Principal Software Engineer (Networking) - Platform Infra

Referral Board; Norway; Remote; NOK 1,200,000 - 2,200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Health coverage

Flexible locations & schedules

Generous vacation days

Volunteer time

Parental leave

Job summary

Elastic, the Search AI Company, seeks a Principal Software Engineer to lead Platform Infrastructure - Application Networking, shaping the next phase of Elastic Cloud networking, security, and performance at scale.

The role emphasizes technical vision, architecture, and cross-team collaboration, with mentoring and strategic impact across the engineering organization. Remote-friendly, with global teams and complex, high-availability systems.

Qualifications

• Experience building large-scale distributed systems, not just consumption of services.
• Ability to own projects end-to-end, including technical design and cross-team collaboration.
• Proven track record in high-availability SaaS platforms, incident response, and reliability improvements.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction for major application networking initiatives from proposal to general availability.
• Lead development of Ingress, private connectivity, DNS, and security controls at scale for Elastic Cloud.
• Drive multi-quarter, cross-organizational projects and guide delivery across teams.
• Raise operational quality and lead incident investigations end-to-end. Participate in on-call rotation.
• Mentor engineers, act as a trusted technical advisor, and set standards for software development.
• Collaborate with product management and senior engineering stakeholders on technical trade-offs and roadmap direction.
• Identify improvements for security, stability, and cost efficiency and simplify architecture.

Skills

Distributed systems

Application networking

Cloud-native architecture

Leadership

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

Kubernetes networking

Envoy

Cilium

Crossplane

AWS/Azure/GCP networking

Job description

Principal Software Engineer (Networking) - Platform Infra

Greece; Norway; Portugal; Spain

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

We're looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join Platform Infrastructure - Application Networking and set where Elastic Cloud application networking goes next. This work covers Ingress, security controls, private connectivity, and DNS management — the path every interaction with Elasticsearch, Kibana, and the broader Elastic stack takes. You will drive the technical vision, architecture, and design of these systems, not just execute against an existing roadmap .

This is a Principal-level role for an engineer who has designed high-performance, scalable networking platforms and can drive technical initiatives across organizations. Elastic is investing in the reliability, security, and reach of Elastic Cloud; you will hold a high bar for those qualities while other engineering teams rely on what this platform provides.

What You Will Be Doing

Set the technical direction for major application networking initiatives, owning designs from proposal through general availability.

Lead the development of Ingress, private connectivity, DNS, and security controls on a large scale for Elastic Cloud. Continuously identify and address issues related to performance, reliability, and operability.

Lead multi-quarter, cross-organizational projects that other Elastic engineering teams rely on, and guide these projects through to delivery.

Raise the operational quality of our services. Take charge of operational investigations from beginning to end. Lead complex incident investigations and reviews. Participate in on-call rotation.

Mentor and support engineers across the team, serve as a subject matter expert and trusted technical advisor to the wider engineering organization, and set the standard for how we build software.

Partner with and advise product management and senior engineering stakeholders on technical trade-offs, feasibility, and roadmap direction.

Identify and champion improvements to security, stability, and cost efficiency before they become problems. Untangle complexity and bring architectural clarity across the platform.

What You Bring

Experience with building software, including setting technical direction for complex distributed systems running production at scale (Staff or Principal level, or equivalent scope).

Deep expertise in application networking and cloud-native architecture. You should understand how services communicate at scale. Knowledge of how to design, operate, and evolve Ingress, private connectivity, DNS, and security controls is required.

You have experience building large-scale distributed systems, rather than making use of off-the-shelf services.

You are able to own projects from beginning to end. This covers both technical design and working with others to develop needed components. You have experience guiding work involving multiple engineers.

You have operated high-availability SaaS platforms, responded to incidents, and improved reliability over time. You care about the quality of work shipped — testing, observability, and operability.

You have a proven track record of using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code, while still owning the final outcomes.

You possess the ability to collaborate across functions and teams and seamlessly transition between different projects, codebases, or teams based on business priorities.

You can work autonomously, drive decisions and results in a distributed team by leveraging asynchronous, direct, and transparent communication. You communicate clearly and can influence direction across teams and levels without formal authority.

Bonus Points

Hands-on experience with Kubernetes networking (Cilium, external-dns, Envoy Gateway, and Crossplane) and with at least one major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and its networking ecosystem.

You have contributed to CNCF or other open-source networking projects

Additional Information - We Take Care of Our People

As a distributed company, diversity drives our identity. Whether you’re looking to launch a new career or grow an existing one, Elastic is the type of company where you can balance great work with great life. Your age is only a number. It doesn’t matter if you’re just out of college or your children are; we need you for what you can do.

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/affirmative action employer committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 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.

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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