Engineering Manager - Search/ML/NLP/Elasticsearch

Xcede; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A global online marketplace business is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead a team focused on enhancing their search systems. The ideal candidate will have expertise in Elasticsearch and a strong background in machine learning and natural language processing. This role involves driving technical strategy and working closely with various teams to define and deliver a comprehensive search roadmap. Remote work available within the UK, US, or Germany.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as an Engineering Manager or similar role leading teams.
• Deep knowledge of Elasticsearch with migration and optimization exposure.
• Strong experience in ML and NLP fields.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of engineers on core search systems.
• Drive architecture and technical strategy for search functions.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver the search roadmap.

Skills

Leadership

Elasticsearch

Machine Learning

Natural Language Processing

Communication

Job description

Overview

Engineering Manager - Search/ML/NLP/ElasticSearch — Remote - UK, US or German locations preferred.

About the role: I am supporting a global online marketplace business who are investing heavily in building a best-in-class search experience. They operate across multiple platforms, reaching millions of users worldwide, and search sits right at the heart of their product.

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.