary)
Tools
Elasticsearch, Lucene, Java, HNSW, IVF, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
AI focus
Use AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code; the role also contributes to Elasticsearch vector-search capabilities.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative