Senior Elasticsearch Engineer

Job Description

About Us:

Swarm Int is a defense AI startup developing cutting-edge computer vision and edge AI capabilities for military expeditionary forces. We strive to develop operator-in-the-loop solutions for warfighters with active contracts supporting the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.

Job Description:

We're seeking a Senior Elasticsearch Engineer to architect and optimize search infrastructure for a large-scale enterprise data solution supporting our Intelligence Community customer. You'll design systems that enable real-time search and retrieval across petabytes of data to support operational intelligence analysis and decision-making. This role requires regular on-site work at customer facilities in Bethesda, Maryland, including work in classified facilities (SCIF).

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement high-performance search infrastructure for large-scale data ingestion and retrieval
• Architect indexing strategies for diverse data types including time-series, geospatial, and vector embeddings
• Build and optimize real-time data pipelines for continuous index population
• Performance tune queries and clusters for sub-second response times on massive datasets
• Integrate search capabilities with AI/ML pipelines and analytics platforms
• Design data retention, archival, and lifecycle management strategies
• Deploy and manage search infrastructure in containerized environments and on-premises deployments
• Work in restricted and air-gapped network environments
• Mentor engineers on search architecture and optimization techniques
• Collaborate across teams on data architecture and integration patterns

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• 8-12 years experience with Elasticsearch in production environments
• Deep understanding of search engine internals, indexing, and query optimization
• Experience designing and scaling distributed search clusters
• Strong programming and scripting skills for automation and tooling
• Experience building data ingestion pipelines
• Proficiency with cluster monitoring and performance analysis
• Understanding of distributed systems and data replication
• Active TS/SCI with Single Scope (CI) Polygraph Required (Do not apply unless you have this)
• U.S. Citizenship required
• Ability to work on-site in Bethesda, Maryland 2-4 days/week including at classified facilities

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with vector search and similarity queries
• Knowledge of Open Search or experience with multiple search platforms
• Familiarity with AI/ML workflows and embedding-based search
• Experience with streaming data platforms and message queues
• Knowledge of data lakehouse architectures and technologies
• Experience with complementary data stores and caching systems
• Understanding of workflow orchestration tools
• Experience with containerization technologies (Docker)
• Knowledge of government data systems and security requirements (NIST 800-171, CMMC)
• Experience in air-gapped or restricted environments
• Experience with enterprise-scale data solutions at petabyte scale

Benefits:

• Competitive salary (~$200K based on experience)
• Annual performance bonus
• 401k with competitive company match
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
• Clearance retention bonuses
• Work on high-impact search problems at petabyte scale
• Professional development budget
• Collaborative startup environment with experienced technical leadership
• Direct impact on intelligence capabilities for national security