Zalando

ABOUT ZALANDO

Zalando is Europe’s leading online platform for fashion, connecting customers, brands and partners across 25 markets. We drive digital solutions for fashion, logistics, advertising and research, bringing head-to-toe fashion to more than 50 million active customers through diverse skill-sets, interests and languages our teams choose to use.

THE ROLE AND THE TEAM

As a Principal Engineer in the Search and Browse team, your role involves architecting and developing the Search and Browse platform, directly impacting over 50 million Zalando customers across 25 countries. Your primary responsibility will be scaling and evolving Search and Browse systems as well as supporting further expansions. Currently, our Elasticsearch installation manages approximately 15 million searchable articles distributed across 600 nodes and 150 indices, all hosted on Kubernetes. Our systems handle over 100TB of update traffic per day and support more than 10,000 RPS toward our end customers, supporting all key customer experiences.

And this is just a beginning ….

WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• Design, build, and maintain a large-scale Search and Browse platform using technologies such as Scala, Elasticsearch, Nakadi (Kafka), Flink, and Kubernetes, with a focus on scale and performance.
• Collaborate with multiple teams, including engineering and applied science (ML/AI), to ensure a holistic approach to platform development.
• Foster knowledge-sharing among colleagues, emphasizing the application of expertise within and beyond the Search and Browse platform.
• Engage with various teams and stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and competencies, contributing to the platform's overall success.

WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF

• Experience in designing and developing resilient, scalable distributed systems in a cloud infrastructure, with a preference for proficiency in Kubernetes and AWS.
• A strong background in entity discovery and retrieval systems (Search and Browse) is highly valued.
• This role requires a blend of system design and hands-on coding experience.
• Expertise in implementing integration patterns through REST APIs and message queues.
• Hands-on experience managing large-scale Elasticsearch deployments.
• Familiarity with JVM-based languages, particularly Scala, as well as Java and Kotlin.
• Familiarity with message queue and stream processing technologies such as Kafka and Flink.
• Passion for agile practices and continuous improvement.

OUR OFFER

Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.

• Employee shares program
• 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Zalando Lounge, discounts from external partners
• 2 paid volunteering days a year
• Hybrid working model with 60% (or more) remote per week, actual practice is up to each team to best support their collaboration
• Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year
• 27 days of vacation a year (for Zalando SE)
• Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)
• Family services, including counselling and support
• Health and wellbeing options (including Gympass)
• Mental health support and coaching available

Learn all about Zalando and our values here: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/?gh_src=22377bdd1us

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

At Zalando, our vision is to be inclusive by design. And this vision starts with our hiring - we do not discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, personal expression, ethnicity, religious belief, or disability status. You are welcome to leave out your picture, age, or marital status from your application. We only assess candidates on their qualifications and merit. 

We want to provide you with a great candidate experience. Feel free to inform us of any accommodations you may need, so we can best support you throughout the hiring process. 

do.BETTER - our diversity & inclusion strategy: 

https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/dobetter-our-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy

Our employee resource groups:

https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/our-employee-resource-groups 

Recruiter

Irina Ponomarenko

irina.ponomarenko.external@zalando.de

Please note that all applications from this job page must be completed using the online form - we do not accept applications via e-mail. Once reviewed, our recruiters will contact applicants via an official Zalando email address (@zalando.de).

In some cases we also work with a selection of headhunters and agencies to fill specific roles. Please note that neither Zalando nor our recruiting partners will ask for any kind of payment to apply for a job or attend an interview.

If you have any questions about our recruitment process, please take a look at our FAQ page.

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