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

Role: Join the Search Retrieval Team, the engine driving product and content discovery for Zalando. We build and operate the core search engine that connects over 62 million active customers across 29 markets with the products and content they love. Our mission is to deliver a world‑class, intelligent, scalable, and reliable Search Platform. Responsibilities: - Architect and implement the next‑generation, AI‑driven search engine, integrating Neural Search on top of Elasticsearch. - Modernize and scale real‑time data ingestion systems using technologies such as Kafka and Flink to handle millions of updates. - Develop core platform capabilities that enable teams across Zalando to build rich, personalized discovery experiences. - Lead platform‑wide infrastructure projects, including consolidating multi‑lingual search indices, migrating core services, and ensuring system readiness for high‑traffic events like Cyber Week. Qualifications: - Extensive experience building large‑scale, preferably e‑commerce, search engines (Elasticsearch, Lucene, OpenSearch, Solr, etc.). - Proven ability to design and build high‑throughput data pipelines with Kafka, Flink, or equivalent stream‑processing frameworks. - Strong backend development skills in a JVM language (Java, Kotlin, or Scala) and deep understanding of distributed systems, concurrency, and performance optimization. - Excellent cross‑functional collaboration and communication skills. What We Offer: - Employee shares program - 40% off fashion and beauty products, 30% off Zalando Lounge, discounts from external partners - Two paid volunteering days per year - 27 days of vacation per year (for Zalando SE) - Relocation assistance (subject to agreement) - Family services, health and wellbeing options (including Gympass), mental health support and coaching - Inclusive and diverse work environment