Principal Software Engineer - Security - Elasticsearch

About this role

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

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 Elastic. 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.

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

The typical starting salary range for new hires in this role is listed below. In select locations (including Seattle WA, Los Angeles CA, the San Francisco Bay Area CA, and the New York City Metro Area), an alternate range may apply as specified below.

These ranges represent the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the ranges may be modified in the future.

An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Elastic believes that employees should have the opportunity to share in the value that we create together for our shareholders. Therefore, in addition to cash compensation, this role is currently eligible to participate in Elastic's stock program. Our total rewards package also includes a company-matched 401k with dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% of eligible earnings, along with a range of other benefits offered with a holistic emphasis on employee well-being.

The typical starting salary range for this role is: $159,800 — $252,800 USD

The typical starting salary range for this role in the select locations listed above is: $191,900 — $303,500 USD

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

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