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
We're looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join the Elasticsearch
- Search team. This globally-distributed team of expert engineers focuses on delivering a robust and feature-rich search
experience, including contributing to improving the search experience in Lucene. This is a principal software engineering role
that focuses on enhancing the vector similarity search functionality within Elasticsearch, covering the design and implementation
of new vector search features, enhancements to existing vector search functionality, and resolving bugs.
Our company is
distributed by intention. We hire the best engineers we can find wherever they are, whoever they are. We collaborate across
continents every day over email, GitHub, Zoom, and Slack. At our best, we write fast, scalable and intuitive software. We believe
that the best way to do that is to empower individual engineers, code review every change, decide big things by consensus, and
strive for incremental improvements.
What You Will Be Doing
- Lead initiatives within Elasticsearch to produce an industry-leading vector database
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 how Elasticsearch implements vector similarity in support of search relevance and everyone
will turn to you when they have a question about this area. You'll improve 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!
What You Bring Along
- Professional experience with vector similarity and
vector databases, and you used HNSW, IVF, or other relevant algorithms and libraries on search platforms at scale.
- You
have strong skills in core Java and are conversant in the standard library of data structures and concurrency constructs, as well
as other features like lambdas.
- You work with a high level of autonomy, and are able to take on projects and guide them
from beginning to end. This covers both technical design and working with other engineers to develop needed components.
- You're comfortable developing collaboratively. Giving and receiving feedback on code and approaches and APIs is hard! Bonus
points if you've collaborated over the internet because that's harder. Double bonus points for asynchronous collaboration over the
internet. That's even harder, but we do it anyway because it's the best way we know how to build software.
- You've used
several data storage technologies like Elasticsearch, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or Cassandra and have some idea how they work and
why they work that way.
- You have excellent verbal and written communication skills. Like we said, collaborating on the
internet is hard. We try to be respectful, empathetic, and trusting in all of our interactions. And we'd expect that from you
too.
You have a
proven track record of using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code, while still owning the final
outcomes.
You possess the ability to collaborate across functions and teams and
seamlessly transition between different projects, codebases, or teams based on business priorities
You work
autonomously and can drive decisions and results in a distributed team by leveraging asynchronous, direct, and transparent
communication.
Bonus Points
- You've built things with
Elasticsearch before.
- You've worked with open source projects and are familiar with different styles of source control
workflow and continuous integration.
- Experience with data storage technology.
- You have experience designing,
leading and owning cross-functional initiatives
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.