Cloudera

Senior Software Engineer - Cloudera Context Search Team

Cloudera$152K — $190K *
Information Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent plus 5-6 years experience; or Master's degree with 3-5 years; or PhD with 0-3 years.
  • 5+ years working with OpenSearch or Elasticsearch in a large-scale production environment.
  • Strong understanding of distributed systems concepts such as consensus algorithms and sharding.
  • Proficient in Java for OpenSearch development, and/or Go/Python for automation.
  • Extensive experience with Kubernetes and container orchestration.
  • Experience deploying search workloads on major cloud providers: AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.

Responsibilities

  • Design and implement large-scale OpenSearch clusters for petabyte-level data handling.
  • Integrate OpenSearch with CDP components for a unified search experience.
  • Optimize performance through JVM tuning and query strategy adjustments.
  • Implement enterprise security standards for data governance and compliance.
  • Develop Kubernetes Operators and Helm charts for automated cloud operations.
  • Liaise with the OpenSearch community to contribute to project improvements.

Benefits

  • Generous PTO policy to support work-life balance.
  • Flexible work-from-home policy.
  • Programs for mental and physical wellness.
  • Reimbursement for phone and internet expenses.
  • Access to career development opportunities.
  • Comprehensive benefits packages offered.
  • Paid volunteer time to encourage community involvement.
  • Employee resource groups for diverse interests.
Full Job Description
Business Area:
Engineering

Seniority Level:
Mid-Senior level

Job Description:

As a Senior Engineer on the Cloudera Context Search Team, you will be a key architect and contributor to the search heartbeat of the Cloudera Data Platform. You won't just be "managing clusters"-you will be designing the high-performance, scalable, and secure search infrastructure that powers data discovery, observability, and analytics for the world's largest enterprises.

You will bridge the gap between big data storage and real-time retrieval, ensuring that OpenSearch operates seamlessly within our containerized (Kubernetes) and multi-cloud environments.

As a Sr. Software Engineer you will:
  • Architect & Scale: Design and implement large-scale OpenSearch clusters capable of handling petabytes of data with low-latency indexing and query performance.
  • Platform Integration: Deeply integrate OpenSearch with CDP components (e.g., Apache Iceberg, SDX, and Ozone) to provide a unified search experience across the data lakehouse.
  • Performance Tuning: Optimize JVM settings, shard allocation strategies, and query DSL to ensure maximum throughput and stability.
  • Security & Governance: Implement enterprise-grade security including RBAC, TLS, and audit logging, ensuring compliance with Cloudera's Shared Data Experience (SDX) standards.
  • Cloud Native Operations: Develop and maintain Kubernetes Operators and Helm charts for automated deployment, scaling, and self-healing of search services.
  • Community Contribution: Act as a liaison to the upstream OpenSearch community, contributing bug fixes, features, and performance improvements.


We are excited about you if you have:
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent and 5-6 years of related experience; OR Master's degree and 3-5 years of related experience; OR PhD and 0-3 years of related experience
  • Search Expertise: 5+ years of experience working with OpenSearch or Elasticsearch in a production environment at scale.
  • Distributed Systems: Strong understanding of distributed system concepts (Consensus algorithms, CAP theorem, replication, and sharding).
  • Programming: Proficiency in Java (core OpenSearch development) and/or Go/Python for automation and tooling.
  • Infrastructure: Extensive experience with Kubernetes (K8s) and container orchestration.
  • Cloud Providers: Hands-on experience deploying search workloads on AWS (EKS/AOSS), Azure (AKS), or Google Cloud (GKE).
  • Big Data Ecosystem: Familiarity with the Hadoop ecosystem or modern equivalents like Spark, Flink, and Hive is a major plus.


You might also have:
  • Experience with Lucene internals (segment merging, bitsets, and codecs).
  • Knowledge of Vector Database capabilities within OpenSearch for Generative AI (RAG) use cases.
  • History of contributing to open-source projects (Apache Software Foundation or OpenSearch Project)


Why this role matters:

You will tackle complex distributed systems challenges, crafting the foundational software for the control and data planes that powers CDP and keeps it running at massive scale. Working at the forefront of hybrid and multi-cloud technology, you will empower data scientists, engineers, and analysts with the tools and infrastructure they need for advanced analytics and modeling.

Collaboration is key, you will work alongside brilliant minds across product, data science, and engineering to drive innovation, standardize best practices, and shape the future of enterprise AI and data platforms. This is your chance to build the future of data and see your work make a global impact.

The expected base salary range for this role in
  • California is $152,000 - $190,000

The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location

This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship.

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


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About Cloudera

Cloudera is a software company that provides a unified platform for data management and analytics. The company's platform enables organizations to store, process, and analyze large amounts of data in a variety of formats, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Cloudera's platform is used by some of the world's largest and most innovative organizations, including Airbus, Credit Suisse, and Expedia. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
Learn more about Cloudera
Size
2,728 employees
Market Cap
$4.6 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$162.7 million
Founded
2008
5 Year Trend
+39.2%
Revenue
$869.2 million
NASDAQ

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