Principal Software Engineer - Builder Experience - Platform Engineering Productivity

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 :

Join our Platform Engineering Productivity team as a Principal Software Engineer. We’re looking for a systems-minded engineer who is curious by nature, stays current with AI and emerging tools, and takes ownership not only of what the team builds, but also how the team works.

In this role, you will help ensure Elastic products are delivered to customers with high quality while making the software development and release process more efficient for engineers across the organization. If you think systematically, thrive in ambiguity, and enjoy enabling teams to build and ship software effectively at scale, we’d love to hear from you.

What You Will Be Doing :

As part of the Engineering Productivity team, you will build and improve the frameworks, reusable components, and operational guidelines that help teams own the full software development lifecycle for their services. You may work across a wide range of initiatives, including:

• Improving CI infrastructure reliability and efficiency.

• Building and managing systems that produce releasable artifacts.

• Enabling ephemeral developer environments.

• Defining and enforcing release quality gates.

• Developing tooling and infrastructure for product deployment and release.

• Review code to uphold engineering standards, improve performance, and catch defects early.

• Collaborating with engineering and product to align on requirements, testing strategy, and delivery goals.

• Drive clear technical communication across teams and projects.

• Create and maintain high-quality technical documentation for systems, processes, and architectural decisions.

• Mentoring engineers and fostering a collaborative culture around code quality and best practices.

What You Bring :

• Solid understanding of the full software development lifecycle, including build, package, test, release, and quality strategy.

• Deep experience in one or more programming languages such as Python, Go, Bash, Java, or Scala.

• Experience with CI/CD systems, GIT and modern development and release practices.

• Experience with cloud infrastructure and developer platforms, including tools such as Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, configuration management tools, and major cloud providers.

• Experience designing scalable systems and improving developer productivity through tooling and automation.

• Ability to move fluidly across projects, priorities, and evolving team structures.

• Hands-on AI fluency, including integrating LLM APIs into production workflows and applying prompt engineering to domain-specific problems.

• A track record of improving engineering practices such as code review quality, standards, and team efficiency.

• Excellent written and verbal technical communication skills.

• Enthusiasm for working with a globally distributed team and comfort in navigating ambiguity.

Compensation for this role is in the form of base salary.  This role does not have a variable compensation component.  

At Elastic, our compensation philosophy aims to provide fair, competitive and transparent remuneration. Salary ranges are established based on a combination of external market benchmarks, internal pay equity considerations, and the responsibilities and complexity associated with each role. This approach helps ensure consistency across comparable roles while remaining competitive within the relevant labour markets.

The final compensation offered within the applicable range will be determined based on several objective factors, including relevant professional experience, level of skills and expertise, alignment with the role requirements, and the overall scope and complexity of the position.

The typical starting salary range for this role is:

€73.300—€115.900 EUR

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 employer and is committed to creating an inclusive culture that celebrates different perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds. 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 [email protected]. We will reply to your request within 24 business hours of submission.

Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws, view posters linked below: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Poster; Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision Poster; Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) Poster and Know Your Rights (Poster)

Elasticsearch develops and distributes technology and information that is subject to U.S. and other countries’ 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, Syria, or Russia, including the Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia (The Crimea region of Ukraine, The Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), The Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), Kherson or Zaporizhzhia). 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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