Principal Software Engineer - Elasticsearch Performance Tuning

About the role

Elastic is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join its Elasticsearch Performance team. The role leads architectural and code-level performance engineering initiatives, driving the continuous optimization and predictability of Elasticsearch performance through partnership with area-specific teams.

Key responsibilities

• Own core performance engineering initiatives from architecture to production, leading the design, planning and execution of major architectural and code-level improvements
• Develop foundational performance models and methodologies for complex, distributed systems
• Drive optimization strategies so Elasticsearch stays performant, predictable and scalable in diverse environments
• Profile and analyze system behavior to find bottlenecks in logging, metrics, vector search and ES|QL
• Ensure robust performance benchmarks and regression detection for stateful and stateless (serverless) architectures
• Embed performance-first thinking into new features and build AI-assisted optimization harnesses for profiling, hypothesis testing and benchmarking
• Mentor and coach other engineers

Required profile

• Deep knowledge of Java internals and JVM memory management, with high-performance, thread-safe, lock-free code in large open-source and enterprise codebases
• Proven experience profiling and optimizing distributed systems, including benchmarking tools such as flamegraphs, JMH and Rally
• Solid understanding of distributed systems architecture, including partition tolerance, cluster state propagation and scaling
• Track record of using AI or advanced tooling to accelerate optimization and automate benchmarking workflows
• Ability to collaborate across functions and teams and to work autonomously in a distributed team

Bonus points

• Integrating high-performance native libraries (C++, Rust, SIMD-accelerated code) into Java applications
• Knowledge of storage engine performance, index modes or vector search optimizations
• Defining and managing performance SLAs for distributed systems
• Experience on the internals of a large-scale data store or search engine

What we offer

• Base salary of EUR 80,400 to 127,200, with no variable component
• Health coverage for you and your family in many locations
• Flexible locations and schedules for many roles
• Generous vacation days and parental leave of at least 16 weeks
• Volunteer time and a donation matching program