Principal Software Engineer - Security - Elasticsearch

United States Digital Space LLC; United States; Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Flexible locations

Generous vacation days

Donation matching

Volunteer hours

Parental leave

Job summary

Search AI Company is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join the Elasticsearch Security team. You will lead the architecture of authentication, authorization, and tenant isolation, ensuring high-performance security at scale across distributed data stores.

You will collaborate with engineering and product leaders to embed security into new customer features from the outset, mentor engineers, and drive vulnerability management with the InfoSec team.

Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of Java and JVM memory management.
• Experience designing scalable authorization models (RBAC/ABAC).
• Experience with distributed systems security concepts.

Responsibilities

• Owning core security initiatives from architecture to production, delivering new features.
• Leading design, plan, and execution for security components inside Elasticsearch core engine.
• Developing foundational security models for complex features.
• Optimizing security performance in distributed systems.
• Applying cryptographic solutions for customer use cases.
• Ensuring data isolation within shared infrastructure.

Skills

Java internals

RBAC/ABAC

Token validation

Distributed security

OAuth 2.0

SAML

Asynchronous leadership

Tools

TLS handshakes

PKI

FedRAMP mapping

Job description

the company, 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 the company 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 — the company’s complete, cloud-based solutions for search, security, and observability help organizations deliver on the promise of AI.

What is The Role

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer 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 the company. 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.

What You Will Be Doing

• 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.

What You Bring

• You 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 codebases.
• You 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 strategies.
• You have a solid comprehension of distributed systems security, including node-to-node mutual trust, zero-trust transport, partition tolerance, and cluster state propagation.
• You have a deep knowledge of edge identity protocols (OAuth 2.0, SAML).
• 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 lead a distributed team by leveraging asynchronous, direct, and transparent communication.

Bonus Points

• Knowledge of cipher suites, TLS handshakes, and PKI/certificate lifecycle management.
• Cryptographic methods considering memory usage and delays.
• Familiarity with the implications of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and readiness to support the migration of services to quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms.
• Hands-on experience mapping engine-level technical controls to FedRAMP (Moderate/High), FIPS 140, and SOC 2 requirements.
• Experience working on the internals of a data store or search engine.

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, the company 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 dif