Principal Software Engineer (Search Systems)

TL;DR

Principal Software Engineer (Search Systems): Designing and implementing complex search and retrieval systems to power hirify.global’s knowledge discovery platform with an accent on vector/lexical search, scalability, and distributed system architecture. Focus on evolving central search engineering, mentoring team members, and building high-throughput services that transform unstructured data into interconnected knowledge graphs.

Location: Must be based in the United States

Salary: $115,400 - $230,700

Company

hirify.global is a global leader in advanced information and decision support for science and healthcare, transforming complex data into actionable insights.

What you will do

• Lead architectural design and ensure technical consistency across search systems.
• Expand content search capabilities and improve relevance using vector and lexical search techniques.
• Design and develop scalable data processing workflows and microservices using Spark, Spark Streaming, and Airflow.
• Mentor team members and lead design discussions, code reviews, and architecture sessions.
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to translate product requirements into reliable engineering solutions.
• Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues across distributed systems and data workflows.

Requirements

• Must be based in the United States
• Extensive industry experience with Lucene, Elasticsearch, Solr, or similar search engines.
• Proven track record building search systems at scale and expertise in Semantic Search.
• Proficiency in at least one of Java, Python, or Scala.
• Deep understanding of distributed system design, data modeling, and performance tuning.
• Experience with batch processing technologies including Spark, Spark Streaming, and Airflow.

Nice to have

• Experience with vector/embedding-based search and KNN algorithms.
• Exposure to graph-based data models or knowledge graph architecture.
• Experience building internal platforms or developer-facing data tooling.
• Knowledge of observability best practices for data systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Competitive base pay with annual incentive bonus eligibility.
• Comprehensive country-specific benefits package.
• Commitment to a fair and accessible hiring process with support for accommodations.
• Opportunity to work on mission-critical insights for global research and healthcare communities.