Senior Search Engineer - Search and Browse Core (All genders)

Zalando; Berlin; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee shares program 40% off

Discounts from external partners

2 paid volunteering days a year

27 days of vacation (for Zalando SE)

Relocation assistance available

Family services

Health and wellbeing options

Mental health support and coaching

Job summary

Zalando in Berlin is seeking a Senior Search Engineer to architect and deliver an AI-driven search platform that powers discovery for millions of customers across markets.

You will modernize real-time ingestion with Kafka/Flink, design scalable search infrastructure, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to enable rich, personalized experiences while ensuring readiness for high-traffic events. This role emphasizes backend excellence in a distributed, JVM-based stack.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in building large-scale search engines (e-commerce preferred).
• Experience with Elasticsearch or equivalent search systems.
• Proficient in designing real-time data pipelines with Kafka or Flink.
• Strong backend fundamentals and distributed systems knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement next-generation AI-driven search engine atop Elasticsearch.
• Scale real-time data ingestion systems for millions of updates.
• Develop platform capabilities for personalized discovery experiences.
• Lead infra initiatives for multilingual search indices and high-traffic readiness.

Skills

Distributed systems

Elasticsearch

JVM languages

Kafka/Flink

Cross-functional

Tools

Lucene/OpenSearch/Solr

Kafka

Flink

Java ecosystem tools

Job description

THE ROLE & THE TEAM

Join the Search Retrieval Team, the engine driving product and content discovery for Zalando. We build and operate the core search engine that connects over 62 million active customers across 29 markets with the products and content they love. Our Search Engine powers tens of millions of searchable content stored in multiple clusters and hundreds of indices distributed. Every content has ~4-10 embeddings that power our semantic understanding. We also integrate with LLMs models to power our query understanding and lexical search. Our mission is to deliver a world-class, intelligent, scalable, and reliable Search Platform.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

As a Senior Search Engineer, you will be at the heart of our mission, tackling complex distributed systems problems at hyperscale. You will:

• Architect the Future of Search: Lead the design and implementation of our next-generation, AI-driven search engine, integrating Neural Search on top of our Elasticsearch platform.
• Build for Hyperscale: Modernize and scale our real-time data ingestion systems using technologies like Kafka and Flink to handle millions of updates.
• Drive Platform Innovation: Develop core platform capabilities that enable teams across Zalando to build rich, personalized discovery experiences for our customers.
• Drive Operational Excellence and Cost Efficiency: Lead platform-wide infrastructure projects, such as consolidating multi-lingual search indices, mitigating critical risks by migrating core services, and supporting system readiness for high-traffic events like Cyber Week.

WE'D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF:

• Deep Search Expertise: Extensive experience building large-scale, preferably e-commerce, search engines. While our stack is built on Elasticsearch, we highly value equivalent expertise in Lucene, OpenSearch, Solr, or other distributed search systems.
• Real-Time Data Pipeline Experience: Proven ability to design and build high-throughput data ingestion pipelines using Kafka and/or Flink or equivalent stream-processing frameworks.
• Strong Backend Foundation: High proficiency in a JVM language (Java, Kotlin, or Scala) and a deep understanding of distributed systems architecture, concurrency, and performance optimization.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Excellent communication skills. You thrive when working closely with fellow engineers, applied scientists, and product partners, and you possess a knack for translating complex product requirements into reusable, reliable platform capabilities.

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

At Zalando, our vision is to be inclusive by design. And this vision starts with our hiring - we do not discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, personal expression, ethnicity, religious belief, or disability status. You are welcome to leave out your picture, age, or marital status from your application. We only assess candidates on their qualifications and merit. We want to provide you with a great candidate experience. Feel free to inform us of any accommodations you may need, so we can best support you throughout the hiring process.

do.BETTER - our diversity & inclusion strategy: https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/dobetter-our-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy

Our employee resource groups: https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/our-employee-resource-groups

OUR OFFER

Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.

• Employee shares program 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando
• 30% off Zalando Lounge
• discounts from external partners
• 2 paid volunteering days a year
• 27 days of vacation a year (for Zalando SE)
• Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)
• Family services, including counseling and support
• Health and wellbeing options (including Gympass)
• Mental health support and coaching available

Learn all about Zalando and our values here: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/?gh_src=22377bdd1us It's the perfect time to join Zalando on our journey, from being a pioneer in the world of e-commerce, to the Starting Point for Fashion in Europe. We connect customers, brands, and partners across 25 markets. Help us drive digital and sustainable solutions for fashion, logistics, advertising and research, bringing head-to-toe fashion to 50 million active customers through a team of diverse skill-sets, cultural backgrounds, and interests. Our values do.More - our sustainability strategy Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/insidezalando