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Search Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Firecrawl

Search Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$190K - $260K/yr

Search Engineer You'll build the systems that let anyone turn the open web into a search index. Firecrawl's search product is one of our fastest-growing surfaces, and we need engineers who can make ...

Genuine Parts Company

Search Engineer

Birmingham, AL · On-site

Search Engineer (Software Engineer III) Must be Authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship. ABOUT THE ROLE We're building intelligent product search that understands intent, learns from ...

Jobgether

Our partner is looking for a Cognitive Search Engineer based in Netherlands. This role offers the opportunity to design and develop advanced search solutions powered by artificial intelligence ...

You.com

Senior Search Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$123K - $169K/yr

About the Role As a Search Engineer at You.com, you will blend deep analytical thinking with practical engineering skills to investigate, develop, and implement novel solutions for our search ...

Navtech, Inc.

Elastic Search Engineer

Manhattan, NY · On-site +1

Elastic search Engineer Duration : 6+ months Location : Remote Working Hours : 7hours per day Scope : deploy/update/manage/maintain all elasticsearch environments and automation, write code to ingest ...

CreatorIQ, Inc

Staff Search Engineer

New York, NY · On-site

$150K - $188K/yr

Staff Search Engineer As a Staff Search Engineer, you'll help lead the design and ongoing evolution of CreatorIQ's real-time search platform - the core system that enables creator discovery across ...

Genuine Parts Company

ML Search Engineer

Birmingham, AL · On-site

Search Engineer (Software Engineer III) You must be eligible to work in the US without Visa Sponsorship. ABOUT THE ROLE We're building intelligent product search that understands intent, learns from ...

You.com

Senior Search Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$190K - $260K/yr

About the Role As a Search Engineer at You.com, you will blend deep analytical thinking with practical engineering skills to investigate, develop, and implement novel solutions for our search ...

ADDSOURCE

Azure Data / Search Engineer

Irving, TX · On-site

$109K - $132K/yr

Role:Azure Data / Search Engineer (Databricks / ElasticSearch / Python) Experience: - Min8+ Years Location: - Irving, TX (Hybrid 3 days Work from Office) Looking for a strong Azure Data Engineer ...

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Search Engineer information

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How much do search engineer jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 4, 2026, the average hourly pay for search engineer in the United States is $70.99, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $61.30 and $81.73 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

How does a search engineer typically collaborate with other teams to improve search functionality?

Search Engineers often work closely with product managers, data scientists, and UX designers to understand user needs and analyze search performance. They collaborate with data engineering teams to ensure high-quality and well-structured data feeds, and frequently participate in cross-functional meetings to align on feature priorities and technical requirements. Effective communication skills are essential, as Search Engineers must translate complex technical concepts into actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders, ensuring that improvements enhance both search accuracy and overall user experience.

What is the difference between Search Engineer vs Data Scientist?

AspectSearch EngineerData Scientist
Required CredentialsBachelor's in CS, EE, or related; experience in search algorithmsBachelor's or higher in CS, Statistics, or related; strong analytical skills
Work EnvironmentTech companies, search engine teams, e-commerce platformsResearch labs, tech firms, finance, healthcare
Employer & Industry UsagePrimarily in search technology, e-commerce, and online servicesAcross industries like tech, finance, healthcare, and research

Search Engineers focus on developing and optimizing search algorithms and systems, while Data Scientists analyze data to extract insights and inform decisions. Both roles require strong technical skills, but Search Engineers are more specialized in search technology development, whereas Data Scientists work broadly with data analysis and modeling.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a search engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Search Engineer, you need a solid background in computer science, expertise in information retrieval, and strong programming skills, often supported by a relevant degree. Familiarity with search platforms like Elasticsearch or Solr, experience with large-scale distributed systems, and knowledge of ranking algorithms are typically required. Analytical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and effective communication distinguish top performers in this role. These skills are crucial for building efficient, relevant search experiences that meet both user and business needs.

What is a search engineer?

Search Engineers are specialized software engineers who design, build, and improve search systems that help users find relevant information quickly and efficiently. Their work often involves developing algorithms for indexing, querying, and ranking large volumes of data, as well as optimizing search accuracy and speed. Search Engineers may also work with natural language processing, machine learning, and relevance tuning to enhance the user search experience on websites, apps, or internal databases.

