Elastic, the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real time, using
all their data, at scale — unleashing the potential of businesses and people. The Elastic Search AI Platform, used by more than
50% of the Fortune 500, brings together the precision of search and the intelligence of AI to enable everyone to accelerate the
results that matter. By taking advantage of all structured and unstructured data — securing and protecting private information
more effectively — Elastic’s complete, cloud-based solutions for search, security, and observability help organizations deliver on
the promise of AI.
What is The Role
Elasticsearch powers search, observability, and AI
retrieval (RAG) for the world's largest organizations. We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join the Elasticsearch
Performance team. In this role, you will lead architectural and code-level performance engineering initiatives. Your goal is to
drive the continuous optimization and predictability of Elasticsearch performance, partnering with area-specific teams to unlock
the full potential of our software.
What You Will Be Doing
- Owning core performance
engineering initiatives from architecture to production, focusing on the delivery of high-impact optimizations. Leading the
technical design, plan, and execution for major architectural and code-level performance improvements.
- Developing
foundational performance models and methodologies for complex, distributed systems.
- Driving 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 across the
company to embed performance-first thinking into new features from the outset.
- Drive automation efforts by designing and
building AI-assisted optimization harnesses that streamline profiling, hypothesis testing, and benchmarking.
- Mentoring
and coaching other engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and performance-aware development.
What
You Bring
- You have deep knowledge of Java internals and JVM memory management. You understand how concurrency models
work. You can write code that is high-performance, thread-safe, and lock-free. This experience includes working with large
open-source and enterprise codebases.
- You have proven experience in profiling and optimizing distributed systems. This
includes deep experience with benchmarking tools (e.g.,flamegraphs, JMH, Rally), identifying performance regressions, and
implementing algorithmic or hardware-aware optimizations.
- You have a solid comprehension of distributed systems
architecture, including partition tolerance, cluster state propagation, and scaling challenges in large-scale data stores.
- You have a proven track record of using AI or advanced tooling to accelerate optimization, debug complex performance issues,
and automate benchmarking workflows.
- You possess the ability to collaborate across functions and teams, acting as a force
multiplier for performance engineering across the organization.
- You possess the ability to collaborate across functions
and teams and seamlessly transition between different projects, codebases, or teams based on business priorities
- You can
work autonomously, drive decisions and result in a distributed team by leveraging asynchronous, direct, and transparent
communication.
Bonus Points
- Experience integrating high-performance native libraries (e.g., C++,
Rust, SIMD-accelerated code) into Java applications.
- Deep knowledge of modern storage engine performance, index modes, or
vector search optimizations.
- Experience defining and managing Performance SLAs and success criteria for distributed
systems.
- Experience working on the internals of a large-scale data store or search engine.
- Experience working on
the internals of a data store or search engine.
Compensation for this role is in the form of base salary. This role does not have a variable
compensation component.
At Elastic, our compensation philosophy aims to provide fair, competitive and
transparent remuneration. Salary ranges are established based on a combination of external market benchmarks, internal pay equity
considerations, and the responsibilities and complexity associated with each role. This approach helps ensure consistency across
comparable roles while remaining competitive within the relevant labour markets.
The final compensation offered within the
applicable range will be determined based on several objective factors, including relevant professional experience, level of
skills and expertise, alignment with the role requirements, and the overall scope and complexity of the position.
The typical starting salary range for this role is:
949.500 kr—1.502.000 kr NOK
Additional Information - We Take Care of Our People
As a distributed
company, diversity drives our identity. Whether you’re looking to launch a new career or grow an existing one, Elastic is the type
of company where you can balance great work with great life. Your age is only a number. It doesn’t matter if you’re just out of
college or your children are; we need you for what you can do.
We strive to have parity of benefits across regions and
while regulations differ from place to place, we believe taking care of our people is the right thing to do.
- Competitive pay based on the work you do here and not your previous salary
- Health coverage for you and your family in
many locations
- Ability to craft your calendar with flexible locations and schedules for many roles
- Generous
number of vacation days each year
- Increase your impact - We match 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
- Embracing
parenthood with minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave
Different people approach problems differently. We need that.
Elastic is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive culture that celebrates different perspectives,
experiences, and backgrounds. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity,
color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status,
protected veteran status, disability status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law, ordinance or
regulation.
We welcome individuals with disabilities and strive to create an accessible and inclusive experience for all
individuals. To request an accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email candidate_accessibility@elastic.co. We will reply to your request within 24 business hours of submission.
Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws, view posters linked below: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Poster; Pay
Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision Poster; Employee Polygraph Protection Act
(EPPA) Poster and Know Your Rights (Poster)
Elasticsearch develops and distributes
technology and information that is subject to U.S. and other countries’ export controls and licensing requirements for individuals
who are located in or are nationals of the following sanctioned countries and regions: Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, or
Russia, including the Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia (The Crimea region of Ukraine, The Donetsk People's Republic (DNR),
The Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), Kherson or Zaporizhzhia). If you are located in or are a national of one of the listed
countries or regions, an export license may be required as a condition of your employment in this role. Please note that national
origin and/or nationality do not affect eligibility for employment with Elastic.
Please see here for
our Privacy Statement.