Principal Software Engineer - Vector Search - Elasticsearch
Elastic is hiring a Principal Software Engineer for the Elasticsearch Search team, a globally distributed group of expert engineers delivering a robust, feature-rich search experience and contributing to Lucene. This principal role focuses on enhancing vector similarity search within Elasticsearch: designing and implementing new vector search features, improving existing functionality and resolving bugs, while writing idiomatic modern Java (Elasticsearch is 99.8% Java).
Responsibilities
- ▹Lead initiatives to produce an industry-leading vector database offering with unmatched speed and relevance
- ▹Contribute to Elasticsearch full time, building new search features and fixing bugs while improving code clarity
- ▹Invent or implement new algorithms and data structures, sometimes working close to the operating system and hardware
- ▹Be the expert on how Elasticsearch implements vector similarity for search relevance
- ▹Work with community members worldwide on issues and pull requests, triaging or handling them
- ▹Write idiomatic modern Java
Requirements
- ▹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 vector similarity and vector databases using HNSW, IVF or other relevant algorithms and libraries at scale
- ▹Strong skills in core Java, the standard library of data structures, concurrency constructs and features like lambdas
- ▹Ability to work with a high level of autonomy, guiding projects from beginning to end including technical design
- ▹Comfort developing collaboratively, giving and receiving feedback on code, approaches and APIs
- ▹Experience with several data storage technologies such as Elasticsearch, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Cassandra
- ▹Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Nice to have
- ▹Prior experience building things with Elasticsearch
- ▹Experience with open source projects, different source control workflows and continuous integration
- ▹Experience with data storage technology
- ▹Experience designing, leading and owning cross-functional initiatives
- ▹Experience with asynchronous collaboration over the internet
Soft skills
What we offer
- ▹Competitive base salary based on the work done here, not previous salary
- ▹Health coverage for you and your family in many locations
- ▹Flexible locations and schedules for many roles
- ▹Generous number of vacation days each year
- ▹Matching up to $2000 for financial donations and service, plus up to 40 hours per year for volunteering
- ▹Minimum 16 weeks of parental leave
About the company
Elastic is the Search AI Company. Its Search AI Platform, used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500, combines the precision of search with the intelligence of AI across structured and unstructured data, powering cloud-based solutions for search, security and observability. Elastic is a fully distributed, open-source-driven company that hires engineers wherever they are.