Lead Platform Engineer; Elasticsearch

Position: Lead Platform Engineer (Elasticsearch)
Lead Platform Engineer (Elasticsearch)

Location: Baltimore, MD (Hybrid)
Duration: 6-Month Contract C2H
GC, USC

Work Setup: Hybrid (Must reside within 50 miles of approved locations)

Onsite interview

Strong expertise in Elasticsearch (ELK Stack), cluster architecture and performance tuning, scripting/automation (Python, Bash, Terraform, Ansible), and solid knowledge of distributed systems, networking, and troubleshooting (RCA).
Overview

We are seeking a Lead Platform Engineer with deep expertise in Elasticsearch to design, build, and manage enterprise-grade search and observability platforms. This role will own the full lifecycle of the Elastic platform, ensuring high availability, scalability, and performance across cloud and on-prem environments.

You will act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME), working closely with Dev Ops, Security, and Development teams to enable data-driven applications and operational excellence.
Required

• 3-5+ years of hands-on Elasticsearch administration
• Strong expertise in:
  • Cluster architecture (nodes, shards, replicas)
  • Indexing strategies & query optimization
  • ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)
• Experience with APM, Beats, Fleet Server, ILM policies
• Proficiency in Python, Bash, Terraform, Ansible
• Solid understanding of distributed systems, networking, and storage
• Experience in incident management, troubleshooting, and RCA

Preferred

• Experience with large-scale enterprise environments
• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Knowledge of observability and logging frameworks
• Experience with load balancers (e.g., Nginx)