Engineering Manager, Search Systems

About the role

We are looking for an Engineering Manager to lead the Search Systems team at Etsy. This team owns the core retrieval and indexing infrastructure that powers fast, reliable, and seamless search experiences for millions of Etsy buyers. As we embark on a major next-gen infra upgrade, you’ll guide the team through consolidating our retrieval systems, simplifying our architecture, and unlocking new machine learning capabilities to improve relevance, performance, and developer experience. You will lead a talented group of engineers responsible for scaling our search backends, ensuring we serve high-quality, low-latency search results at global scale.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team of engineers and scientists responsible for designing, building, and maintaining search backend systems and infrastructure.
• Partner with research and ML teams to productionize new retrieval and ranking models efficiently at scale.
• Oversee the next-gen retrieval infra adoption, ensuring reliable data pipelines, index health, and performance during and after transition.
• Drive architectural decisions around indexing, query execution, and ranking infrastructure to improve latency, throughput, and system resilience.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners—including other Search ML and Enablement Teams—to shape long-term direction of the search stack.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, mentorship, and continuous learning through regular code reviews, design discussions, and performance feedback.
• Establish clear technical goals, monitor system health, and proactively identify and resolve performance and reliability bottlenecks.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Proven experience in large-scale search systems or ml infrastructure, with a strong background in retrieval systems, distributed computing, or ML-powered search.
• 2+ years of experience leading engineering teams, ideally with experience in real-time search, recommendation, or ads systems.
• Deep understanding of search engines and frameworks (e.g., Elasticsearch, Lucene, Solr, or modern hybrid search or vector search systems).
• Familiarity with modern retrieval and ranking techniques, including neural retrieval, semantic search, and transformer-based models.
• Experience with system performance optimization, caching strategies, and scaling high-throughput, low-latency services.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills; capable of bridging between technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Track record of driving complex technical projects from conception to launch while maintaining a high bar for quality and reliability.
• Passion for mentoring engineers, fostering growth, and cultivating an inclusive, learning-oriented team culture.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Proven experience in large-scale search systems or ml infrastructure, with a strong background in retrieval systems, distributed computing, or ML-powered search.
• 2+ years of experience leading engineering teams, ideally with experience in real-time search, recommendation, or ads systems.
• Deep understanding of search engines and frameworks (e.g., Elasticsearch, Lucene, Solr, or modern hybrid search or vector search systems).
• Familiarity with modern retrieval and ranking techniques, including neural retrieval, semantic search, and transformer-based models.
• Experience with system performance optimization, caching strategies, and scaling high-throughput, low-latency services.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills; capable of bridging between technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Track record of driving complex technical projects from conception to launch while maintaining a high bar for quality and reliability.
• Passion for mentoring engineers, fostering growth, and cultivating an inclusive, learning-oriented team culture.

Skills

• Experience with system performance optimization, caching strategies, and scaling high-throughput, low-latency services.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills; capable of bridging between technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Track record of driving complex technical projects from conception to launch while maintaining a high bar for quality and reliability.
• Passion for mentoring engineers, fostering growth, and cultivating an inclusive, learning-oriented team culture.

Benefits

• Annual performance bonus
• Competitive benefits that support you and your family

Pay

$226,000.00 - $294,000.00

Schedule

Full-time position reporting to the Director of Engineering, Search.