Tech Lead, Agent Framework - Observability

Elastic, the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real time, using all their data, at scale — unleashing the potential of businesses and people. 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 to enable everyone to accelerate the results that matter. By taking advantage of all structured and unstructured data — securing and protecting private information more effectively — Elastic’s complete, cloud-based solutions for search, security, and observability help organizations deliver on the promise of AI.

What is The Role

Elastic's Streams program is the unified platform for getting data into Elasticsearch from edge collection all the way through cloud processing. At the edge, Elastic Agent and Beats are how data leaves customer infrastructure. 

This role is the tech lead position for the Agent Framework team: you will own the architecture, set the technical direction, and be the primary decision-maker for how Elastic's agent layer evolves to support the Streams model.

What You Will Be Doing

• Design a scalable and capable architecture for the agent layer. Evaluate and implement new technologies to boost system performance. Conduct reviews of existing architecture to identify areas for improvement and lead architectural discussions to drive decision-making.
• Provide technical guidance and support to team members while fostering a culture of continuous learning. Conduct code reviews and offer constructive feedback to improve team performance. Lead by example, demonstrating engineering best practices and setting high standards for quality.
• Engage with stakeholders to gather their requirements and expectations appropriately. Collaborate with the product management team to prioritize features based on the input gathered from stakeholders.
• Facilitate collaboration across teams by organizing meetings and coordinating efforts. Identify potential risks that could hinder project success and take initiative-taking measures to mitigate them. Adjust project plans in response to changing priorities or feedback from stakeholders to ensure alignment.

What You Bring 

• Proven experience as a technical lead or principal engineer on an agent, daemon, or systems-level software project at scale managing distributed deployments, versioning, and backward compatibility.
• Deep knowledge of observability data collection: metrics, logs, traces, and the protocols that carry them (OTLP, Prometheus Remote Write, syslog, etc.).
• Solid background in Go (Elastic Agent and Beats are primarily Go).
• Experience designing management and control planes for distributed software particularly protocol-driven approaches like OpAMP.
• Track record of leading large, multi-team technical initiatives from ambiguous design space to shipped software.
• Proven ability to seamlessly transition between different projects and codebases, and work with different teams based on dynamic business priorities.
• Comfortable with the full arc of a technical decision: writing the design doc, socializing it across stakeholders, building consensus, and holding the line on what matters.
• Great written communication you produce design docs and ADRs that others trust and reference long after the decision is made

Bonus Points

• Direct experience with Elastic Agent, Fleet, Beats, or OpenTelemetry collector internals.
• Experience with OpenTelemetry collector configuration, OTLP transport, or upstream contribution.
• Experience with cross platform testing and developer productivity spanning all of Linux, Windows, MacOS, containers, and Kubernetes.
• Knowledge about pipeline execution models and processing languages (Streamlang, Logstash, Fluent, etc.).
• Experience with CloudFormation, Terraform, or other infrastructure-as-code tooling in the context of agent deployment.
• Contributions to open source projects in the observability or agent ecosystem.
• Comfort working async-first across a globally distributed team.

Compensation for this role is in the form of base salary. This role does not have a variable compensation component.

The typical starting salary range for new hires in this role is listed below. 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 as specified below. 

These ranges represent the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the ranges may be modified in the future.

An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Elastic believes that employees should have the opportunity to share in the value that we create together for our shareholders. Therefore, in addition to cash compensation, 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.

The typical starting salary range for this role is:

$159,800—$252,800 USD

The typical starting salary range for this role in the select locations listed above is:

$191,900—$303,500 USD

Additional Information - We Take Care of Our People

As a distributed company, diversity drives our identity. Whether you’re looking to launch a new career or grow an existing one, Elastic is the type of company where you can balance great work with great life. Your age is only a number. It doesn’t matter if you’re just out of college or your children are; we need you for what you can do.

We strive to have parity of benefits across regions and while regulations differ from place to place, we believe taking care of our people is the right thing to do.

• 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
• Increase your impact - We match up to $2000 (or local currency equivalent) for financial donations and service
• Up to 40 hours each year to use toward volunteer projects you love
• Embracing parenthood with minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave

Different people approach problems differently. We need that. Elastic is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive culture that celebrates different perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law, ordinance or regulation.

We welcome individuals with disabilities and strive to create an accessible and inclusive experience for all individuals. To request an accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email View email address on us.fitly.work . We will reply to your request within 24 business hours of submission.

Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws, view posters linked below: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Poster; Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision Poster; Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) Poster and Know Your Rights (Poster)

Elasticsearch develops and distributes technology and information that is subject to U.S. and other countries’ export controls and licensing requirements for individuals who are located in or are nationals of the following sanctioned countries and regions: Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, or Russia, including the Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia (The Crimea region of Ukraine, The Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), The Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), Kherson or Zaporizhzhia). If you are located in or are a national of one of the listed countries or regions, an export license may be required as a condition of your employment in this role. Please note that national origin and/or nationality do not affect eligibility for employment with Elastic.

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