Senior Search Engineer - Search and Browse Core (All genders)

Role: Join the Search Retrieval Team at Zalando, building and operating the core search engine that connects millions of customers with products and content. The mission is to deliver an intelligent, scalable, and reliable Search Platform. Responsibilities: - Lead the design and implementation of a next‑generation AI‑driven search engine, integrating neural search on top of Elasticsearch (or equivalent). - Modernize and scale real‑time data ingestion pipelines using technologies such as Kafka and Flink to handle millions of updates. - Develop core platform capabilities that enable personalized discovery experiences across Zalando. - Lead platform‑wide infrastructure projects, including consolidating multilingual search indices, migrating core services, and ensuring system readiness for high‑traffic events like Cyber Week. Qualifications: - Extensive experience building large‑scale e‑commerce search engines (Elasticsearch, Lucene, OpenSearch, Solr, etc.). - Proven ability to design and build high‑throughput data pipelines with Kafka, Flink, or similar stream‑processing frameworks. - Strong backend expertise in a JVM language (Java, Kotlin, or Scala) and deep understanding of distributed systems, concurrency, and performance optimization. - Excellent cross‑functional communication and collaboration skills. What We Offer: - Employee shares program. - 40% discount on fashion and beauty products, 30% off Zalando Lounge, plus external partner discounts. - 2 paid volunteering days per year. - 27 days of vacation (Zalando SE) and relocation assistance. - Family services, counseling, health and wellbeing options (Gympass), and mental health support and coaching.