Principal Product Manager (Search Relevance)

Elasticsearch B.V.; Toronto; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A tech-driven company in Toronto is seeking a Technical Principal Product Manager to lead initiatives in query languages and vector database capabilities. You will manage cross-functional teams and drive innovations in search technology and AI, requiring strong leadership and expertise in distributed systems. This role offers competitive compensation and a focus on personal and professional growth in a diverse and inclusive environment.

Benefits

Competitive pay

Health coverage

Flexible locations and schedules

Generous vacation days

Financial donation matching

Volunteer project hours

Parental leave

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership in defining and launching complex technical products.
• Deep expertise in vector databases and search pipelines.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems and cloud architectures.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic vision for new query interfaces and database functionalities.
• Drive complex cross-team initiatives with engineering and research teams.
• Champion the evolution of Elastic's search architecture.

Skills

Leadership in technical product definition

Expertise in vector databases

Exceptional communication skills

Understanding of distributed systems

Empathy for developer challenges

Knowledge of cloud-native architectures

Tools

Python

Java

Go

Job description

Overview

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

Elastic seeks an exceptional Technical Principal Product Manager to lead our teams who are pioneering the next-generation of query languages and vector database capabilities for Elasticsearch. Our Search team brings the capabilities of Elasticsearch and our platform to market for a large range of use cases including applied AI for agentic applications, and traditional search experiences. You will lead cross-team initiatives to define and deliver breakthrough technical features and platform capabilities.

Our diverse, global team spans over 40 countries, building inclusive, user-focused products at significant scale.

What You Will Be Doing

• Lead the strategic vision and execution for new query languages, data field types and other vector database functionalities within Elasticsearch, incorporating new innovations in machine learning and AI.
• Cross-Team Initiative Leadership: Drive complex, cross-functional initiatives with engineering, platform, and research teams to deliver groundbreaking technical innovations in search, vector storage, and AI-driven relevance, reflecting a strong track record in leading significant product initiatives and multi-platform integration programs.
• Architectural Evolution: Champion the evolution of Elastic's search architecture, focusing on scalable vector indexing, efficient similarity search, reranking and advanced query processing.
• Technical Product Ownership: Write detailed product artifacts such as PRDs, PRFAQs for new search language constructs and vector database features, ensuring developer usability, based on experience managing developer platforms and launching developer-facing services.
• Provide Customer and Competitive Insights & Research: Conduct in-depth market analysis, competitive technical assessments, and engage with thought leaders to inform the technical roadmap, consistent with research and strategic product definition.
• Developer & Community Engagement: Collaborate with developers, data scientists, and the open-source community to gather feedback, validate designs, and drive adoption of new capabilities, leveraging experience in developer relations and growing feature adoption.
• P&L ownership: Be accountable for driving rapid growth and adoption of Elasticsearch, with continued evaluation of our pricing, margins and COGS of released features.

What You Bring

• Demonstrated leadership in defining and launching complex technical products in search, databases, query languages, or AI / ML platforms.
• Deep expertise in vector databases, search pipelines, similarity search algorithms, and distributed systems architecture, including integrating ML models, adapting LLMs, and building privacy-preserving compute platforms.
• Exceptional communication skills for complex technical concepts.
• Curiosity to truly understand the technology that serves the majority of the world’s search experiences.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, data platforms, and cloud-native architectures (e.g., AWS ML services).
• Deep empathy for developer challenges, translating them into product opportunities.
• Experience defining technical value propositions and competitive differentiation.
• Strong interest and understanding of cutting-edge technologies like vector databases, ML, and generative AI (e.g., RAG, LLM integration).
• Direct PM experience with search platforms, AI / ML platforms, or developer tooling is highly desirable.
• Ability to read and understand code (e.g., Python, Java, Go) and engage in technical discussions, reflecting a strong technical foundation including past software engineering roles.

Additional Information - We Take Care of Our People

• As a distributed company, diversity drives our identity. Elastic is the type of company where you can balance great work with great life. Your age is only a number.
• 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 [e-mail]. 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 encryption software and technology that is subject to U.S. 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, Russia, Syria, the Crimea Region of Ukraine, the Donetsk People’s Republic ("DNR"), and the Luhansk People’s Republic ("LNR"). 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.

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