Senior Java Engineer - Search Platform

We help the world run better

At SAP, we keep it simple: you bring your best to us, and we'll bring out the best in you. We're builders touching over 20 industries and 80% of global commerce, and we need your unique talents to help shape what's next. The work is challenging - but it matters. You'll find a place where you can be yourself, prioritize your wellbeing, and truly belong. What's in it for you? Constant learning, skill growth, great benefits, and a team that wants you to grow and succeed.

This is a hybrid role based out of Palo, Alto or San Ramon, CA. Hybrid is 3 days week onsite, 2 days a week remote.

What you'll do:

We’re looking for Senior Software Engineers to lead the design and evolution of a state-of-the-art Search Platform that combines traditional information retrieval with modern AI and LLM-driven capabilities.

The systems we build span web-scale indexing, hybrid retrieval (keyword + vector), and advanced ranking systems, delivering low-latency results across massive and heterogeneous datasets. You will play a key role in shaping the technical vision for search, driving innovations in relevance, performance, and scalability.

This role requires deep technical expertise, strong system design skills, and the ability to influence architecture and execution across teams. You will partner closely with engineering, product, and data science to deliver impactful improvements to search quality and platform capabilities.

Value You Deliver:

• Architect and build highly scalable, low-latency distributed search systems
• Design and optimize large-scale indexing pipelines and retrieval systems
• Drive hybrid search architecture (BM25 + vector search + LLM-based reranking)
• Lead design and development of backend services and REST APIs using Java and Spring
• Build real-time and batch data pipelines using streaming frameworks
• Design event-driven architectures leveraging message brokers such as Kafka
• Improve search relevance and ranking quality using ML/NLP and LTR techniques
• Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks across indexing and query layers
• Define search quality metrics, evaluation frameworks, and experimentation strategies
• Ensure system reliability, scalability, and fault tolerance using distributed system best practices
• Own end-to-end lifecycle of microservices (design, development, deployment, operations)
• Implement security best practices (authentication, authorization, data protection)
• Lead technical design discussions and influence architectural decisions
• Mentor engineers through code reviews, design guidance, and best practices
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Data Science, and AI teams

What you bring:

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field
• 8+ years of experience in backend or distributed systems development
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with large-scale data processing or streaming systems

Core Programming & System Design

• Deep expertise in Java (Java 11/17+) and JVM ecosystem
• Expert-level knowledge of Spring Framework (Boot, MVC, Security, Retry)
• Strong understanding of concurrency, multi-threading, and performance optimization
• Proven experience designing scalable, fault-tolerant distributed systems

Search & Information Retrieval

• Strong experience with search technologies (Solr / Elasticsearch / OpenSearch / Lucene)
• Deep understanding of indexing strategies, query execution, and relevance tuning
• Experience with hybrid retrieval (keyword + vector + semantic/LLM reranking)
• Hands-on experience with Learning to Rank (LTR), query understanding, and personalization

Stream Processing & Distributed Systems

• Extensive experience with Apache Beam, Spark, or Storm
• Strong understanding of event-driven architectures and streaming pipelines
• Knowledge of processing semantics (exactly-once, at-least-once), windowing, and state management

Data Storage & Persistence

• Strong expertise in NoSQL systems (preferably Cassandra)
• Experience with multi-tenant architectures and high-throughput systems
• Understanding of consistency models and distributed data design
• Familiarity with document stores and schema design

Messaging & Event Systems

• Production experience with Kafka or similar systems
• Understanding of event sourcing, CQRS, and backpressure handling

Security & Cloud

• Experience with OAuth and service-to-service authentication
• Knowledge of encryption (in transit and at rest) and KMS
• Familiarity with Kubernetes and containerized environments
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, Maven)

Testing & Quality

• Strong experience with unit, integration, and distributed system testing
• Familiarity with JUnit, Mockito, and embedded test frameworks
• Understanding of testing strategies for distributed systems

Value Competencies

• Drives technical vision and architectural decision-making
• Balances immediate delivery with long-term platform evolution
• Demonstrates strong ownership and accountability
• Mentors and uplifts team through technical leadership
• Collaborates effectively across engineering, product, and data science
• Operates with a startup mindset-speed with scalability
• Passion for solving complex search and relevance challenges at scale

Meet your team:

We are part of the CTO Organization for Intelligent Spend and Business Network at SAP, building a next-generation Search Platform that powers enterprise discovery at global scale.

Our team works on cutting-edge challenges across distributed systems, search relevance, and AI-driven retrieval-combining traditional IR techniques with modern LLM-based approaches. We focus on building systems that are scalable, observable, and impactful, while fostering a culture of engineering excellence and innovation.

Bring out your best

SAP innovations help more than four hundred thousand customers worldwide work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively. Originally known for leadership in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, SAP has evolved to become a market leader in end-to-end business application software and related services for database, analytics, intelligent technologies, and experience management. As a cloud company with two hundred million users and more than one hundred thousand employees worldwide, we are purpose-driven and future-focused, with a highly collaborative team ethic and commitment to personal development. Whether connecting global industries, people, or platforms, we help ensure every challenge gets the solution it deserves. At SAP, you can bring out your best.

We win with inclusion

SAP’s culture of inclusion, focus on health and well-being, and flexible working models help ensure that everyone - regardless of background - feels included and can run at their best. At SAP, we believe we are made stronger by the unique capabilities and qualities that each person brings to our company, and we invest in our employees to inspire confidence and help everyone realize their full potential. We ultimately believe in unleashing all talent and creating a better world.

SAP is committed to the values of Equal Employment Opportunity and provides accessibility accommodations to applicants with physical and/or mental disabilities. If you are interested in applying for employment with SAP and are in need of accommodation or special assistance to navigate our website or to complete your application, please send an e-mail with your request to Recruiting Operations Team: [email protected].

For SAP employees: Only permanent roles are eligible for the SAP Employee Referral Program, according to the eligibility rules set in the SAP Referral Policy. Specific conditions may apply for roles in Vocational Training.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their age, race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, age, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, et al), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status, or disability.

Compensation Range Transparency: SAP believes the value of pay transparency contributes towards an honest and supportive culture and is a significant step toward demonstrating SAP’s commitment to pay equity. SAP provides the annualized compensation range inclusive of base salary and variable incentive target for the career level applicable to the posted role. The targeted combined range for this position is 148600 - 252600 (USD) USD. The actual amount to be offered to the successful candidate will be within that range, dependent upon the key aspects of each case which may include education, skills, experience, scope of the role, location, etc. as determined through the selection process. Any SAP variable incentive includes a targeted dollar amount and any actual payout amount is dependent on company and personal performance. Please reference this link for a summary of SAP benefits and eligibility requirements: SAP North America Benefits.

AI Usage in the Recruitment Process

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Please note that any violation of these guidelines may result in disqualification from the hiring process.

Requisition ID: 448602 | Work Area: Software-Design and Development | Expected Travel: 0 - 10% | Career Status: Professional | Employment Type: Regular Full Time | Additional Locations: #LI-Hybrid