Principal Security Software Engineer (Elasticsearch)

Elastic; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully paid health coverage

Flexible location & schedule

Generous vacation days

16 weeks parental leave

Volunteer hours

Charitable matching

Job summary

Elastic is seeking a Principal Software Developer to lead the architecture of Elasticsearch’s security features, including authentication, authorization, and tenant isolation. You will drive design choices that scale across the distributed data store and mentor engineers on secure development.

You will collaborate with engineering and product leaders to embed security from the outset, apply cryptographic solutions, and advance vulnerability management with the InfoSec team.

Qualifications

• Design scalable authorization systems using RBAC/ABAC.
• Build security features for a distributed data store at scale.
• Apply cryptographic methods and PQC considerations.
• Leverage AI-driven tools to accelerate security workflows.
• Collaborate across teams to embed security early in product
• Mentor engineers in secure development practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and design of Elasticsearch security features including authentication and tenant isolation.
• Own core security initiatives from architecture to production.
• Drive vulnerability management with the InfoSec team.
• Mentor and coach engineers on security-first development.
• Collaborate across teams to embed security in new customer features.
• Apply cryptographic solutions to customer use cases.

Skills

RBAC/ABAC design

Java performance

Security in distributed systems

OAuth 2.0 & SAML

Cryptography concepts

AI-assisted security development

Tools

TLS libraries

PKI tooling

Security instrumentation

Job description

• We are seeking a Principal Software Developer to join the Elasticsearch Security team. In this role, you will lead the architecture and design of Elasticsearch’s main features. These features include authentication, authorization, and tenant isolation
• You will work with engineering and product leaders at Elastic. Your goal is to provide high-performance security at all levels. This includes ensuring that our distributed data store has top-quality security at scale
• Owning core security initiatives from architecture to production, focusing on the delivery of new critical features. Leading the technical design, plan, and execution for major security components inside the Elasticsearch core engine
• Developing the foundational security models for intricate features
• Optimizing security performance at scale in distributed systems environments
• Applying cryptographic solutions to address genuine customer use cases
• Ensuring robust data isolation within shared infrastructure supporting disparate customers
• Monitoring and applying the latest advancements and best practices in security. This includes authentication, identity management, cryptography, and data access management
• Collaborating with peers across the company to embed security into new customer features from the outset
• Drive vulnerability management efforts by collaborating closely with the InfoSec team to proactively identify, assess, and remediate security risks
• Leverage AI-driven tools to automate vulnerability triage, prioritization, and preliminary investigation, streamlining security workflows and reducing manual intervention
• Mentoring and coaching other engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and security-first development

Benefits

• Toast to your health: Fully paid health coverage for you and your family, in many locations.
• Craft your calendar: Flexible location and schedule for most roles.
• Create space for you: Distributed by design workforce, plus generous number of vacation days each year.
• Embrace parenthood: Minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave, plus generous family formation benefits.
• Give back your time: 40 hours each year to use toward volunteering with organizations and causes you’re passionate about.
• Amplify your impact: Double your charitable giving — we match donations up to $1500 USD (or local currency equivalent).

You can work autonomously, drive decisions, and lead a distributed team by leveraging asynchronous, direct, and transparent communicationYou have proven experience in designing and building systems for authorization that can scale. This includes deep experience designing scalable RBAC/ABAC models and token validation pipelines. It includes permission compilation and distributed cache invalidation strategiesYou have a proven track record of using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code, while still owning the final outcomesYou have deep knowledge of Java internals and JVM memory management. You understand how concurrency models work. You can write code that is high-performance, thread-safe, and lock-free. This experience includes working with large open-source and enterprise codebasesYou have a deep knowledge of edge identity protocols (OAuth 2.0, SAML)You have a solid comprehension of distributed systems security, including node-to-node mutual trust, zero-trust transport, partition tolerance, and cluster state propagationYou possess the ability to collaborate across functions and teams and seamlessly transition between different projects, codebases, or teams based on business prioritiesKnowledge of cipher suites, TLS handshakes, and PKI/certificate lifecycle managementCryptographic methods considering memory usage and delaysFamiliarity with the implications of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and readiness to support the migration of services to quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithmsHands-on experience mapping engine-level technical controls to FedRAMP (Moderate/High), FIPS 140, and SOC 2 requirementsExperience working on the internals of a data store or search engine