3 months ago
Remote, CanadaStaff+
Responsibilities
- Lead Elasticsearch initiatives to deliver a high-performance and relevant vector database offering.
- Design and implement new vector search features and enhancements to existing vector similarity functionality.
- Develop algorithms and data structures, work close to operating-system and hardware layers when needed, and resolve complex bugs.
- Improve Elasticsearch code quality and contribute to the search experience in Lucene.
- Serve as an expert on Elasticsearch vector similarity implementation and search relevance.
- Collaborate with globally distributed engineers and open-source community members on issues and pull requests.
- Write idiomatic modern Java and guide projects from technical design through implementation.
- Lead and own cross-functional initiatives while making decisions autonomously in a distributed team.
Requirements
- Demonstrated implementation of novel vector-similarity techniques on a large-scale search platform or advancement of academic research in vector-similarity information retrieval.
- Professional experience with vector similarity and vector databases, including HNSW, IVF, or other relevant algorithms and libraries at scale.
- Strong core Java skills, including the standard library, data structures, concurrency constructs, and lambdas.
- Experience independently driving projects from beginning to end, including technical design and collaboration with other engineers.
- Experience with several data-storage technologies such as Elasticsearch, Solr, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or Cassandra.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills and experience collaborating effectively in distributed or open-source environments.
- A proven track record of using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code while retaining ownership of outcomes.
- Ability to collaborate across functions and teams and transition between projects, codebases, or teams based on priorities.
- Preferred: prior Elasticsearch experience, open-source project experience, source-control and continuous-integration workflow familiarity, data-storage experience, and experience designing or leading cross-functional initiatives.
Benefits
- Distributed work arrangement with flexible locations and schedules for many roles.
- Competitive pay based on the work performed rather than previous salary.
- Health coverage for employees and families in many locations.
- Generous vacation allowance.
- Donation matching of up to $2,000 or local-currency equivalent.
- Up to 40 hours annually for volunteer projects.
- At least 16 weeks of parental leave.
- Eligibility for Elastic’s stock program and a company-matched RRSP with dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% of eligible earnings.
- Additional regional benefits with an emphasis on employee well-being.
Tech Stack
Categories
About Elastic
Elastic builds the Elasticsearch-based platform for enterprise search, observability (logging, metrics, APM), and security (SIEM/endpoint). It sells subscriptions and Elastic Cloud managed services with usage-based pricing, combining open source and proprietary features through Elasticsearch and Kibana. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, Elastic is publicly traded on the NYSE and is used by more than half of the Fortune 500.