Principal Software Engineer (Networking) - Platform Infra

About the role

Elastic is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join Platform Infrastructure - Application Networking, shaping the future of Elastic Cloud application networking. The work covers Ingress, security controls, private connectivity and DNS management, and the role sets the technical vision, architecture and design rather than executing an existing roadmap. It is a Principal-level position for someone who has built high-performance, scalable networking platforms.

Key responsibilities

• Set the technical direction for major application networking initiatives, owning designs from proposal through general availability.
• Lead the development of Ingress, private connectivity, DNS and security controls at large scale, and continuously address performance, reliability and operability issues.
• Lead multi-quarter, cross-organizational projects and guide them to delivery.
• Raise the operational quality of services: lead incident investigations and reviews, and take part in on-call rotation.
• Mentor engineers, act as a subject matter expert and trusted technical advisor, and partner with product management and senior engineering stakeholders on trade-offs and roadmap direction.
• Champion improvements to security, stability and cost efficiency, and bring architectural clarity to the platform.

Required profile

• Experience setting technical direction for complex distributed systems running in production at scale (Staff or Principal level, or equivalent).
• Experience building large-scale distributed systems rather than relying on off-the-shelf services.
• Proven ability to own projects end to end and guide work involving multiple engineers.
• Experience operating high-availability SaaS platforms, responding to incidents and improving reliability.
• Track record of using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems and optimize code.
• Collaborates across functions and teams, works autonomously in a distributed team and influences direction without formal authority.

Required skills

• Deep expertise in application networking and cloud-native architecture, including designing, operating and evolving Ingress, private connectivity, DNS and security controls.
• Bonus: hands-on experience with Kubernetes networking (Cilium, external-dns, Envoy Gateway, Crossplane) and at least one major cloud provider (AWS, Azure or GCP).
• Bonus: contributions to CNCF or other open-source networking projects.

What we offer

• Base salary of EUR 84,300 to 109,500, with no variable component.
• Health coverage for you and your family in many locations.
• Flexible locations and schedules for many roles, generous vacation days, and parental leave of at least 16 weeks.
• Matching of up to $2,000 (or local equivalent) for donations and up to 40 hours per year for volunteering.