Senior Elastic Engineer

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking an Elasticsearch & Observability Engineer to support a high‑visibility federal cybersecurity program within a leading Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) in an on‑site environment in Colorado Springs, CO . This role focuses on designing, implementing, and managing Elasticsearch environments while building robust observability and monitoring capabilities across mission‑critical systems. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in search technologies, logging pipelines, metrics, tracing, and real‑time monitoring within secure, high‑performance environments. The position is contingent upon additional funding.

Responsibilities of the Elasticsearch & Observability Engineer include:

• Design, deploy, and manage Elasticsearch clusters across distributed environments
• Optimize search performance , indexing strategies, mappings, and query execution
• Ensure data integrity, availability, and security within Elastic deployments
• Monitor cluster health and performance, proactively identifying and resolving issues
• Develop and maintain observability frameworks using Kibana, Grafana, or similar tools
• Implement logging, metrics, and tracing systems for real‑time application monitoring
• Analyze and visualize complex datasets to identify trends, anomalies, and performance gaps
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to define search and observability requirements
• Provide technical guidance, documentation, and mentorship to team members
• Stay current with emerging technologies in search, observability, and monitoring
• Document architectures, procedures, and operational processes
• Prepare reports on system performance, incidents, and resolutions

Qualifications for the Elasticsearch & Observability Engineer include:

• Active TS/SCI clearance
• Possession of a U.S. Passport
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to support short, planned domestic or international travel
• At least 3 years of experience demonstrating proficiency in:
  • Elasticsearch engineering and observability tooling
  • SIEM concepts and platforms (Elastic, Splunk, QRadar, LogRhythm)
  • Designing, implementing, and optimizing complex SIEM or logging solutions
  • Linux/Unix systems, networking fundamentals, and cloud services
  • Scripting languages such as Python, PowerShell, or Bash
  • Cybersecurity fundamentals, threat landscapes, and attack methodologies

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with other search technologies (Solr, Lucene)
• Elastic certifications (Elastic Certified Engineer, Elastic Observability Engineer)
• Experience in DevOps or Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) roles
• Background supporting large‑scale, distributed, or mission‑critical environments

Position Details:

• Location: Colorado Springs, CO
• Schedule: On‑site, 4–5 days per week
• Short‑duration domestic or international travel as needed
• Collaboration with engineering, security, operations, and MSSP teams

Compensation for the Elasticsearch & Observability Engineer includes:

• Salary Range: $140,000 – $200,000
• Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K, PTO, Sick Leave (as required), Holidays

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