Elastic

Senior Software Engineer - Vector Search - 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 stated.
Visa sponsorship: An export license may be required as a condition of employment for applicants located in or nationals of the listed sanctioned countries and regions.

About the job

Leads development of Elasticsearch vector search and search relevance capabilities, building features, improving performance, and resolving bugs.

Lead initiatives to improve Elasticsearch search speed, relevance, and vector search capabilities.
Design and implement search features, algorithms, and data structures; fix bugs and improve code clarity.
Collaborate with distributed engineers and community contributors on issues, pull requests, and technical direction.

Implemented novel vector-similarity techniques on a search platform with a large user base, or advanced academic research in vector-similarity information retrieval.
Professional experience with search or vector databases and use of HNSW, IVF, or other relevant algorithms and libraries at scale.
Strong core Java skills, including Java data structures, concurrency constructs, and language features such as lambdas.
Proven track record using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code while owning final outcomes.

Built with Elasticsearch; experience with open-source projects, source-control workflows, or continuous integration.
Experience designing, leading, and owning cross-functional initiatives.

$133,100 — $210,600 USD (base salary); $159,900 — $252,900 USD (base salary)

Elasticsearch, Lucene, Java, HNSW, IVF, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB

Use AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code while retaining ownership of outcomes; build vector search capabilities.

Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative