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

Role: Senior Search Engineer on the Search Retrieval Team, the engine driving product and content discovery for Zalando. We build and operate the core search engine connecting over 62 million active customers across 29 markets with products and content. Our Search Engine powers tens of millions of searchable content stored in multiple clusters and hundreds of indices. Every content has ~4-10 embeddings powering semantic understanding, and we integrate with LLMs for query understanding and lexical search. Our mission is to deliver a world-class, intelligent, scalable, and reliable Search Platform. Responsibilities: - Architect the Future of Search: Lead design and implementation of next-generation AI-driven search engine, integrating Neural Search on Elasticsearch. - Build for Hyperscale: Modernize and scale real-time data ingestion systems using Kafka and Flink to handle millions of updates. - Drive Platform Innovation: Develop core platform capabilities enabling teams to build rich, personalized discovery experiences. - Drive Operational Excellence and Cost Efficiency: Lead platform-wide infrastructure projects, such as consolidating multi-lingual search indices, migrating core services, and supporting high-traffic events like Cyber Week. Qualifications: - Deep Search Expertise: Extensive experience building large-scale, preferably e-commerce, search engines. Equivalent expertise in Lucene, OpenSearch, Solr, or other distributed search systems valued. - Real-Time Data Pipeline Experience: Proven ability to design and build high-throughput data ingestion pipelines using Kafka and/or Flink or equivalent stream-processing frameworks. - Strong Backend Foundation: High proficiency in a JVM language (Java, Kotlin, or Scala) and deep understanding of distributed systems architecture, concurrency, and performance optimization. - Cross-Functional Collaboration: Excellent communication skills, working closely with engineers, applied scientists, and product partners, translating complex product requirements into reusable platform capabilities. What We Offer: - Employee shares program - 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Zalando Lounge, discounts from external partners - 2 paid volunteering days a year - 27 days of vacation a year (for Zalando SE) - Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement) - Family services, including counseling and support - Health and wellbeing options (including Gympass) - Mental health support and coaching available