Engineering Manager - Search / ML / NLP / ElasticSearch

Xcede Recruitment Solutions; London; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading recruitment firm is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead a team focused on core search systems. The role involves driving technical strategy, overseeing migration projects, and fostering engineering excellence. Ideal candidates will have deep expertise in Elasticsearch, a strong background in ML and NLP, and excellent communication skills. This position offers remote opportunities within the UK, US, or Germany.

Qualifications

• Experience as an Engineering Manager or similar role leading teams.
• Deep expertise in Elasticsearch and search technologies.
• Strong background in ML, NLP, or information retrieval.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of engineers on core search systems.
• Drive architecture and technical strategy for search relevance.
• Coordinate with Product and AI teams on the search roadmap.

Skills

Leadership in team management

Expertise in Elasticsearch

Background in ML and NLP

Communication skills

Tools

Elasticsearch

ML frameworks

Job description

Overview

Engineering Manager - Search / ML / NLP / ElasticSearch

Remote - UK, US or German locations preferred.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead and grow a team of engineers working on core search systems.
• Drive architecture and technical strategy for search relevance, ranking and retrieval.
• Partner with Product, Data and AI teams to define and deliver the search roadmap.
• Oversee migration and optimisation projects on Elasticsearch and the wider search stack.
• Troubleshoot and diagnose complex search issues (e.g. ingestion pipelines, ranking signals).
• Foster engineering excellence, mentoring team members and embedding best practices.

What we’re looking for

• Experience as an Engineering Manager, Tech Lead, or similar role leading cross-functional teams.
• Deep expertise with Elasticsearch (tuning, scaling, migrations, relevance optimisation. Migration experience preferred).
• Strong background in ML, NLP, search, information retrieval or related fields (ranking models, vector databases & personalisation).
• A mix of strategic vision and hands-on capability — able to guide architecture while rolling up sleeves when needed.
• Experience collaborating with Product, ML and Analytics teams.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to translate technical work into business impact.