Senior Java Engineer Search Platform

Palo Alto, CA - USA

Monthly Salary: Not Disclosed

Posted on: 2 days ago

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

We help the world run better
At SAP we keep it simple: you bring your best to us and well bring out the best in you. Were builders touching over 20 industries and 80% of global commerce and we need your unique talents to help shape whats next. The work is challenging but it matters. Youll find a place where you can be yourself prioritize your wellbeing and truly belong. Whats in it for you Constant learning skill growth great benefits and a team that wants you to grow and succeed.

This is a hybrid role based out of Palo Alto. Hybrid is 3 days week onsite 2 days a week remote.

What youll do:

Were looking for Senior Software Engineers to lead the design and evolution of a state-of-the-art Search Platform that combines traditional information retrieval with modern AI and LLM-driven capabilities.

The systems we build span web-scale indexing hybrid retrieval (keyword vector) and advanced ranking systems delivering low-latency results across massive andheterogeneous datasets. You will play a key role in shaping the technical vision for search driving innovations in relevance performance and scalability.

This role requires deep technical expertise strong system design skills and the ability to influence architecture and execution across teams. You will partner closely with engineering product and data science to deliver impactful improvements to search quality and platform capabilities.

Value You Deliver:

Architect and build highly scalable low-latency distributed search systems
Design and optimize large-scale indexing pipelines and retrieval systems
Drive hybrid search architecture (BM25 vector search LLM-based reranking)
Lead design and development of backend services and REST APIs using Java and Spring
Build real-time and batch data pipelines using streaming frameworks
Design event-driven architectures leveraging message brokers such as Kafka
Improve search relevance and ranking quality using ML/NLP and LTR techniques
Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks across indexing and query layers
Define search quality metrics evaluation frameworks and experimentation strategies
Ensure system reliability scalability and fault tolerance using distributed system best practices
Own end-to-end lifecycle of microservices (design development deployment operations)
Implement security best practices (authentication authorization data protection)
Lead technical design discussions and influence architectural decisions
Mentor engineers through code reviews design guidance and best practices
Collaborate cross-functionally with Product Data Science and AI teams

What you bring:

Education & Experience

Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science or related field
8 years of experience in backend or distributed systems development
5 years of hands-on experience with large-scale data processing or streaming systems

Technical Skills
Core Programming & System Design

Deep expertise in Java (Java 11/17) and JVM ecosystem
Expert-level knowledge of Spring Framework (Boot MVC Security Retry)
Strong understanding of concurrency multi-threading and performance optimization
Proven experience designing scalable fault-tolerant distributed systems

Search & Information Retrieval

Strong experience with search technologies (Solr / Elasticsearch / OpenSearch / Lucene)
Deep understanding of indexing strategies query execution and relevance tuning
Experience with hybrid retrieval (keyword vector semantic/LLM reranking)
Hands-on experience with Learning to Rank (LTR) query understanding and personalization

Stream Processing & Distributed Systems

Extensive experience with Apache Beam Spark or Storm
Strong understanding of event-driven architectures and streaming pipelines
Knowledge of processing semantics (exactly-once at-least-once) windowing and state management

Data Storage & Persistence

Strong expertise in NoSQL systems (preferably Cassandra)
Experience with multi-tenant architectures and high-throughput systems
Understanding of consistency models and distributed data design
Familiarity with document stores and schema design

Messaging & Event Systems

Production experience with Kafka or similar systems
Understanding of event sourcing CQRS and backpressure handling

Security & Cloud

Experience with OAuth and service-to-service authentication
Knowledge of encryption (in transit and at rest) and KMS
Familiarity with Kubernetes and containerized environments
Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins Maven)

Testing & Quality

Strong experience with unit integration and distributed system testing
Familiarity with JUnit Mockito and embedded test frameworks
Understanding of testing strategies for distributed systems

Value Competencies

Drives technical vision and architectural decision-making
Balances immediate delivery with long-term platform evolution
Demonstrates strong ownership and accountability
Mentors and uplifts team through technical leadership
Collaborates effectively across engineering product and data science
Operates with a startup mindsetspeed with scalability
Passion for solving complex search and relevance challenges at scale

Meet your team:

We are part of the CTO Organization for Intelligent Spend and Business Network at SAP building a next-generation Search Platform that powers enterprise discovery at global scale.

Our team works on cutting-edge challenges across distributed systems search relevance and AI-driven retrievalcombining traditional IR techniques with modern LLM-based approaches. We focus on building systems that are scalable observable and impactful while fostering a culture of engineering excellence and innovation.

Bring out your best
SAP innovations help more than four hundred thousand customers worldwide work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively. Originally known for leadership in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software SAP has evolved to become a market leader in end-to-end business application software and related services for database analytics intelligent technologies and experience management. As a cloud company with two hundred million users and more than one hundred thousand employees worldwide we are purpose-driven and future-focused with a highly collaborative team ethic and commitment to personal development. Whether connecting global industries people or platforms we help ensure every challenge gets the solution it deserves. At SAP you can bring out your best.

We win with inclusion
SAPs culture of inclusion focus on health and well-being and flexible working models help ensure that everyone regardless of background feels included and can run at their best. At SAP we believe we are made stronger by the unique capabilities and qualities that each person brings to our company and we invest in our employees to inspire confidence and help everyone realize their full potential. We ultimately believe in unleashing all talent and creating a better world.

SAP is committed to the values of Equal Employment Opportunity and provides accessibility accommodations to applicants with physical and/or mental disabilities. If you are interested in applying for employment with SAP and are in need of accommodation or special assistance to navigate our website or to complete your application please send an e-mail with your request to Recruiting Operations Team:

For SAP employees: Only permanent roles are eligible for the SAP Employee Referral Program according to the eligibility rules set in the SAP Referral Policy. Specific conditions may apply for roles in Vocational Training.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their age race religion national origin ethnicity age gender (including pregnancy childbirth et al) sexual orientation gender identity or expression protected veteran status or disability.

Compensation Range Transparency: SAPbelieves the value of pay transparency contributes towards an honest and supportive culture and is a significant step toward demonstrating SAPs commitment to pay equity. SAP provides the annualized compensation range inclusive of base salary and variable incentive target for the career level applicable to the posted role. The targeted combined range for this position is 148600 - 252600 (USD) actual amount to be offered to the successful candidatewill be within that range dependent upon the key aspects of each case which may include education skillsexperience scope ofthe role location etc. as determinedthrough theselection process. Any SAP variable incentive includes a targeted dollar amount and any actual payout amount is dependent on company and personal performance. Please reference this link for a summary of SAP benefits and eligibility requirements: SAP North America Benefits.

AI Usage in the Recruitment Process

For information on the responsible use of AI in our recruitment process please refer to our Guidelines for Ethical Usage of AI in the Recruiting Process.

Please note that any violation of these guidelines may result in disqualification from the hiring process.

Requisition ID: 448602 Work Area: Software-Design and Development Expected Travel: 0 - 10% Career Status: Professional Employment Type: Regular Full Time Additional Locations: #LI-Hybrid

Required Experience:

Senior IC

We help the world run betterAt SAP we keep it simple: you bring your best to us and well bring out the best in you. Were builders touching over 20 industries and 80% of global commerce and we need your unique talents to help shape whats next. The work is challenging but it matters. Youll find a pla...