Lead Software Engineer - Search

Jobtailor; Illinois; On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking a senior leader to define the long‑term technical vision for our search platform in a fast‑growing ecommerce context. You will mentor engineers, align with product managers and data scientists, and drive architecture decisions for scalable, highly available systems.

Bring expertise in NLP, vector search, personalization, and AI tooling to continuously improve search relevance and performance while delivering measurable KPI improvements across CTR and query distribution.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading technical teams and multiple projects.
• Experience as lead software engineer, architect, or engineering manager.
• Experience with ITSM processes (incident, change, problem).
• Strong communication, organization, and stakeholder management.
• Ability to handle high‑visibility issues and complex problems.
• Experience in eCommerce Search deployments and large‑scale systems.
• Proficiency in Java, Python, or Scala with source control practices.
• Familiarity with AI code generation tools and cloud DevOps.
• Producing and consuming APIs and event streaming experience.

Responsibilities

• Define and implement a long‑term technical vision for the search platform.
• Mentor and guide a team of search engineers through reviews and collaboration.
• Introduce NLP, vector search, and personalization to improve relevance.
• Build searchable systems with KPIs and leverage analytics for performance.
• Partner with product managers, data scientists, and engineering teams.

Skills

Java

Python

Scala

NLP

Vector search

Personalization

AI code generation

Software debugging

Headless frameworks

APIs

Education

Bachelor’s degree or higher

Tools

OpenSearch

Elastic Search

SOLR

Lucene

Coveo

LucidWorks Fusion

Job description

Responsibilities

• Define and implement a long‑term technical vision for the search platform to ensure scalability and adaptability to growing data volumes and query complexity.
• Mentor and guide a team of search engineers through technical reviews, best practices, and collaborative problem‑solving.
• Introduce advanced capabilities such as NLP, vector search, and personalization to enhance relevance and accuracy.
• Build search capabilities with measurable KPIs (CTR, Query Distribution, Zero Search) and leverage analytics to continuously improve search performance.
• Partner with product managers, data scientists, and engineering teams to align search initiatives with business objectives.

Requirements

• Progressively complex professional experience.
• Experience as a lead software engineer, architect, engineering manager.
• Experience leading technical teams and managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Experience working within ITSM processes (incident, change, problem).
• Strong communication, organization, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to handle sensitive, complex, or high‑visibility issues.
• Excellent written and verbal communication abilities.
• Experience in eCommerce Search deployments.
• Previous experience with Search products such as OpenSearch, Elastic Search, SOLR, Lucene, Coveo, and LucidWorks Fusion.
• Strong expertise in building head‑less frameworks to integrate with eCommerce applications.
• Proven experience building large‑scale, highly available systems.
• Proficiency in Java, Python, or Scala, including source control tools and practices for managing code and changes to it.
• Proficiency in software debugging and problem‑solving techniques.
• Proficiency in AI code generation tools such as Claude Code, ChatGPT, or GitHub Copilot.
• Familiarity with DevOps tools and techniques for cloud deployment.
• Producing and consuming APIs.
• Familiarity with event streaming and cloud platforms.
• Practical experience applying ML to improve search relevance.

Hard Skills

• Java
• Python
• Scala
• NLP
• Vector search
• Personalization
• AI code generation
• Software debugging
• Building head‑less frameworks
• Producing and consuming APIs

Soft Skills

• Communication
• Organization
• Stakeholder management
• Mentoring
• Collaborative problem‑solving
• Handling complex issues
• Technical reviews