Principal Software Engineer I - CI/CD - Platform Engineering Productivity

Elastic, the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real time, using all their data, at scale. The Elastic Search AI Platform, used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500, brings together the precision of search and the intelligence of AI.

The Platform Engineering Productivity team operates the CI, CD, and Release infrastructure for the company. We ensure developers can efficiently and safely deploy changes across our various environments and at scale. We're looking for a proactive systems thinker who delivers on business-driven projects while identifying and driving the work that keeps our infrastructure ahead before scaling and security challenges become problems.

• Define the roadmap and technical vision for CI/CD, from problem identification through org-wide adoption.
• Identify where CI/CD is a bottleneck, a source of friction, or a security risk before it becomes an incident, and drive the remediation.
• Design and enforce release gates covering supply chain integrity, artifact provenance, and release readiness.
• Direct engineers on your team through complex, multi-quarter projects: break down the architecture, assign the work, and own the outcome.
• Drive clear technical communication and alignment across teams, and produce high-quality documentation.
• Serve as Incident Commander on high-severity supply chain or release incidents.
• Raise the engineering bar across the org through code review, mentorship, design review, and by setting standards.
• Remain hands-on at the right depth: review code, prototype approaches, and debug production issues.

• Deep expertise in CI/CD and what it takes to harden a release pipeline against supply chain attacks.
• Strong debugging instincts across the full pipeline stack: trace failures from test runner to artifact store to cluster deployment.
• Hands-on with CI infrastructure (Buildkite, GitHub Actions, or equivalent), GitOps/ArgoCD, and Kubernetes.
• You use AI to accelerate your own work and your team's and understand AI's impact on supply chain security and scale.
• A track record of multi-quarter, cross-org ownership.
• The judgment to push back on a prescribed plan when it's the wrong call, and the credibility to get alignment on a better approach.
• Experience directing the work of other engineers toward outcomes.

The typical starting salary range for this role is $159,800—$252,800 USD. In select locations (including Seattle WA, Los Angeles CA, the San Francisco Bay Area CA, and the New York City Metro Area), an alternate range may apply: $191,900—$303,500 USD. This role is currently eligible to participate in Elastic's stock program. Our total rewards package also includes a company-matched 401k with dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% of eligible earnings, along with a range of other benefits offered with a holistic emphasis on employee well-being.

As a distributed company, diversity drives our identity. We strive to have parity of benefits across regions. Competitive pay based on the work you do here and not your previous salary. Health coverage for you and your family in many locations. Ability to craft your calendar with flexible locations and schedules for many roles. Generous number of vacation days each year. We match up to $2000 for financial donations and service. Up to 40 hours each year to use toward volunteer projects. Embracing parenthood with minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave. Elastic is an equal opportunity employer.