9fin - Updated SSE 17/06/2026
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Requirements
• Production ownership of a search platform built on Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, or a closely related technology (Solr, Vespa, Lucene). Not just usage — you've been responsible for how the system is designed, operated, and scaled. You understand internals like mappings, analyzers, shard strategies, and cluster behaviour because you've had to make real decisions about them. • Experience designing and building search infrastructure — the data pipelines that feed it, the APIs that expose it, and the operational tooling that keeps it healthy. You've thought about relevance tuning, query performance, index lifecycle, and failure recovery in a production context. • The ability to build for other engineers. You've created tooling, APIs, or platform capabilities that internal teams use. You understand what it takes to make a complex system accessible and reliable for people who aren't search specialists. • Strong collaboration across teams. You've worked with product managers, data engineers, or other engineering teams to translate their needs into search platform capabilities. You can explain technical trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders. • It would be great if you also have: • Experience with Python and modern web frameworks (we use FastAPI with strong typing and Pydantic — but we'd rather hire the right search engineer and have them pick up the language than compromise on search depth). • Familiarity with distributed systems concepts — consistency, partitioning, replication — and how they apply to search infrastructure under load. • Experience with cloud-managed search deployments (we run on Elastic Cloud / AWS). • Exposure to how search and retrieval intersect with AI/ML systems — vector search, hybrid retrieval, or RAG pipelines. • Python (Flask & FastAPI), PostgreSQL, AWS (Lambda, ECS, Docker), Elastic Cloud. We have our own internal developer platform with standardised paved-road approaches to infrastructure, managed preview environments, and feature flags — so you can ship with confidence and iterate quickly.
Responsibilities
• Own the search platform. Design, operate, and evolve the Elasticsearch cluster and its surrounding infrastructure. You'll make the architectural decisions about how documents are indexed, searched, and served, and you'll be accountable for the system's performance, reliability, and relevance at scale. • Build the tooling and APIs that other teams depend on. Backend, AI, and data engineering teams across 9fin build on top of the search platform. You'll design the interfaces, services, and guardrails that make the retrieval layer usable, reliable, and self-service where possible. • Shape the search strategy. Work with product and engineering leadership to understand where search and retrieval need to go, including how the platform supports 9fin's expanding AI capabilities. You'll have direct input into the technical roadmap. • Raise the bar. Run code reviews, mentor engineers, contribute to architectural discussions, and bring strong opinions about how search systems should be built. You'll be a senior IC with real influence on engineering standards.
Benefits
• We’re a scaling start up and we enjoy sharing our success, when the company succeeds, we always reinvest that in our people. We also offer huge amounts of responsibility, an abundance of opportunity for growth and a platform to truly excel. • Financial & Insurance • Competitive Salary (our salary bands are benchmarked at the top end of the market) • Equity options • Pension (your minimum contributions are 4% with 9fin matching up to 7%) • Private Medical Insurance • Paid sick leave with Income Protection for long periods of illness • Group Life Assurance • Season Ticket Loan & Cycle to Work schemes • 25 holiday days per year • Local public holidays (with the ability to exchange them for alternative days) • Hybrid working model, to allow you the flexibility to decide how, where and when you do your best work • Work abroad for up to 3 months a year • 1 month paid sabbatical after 5 years of service • Enhanced parental leave & flexible working arrangements available • Training & Culture • Professional learning and development budget • Quarterly team socials • Summer and Winter company social events • 9fin is an equal opportunities employer
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