Senior Elastic Engineer (TS/SCI w/CI Poly Required)

Everfox; Virginia; On-site; USD 139,000 - 183,000; Full time

Job summary

Everfox in Chantilly, VA seeks a Senior Elasticsearch Engineer to design, develop, optimize, and maintain enterprise-scale search platforms powered by the Elastic Stack. You will collaborate with software, data, and DevOps teams to build highly available, scalable search solutions for mission-critical applications.

The role emphasizes Elasticsearch architecture, indexing strategies, query optimization, cluster administration, and observability, with responsibilities spanning ILM, backups,

Qualifications

• Experience designing, developing, and maintaining enterprise-scale search platforms.
• Deep expertise in Elasticsearch architecture, indexing strategies, and query optimization.
• Experience with cluster administration, observability, and security practices in Elastic Stack.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain highly available Elasticsearch clusters.
• Develop efficient indexing strategies for structured and unstructured data.
• Optimize search performance, relevance scoring, and query execution.
• Monitor cluster health and troubleshoot performance bottlenecks.
• Configure Elastic Stack components including ILM, snapshots, backups, and DR strategies.
• Design mappings, analyzers, tokenizers, and ingest pipelines.
• Build dashboards in Kibana and integrate Elasticsearch APIs into apps.
• Perform cluster upgrades, scaling, and capacity planning.
• Implement security using Elastic Security, RBAC, TLS, and authentication mechanisms.
• Automate deployments using Terraform, Ansible, Helm, or similar.
• Support production incidents and perform root cause analysis.
• Cluster Deployment: Installing, configuring, and scaling Elasticsearch nodes and indices.
• Log & Metric Monitoring: Integrating logs and OS metrics into the ELK Stack.
• Search Optimization: Mapping definitions, query optimization, and shard/replica management.
• Troubleshooting: JVM tuning and resolving node dropouts or lag issues.

Skills

Elasticsearch

Cluster administration

Query optimization

Indexing strategies

Observability

Security awareness

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

DoD 8570 Baseline Certification IAT II

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Helm

Kubernetes

Elastic Cloud (ECE/ESS)

Job description

Trusted Connectivity for AI-Powered Dominance.

Everfox delivers trusted connectivity to protect the world’s most critical environments and safeguard the sensitive data powering decision advantage.

Built for mission-critical operations, Everfox protects what matters most by securing how data moves, how users access it, and how threats are neutralized across every domain. We enable mission speed and secure collaboration across networks, domains, and allies, while ensuring the data powering AI and advanced analytics remains trusted and protected.

We don’t just defend systems; we deliver decision dominance.

• Our Purpose. Protect what matters most by enabling organizations to operate security in the most complex and high-risk digital environments.
• Our Vision. To be the most trusted authority in high-assurance cybersecurity, enabling secure collaboration across every domain.
• Our Belief. Security should never limit mission success – it should enable it.

Our Promise. We deliver absolute confidence in environments where failure is not an option.

Senior Elasticsearch Engineer

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Elasticsearch Engineer to design, develop, optimize, and maintain enterprise-scale search platforms powered by the Elastic Stack. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Elasticsearch architecture, indexing strategies, query optimization, cluster administration, and observability solutions. You will collaborate with software engineers, data engineers, and DevOps teams to build highly available, scalable search solutions that support mission-critical applications.

Location

Chantilly, VA

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain highly available Elasticsearch clusters.
• Develop efficient indexing strategies for structured and unstructured data.
• Optimize search performance, relevance scoring, and query execution.
• Monitor cluster health and troubleshoot performance bottlenecks.
• Configure and maintain Elastic Stack components including:
• Implement Index Lifecycle Management (ILM), snapshots, backups, and disaster recovery strategies.
• Design mappings, analyzers, tokenizers, and ingest pipelines.
• Build dashboards and visualizations using Kibana.
• Work with development teams to integrate Elasticsearch APIs into applications.
• Perform cluster upgrades, scaling, and capacity planning.
• Implement security using Elastic Security, RBAC, TLS, and authentication mechanisms.
• Automate deployments using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible, Helm, or similar).
• Support production incidents and perform root cause analysis
• Cluster Deployment: Installing, configuring, and scaling Elasticsearch nodes and indices.
• Log & Metric Monitoring: Integrating database audit logs, alert logs, and OS metrics into the ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana).
• Search Optimization: Mapping definitions, query optimization, and shard/replica management for fast text-based analytics.
• Troubleshooting: Monitoring cluster health, JVM heap tuning, and resolving node dropouts or lag issues

Things nice to have

• Vector & Semantic Search: Experience with dense vector fields, embeddings, and hybrid ranking (Reciprocal Rank Fusion) using the Elasticsearch Relevance Engine.
• Machine Learning Integration: Familiarity with Learning to Rank (LTR), integrating third-party transformer models
• Cloud & Orchestration: Hands‑on practice with Elastic Cloud (ECE/ESS), Kubernetes operators, or AWS‑managed deployments
• Advanced Operations: Skills in Cross‑Cluster Replication (CCR), cross‑cluster search, and custom Painless scripting for complex data streams

Key Education Requirements

An active (currently in use) – TS/SCI with CI Polygraph
A bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, Cyber Security, or equivalent education and work experience.
At least one DoD Approved 8570 Baseline Certification at IAT level II (2) or higher.
(The above are required only for DoD professional services roles.)
The ability to obtain the appropriate work authorizations required under U.S. ITAR or EAR regulations from the applicable U.S. government agency.

A reasonable estimate of the base salary range for this role is:

$138,600.00-183,200.00 USD

The actual salary offered may vary within the range based on a candidates’ unique experience, locale, and business needs. In addition to a base salary and bonus plans, Everfox offers a generous benefits package including flexible PTO, a 401k match, and contribution to healthcare coverages. Our Talent Acquisition team will provide specific information regarding bonus eligibility and benefits offerings.

Everfox is an equal employment opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws prohibiting discrimination. Everfox does not discriminate against any employee or applicant based on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, marital status, medical condition, or any other category protected by applicable law. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access the Company’s career webpage as a result of your disability. You may request reasonable accommodations by sending an email to [e-mail].

Everfox is a Federal Contractor. Certain positions with Everfox require access to controlled goods and technologies subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations or the Export Administration Regulations. Applicants for these positions may need to be “U.S. Persons,” as defined in these regulations. Generally, a “U.S. Person” is a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or an individual who has been admitted as a refugee or granted asylum.

Applicants must have the right to work in the location to which you have applied.