Senior Search Engineer (m/f/d)

On behalf of a well-established, high-traffic eCommerce company with millions of products and a strong focus on quality and long-term customer relationships, we are currently supporting the search for an experienced Search Engineer. This is a key technical role at the heart of a large-scale digital platform, combining hands-on expertise with technical leadership to shape the future of search and discovery.

Your Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture and further development of next-generation search solutions, primarily based on Elasticsearch and modern ML technologies
• Continuously improve search relevance, ranking, and overall user experience through data-driven optimization
• Analyze tracking data and user behavior to refine search performance and personalization strategies
• Apply advanced machine learning techniques (e.g., XGBoost, sentence transformers, LLMs, vector embeddings) to enhance search quality and discovery
• Define and monitor meaningful search quality metrics (e.g., NDCG, F1, CTR) for both online and offline evaluation
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers, conduct code reviews, and promote best practices
• Collaborate closely with product owners, data scientists, and engineering teams to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions
• Contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and technical excellence in an agile environment

Your Profile

• Strong hands-on experience with Java and Spring Boot; solid knowledge of Python is a plus
• Proven expertise in building and optimizing search solutions using Elasticsearch or comparable search technologies
• Deep understanding of search engine ranking, search optimization, and analytics-driven improvement
• Practical experience applying ML and NLP techniques in search contexts (e.g., entity recognition, semantic search, query understanding)
• Familiarity with high-traffic eCommerce or SaaS environments and the associated challenges of scalability, reliability, and performance
• Strong analytical mindset combined with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly
• Experience guiding or mentoring other engineers in a collaborative setting
• Solution-oriented, proactive personality with a strong “can-do” mentality

The Benefits

• Technically impactful role in a large-scale, high-traffic digital environment
• Modern, hybrid working model with flexible hours to support work-life balance
• Trust-based, collaborative company culture with flat hierarchies
• Long-term stability within a successful, sustainably operating organization
• Strong focus on health, well-being, and personal development
• Freedom to choose hardware and tools that best support your way of working
• Agile environment with a clear commitment to continuous improvement and innovation

If you are passionate about search technology and want to take ownership in a technically ambitious eCommerce environment, I look forward to connecting with you for a confidential conversation.