Business Area:
EngineeringSeniority Level:
DirectorJob Description:
At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world’s largest enterprises.
As a Principal OpenSearch Engineer, you will be the foremost technical authority and visionary for the search heartbeat of the Cloudera Data Platform (CDP). You will not only drive the technical vision but also ensure the strategic evolution of a high-performance, scalable, and secure search infrastructure that powers mission-critical data discovery and analytics for global enterprises. You will solve the most complex, high-impact technical problems that span multiple organizational boundaries.
Key ResponsibilitiesStrategic Technical Leadership: Drive the multi-year technical roadmap and architectural vision for search services, ensuring they are secure, cost-efficient, and highly scalable for petabyte-scale enterprise workloads.
Architectural Oversight: Design and oversee the implementation of large-scale OpenSearch clusters, ensuring low-latency indexing and query performance across multi-cloud environments.
Deep Platform Integration: Lead the deep integration of OpenSearch with core CDP components like Apache Iceberg, SDX, and Ozone to provide a unified, secure search experience.
Engineering Excellence: Define and champion organization-wide best practices for security (RBAC, TLS), observability, and enterprise-grade reliability.
Complex Problem Solving: Design solutions for extreme scale, multi-tenancy isolation, and complex hybrid/multi-cloud deployment models.
Mentorship & Influence: Mentor staff and senior engineers on complex technical designs and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation across the entire engineering organization.
Open Source Stewardship: Act as a primary influencer and liaison within the upstream OpenSearch community, aligning their roadmap with Cloudera's product strategy.
Technical Requirements
Search Expertise: 10+ years of experience (scaling from the 8+ years required for Staff level) working with OpenSearch or Elasticsearch in large-scale production environments.
Distributed Systems Mastery: Deep understanding of consensus algorithms, CAP theorem, replication, sharding, and fault-tolerant design patterns.
Mastery in Programming: Mastery of Java for core development and proficiency in Go or Python for advanced automation and tooling.
Infrastructure & Cloud: Extensive experience with Kubernetes (K8s) and container orchestration, including deploying search workloads on AWS (EKS/AOSS), Azure (AKS), or Google Cloud (GKE).
Systems Thinking: Demonstrated ability to drive architectural decisions with a focus on non-functional requirements such as high availability and security.
Preferred Qualifications
Deep expertise in Lucene internals (e.g., segment merging, bitsets, and codecs)
Advanced knowledge of Vector Database capabilities for Generative AI (RAG) and retrieval-augmented analytics.
Significant history of contributions to open-source projects like the Apache Software Foundation or the OpenSearch Project
Why Cloudera?
At Cloudera, we believe data can make what is impossible today, possible tomorrow. We empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. You’ll work on a platform that handles more data than almost anyone else on the planet, surrounded by a team that values candor, innovation, and open-source integrity.
What you can expect from us:
Generous PTO Policy
Support work life balance with Unplugged Days
Flexible WFH Policy
Mental & Physical Wellness programs
Phone and Internet Reimbursement program
Access to Continued Career Development
Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages
Paid Volunteer Time
Employee Resource Groups
EEO/VEVRAA
#LI-NK1
Skills Required
- 10+ years of experience with OpenSearch or Elasticsearch in large-scale production environments
- Deep understanding of consensus algorithms, CAP theorem, replication, sharding, and fault-tolerant design patterns
- Mastery of Java for core development and proficiency in Go or Python
- Extensive experience with Kubernetes and container orchestration
- Demonstrated ability to drive architectural decisions with a focus on non-functional requirements
Cloudera Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Cloudera and has not been reviewed or approved by Cloudera.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off includes generous PTO and holidays plus recurring company‑wide Unplugged Days that provide regular recharge time. Volunteer time off and flexible scheduling options further expand usable leave.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage spans comprehensive medical, dental, and vision alongside EAP, wellness sessions, and U.S. gym reimbursement. These elements position healthcare as a strong anchor within the package.
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Strong & Reliable Incentives — Compensation often includes variable incentives and long‑term incentive programs with annual bonuses commonly offered. Sales and other revenue roles show competitive on‑target earnings when goals are met, reinforcing the incentive structure.
Cloudera Insights
What We Do
At Cloudera, we believe that data can make what is impossible today, possible tomorrow. We empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. Cloudera delivers an enterprise data cloud for any data, anywhere, from the Edge to AI. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community,
