Principal Engineer- Solr/Search Architect

Position: Principal Engineer- Solr/Search Architect
Location: Bangalore/Mysore/Remote

Overview:We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Principal Engineer with a strong background in Apache Solr and Java to lead our Engineering and customer-led initiatives. The ideal candidate will be responsible for ensuring the reliability, scalability, and performance of our search platform while providing expert-level troubleshooting and resolution for critical production issues. This role will involve designing the architecture for new platforms while reviewing and recommending better approaches for existing ones to drive continuous improvement and efficiency.

Responsibilities:

• Lead Engineering and support activities for Solr-based search applications, ensuring minimal downtime and optimal performance.
• Design and develop the architecture of new platforms while reviewing and recommending better approaches for existing ones. Regularly work towards enhancing search ranking, query understanding, and retrieval effectiveness.
• Diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve complex technical issues in Solr, Java-based applications, and supporting infrastructure.
• Perform deep-dive analysis of logs, performance metrics, and alerts to proactively prevent incidents.
• Optimize Solr indexes, queries, and configurations to enhance search performance and reliability.
• Work closely with development, operations, and business teams to drive improvements in system stability and efficiency.
• Implement monitoring tools, dashboards, and alerting mechanisms to enhance observability and proactive issue detection.
• Exposure to AI-based search using vector databases, RAG models, NLP and LLMs.
• Collaborate on capacity planning, system scaling, and disaster recovery strategies for mission-critical search systems.
• Provide mentorship and technical guidance to junior engineers and support teams.
• Drive innovation by tracking latest trends, emerging technologies and best practices in AI-based Search, Solr and other Search platforms.

Requirements:

• 8+ years of experience in software development and production support with a focus on Apache Solr, Java, and databases (Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.).
• Strong understanding of Solr indexing, query execution, schema design, configuration, and tuning.
• Experience in designing and implementing scalable system architectures for search platforms.
• Proven ability to review and assess existing platform architectures, identifying areas for improvement and recommending better approaches.
• Proficiency in Java, Spring Boot, and micro-services architectures.
• Experience with Linux/Unix-based environments, shell scripting, and debugging production systems.
• Hands-on experience with monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, ELK Stack) and log analysis.
• Expertise in troubleshooting performance issues related to Solr, JVM tuning, and memory management.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP and containerization technologies like Docker/Kubernetes.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced environment.
• Certifications in Solr, Java, or cloud technologies.
• Excellent communication and leadership abilities.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary
• Health insurance
• Retirement plan
• Paid time off
• Training and development opportunities