What does a search engineer do?

A search engineer has two primary responsibilities: to develop and program search engines and to optimize web content to achieve the best possible rankings in search results. As a search engineer, your job duties depend on your employer. If you work for a search engine company, like Google or Bing, then your job is to create the web application and algorithms that index websites and web pages to aggregate and rank search results. If you work for an e-commerce website or another business reliant on products or services, then your focus is on website analysis, keyword research, and content marketing.

More about Search Engineer jobs
What cities are hiring for Search Engineer jobs? Cities with the most Search Engineer job openings:
What states have the most Search Engineer jobs? States with the most job openings for Search Engineer jobs include:
What job categories do people searching Search Engineer jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Search Engineer jobs are:
What are popular job titles related to Search Engineer jobs? For Search Engineer jobs, the most frequently searched job titles are:
Search Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Search Engineer job openings in the United States as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Locum Tenens, 95% Full Time, 1% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 5% Hybrid, and 8% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $147,666 per year, or $71 per hour.

Search Engineer

Firecrawl

San Francisco, CA • On-site

$190K - $260K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 22 days ago

Job description

Search Engineer
You'll build the systems that let anyone turn the open web into a search index. Firecrawl's search product is one of our fastest-growing surfaces, and we need engineers who can make crawling, ranking, and retrieval fast, reliable, and cheap at scale. You'll own real infrastructure from day one - not tickets in a backlog.
Salary Range: $190,000-$260,000/year (Range shown is for U.S.-based employees in San Francisco, CA. Compensation outside the U.S. is adjusted fairly based on your country's cost of living.)
Equity Range: Competitive equity - details shared during the process.
Location: San Francisco, CA (Hybrid, on-site required)
Job Type: Full-Time
Experience: 3+ years building production backend or infra systems
Visa: Must be legally authorized to work in the United States. We're not able to sponsor visas right now, though that may change down the line.
About Firecrawl
Firecrawl is the easiest way to turn the web into data AI agents can use. One API call converts any URL into clean, LLM-ready markdown or structured data - the boring-hard problem everyone building with LLMs eventually hits, solved.
We hit 8 figures in ARR in year one and more than doubled it in year two. We have 150k+ GitHub stars, and developers, agents, and category-defining AI companies build on us every day. Growth like this is rare, and we're just getting started.
We're a small team punching far above our weight. Everyone here owns a real piece of the product and company, end to end, and runs it themselves - no hiding behind process or headcount.
This is a place for people who want to work at the frontier: an AI company building the infrastructure other AI companies run on, not one bolting AI onto an existing product. We move fast, go deep, and are building the tools superintelligence will rely on to gather data from the web.
What You'll Do
  • Design and build the crawling, indexing, and retrieval systems behind Firecrawl Search
  • Push down latency and cost per query while search volume grows
  • Improve ranking quality and freshness for LLM-driven retrieval
  • Own services end to end - design, ship, monitor, and iterate in production
  • Work directly with the Head of Search and the rest of the search team on the roadmap

What We're Looking For
  • You've built and operated backend or distributed systems at real scale
  • You care about latency, cost, and correctness in equal measure
  • You're comfortable owning ambiguous problems and turning them into shipped systems
  • You move fast and close the loop - you'd rather ship, measure, and iterate than perfect on paper

What We're NOT Looking For
  • Someone who needs a fully-specced ticket to start
  • Someone who wants to specialize narrowly and hand off everything else
  • Someone who optimizes for process over shipping

A Note On Pace
We operate at an absurd level of urgency because the window for what we're building won't stay open forever. If that excites you, keep reading. If it doesn't, no hard feelings - but this role probably isn't for you.
Benefits & Perks
Available to all employees
  • Salary that makes sense - $190,000-$260,000/year, based on impact, not tenure
  • Own a piece - Gain competitive equity in what you're helping build
  • Generous PTO - 15 days mandatory, anything after 24 days, just ask (holidays excluded); take the time you need to recharge
  • Parental leave - 12 weeks fully paid, for all parents
  • Wellness stipend - $100/month for the gym, therapy, massages, or whatever keeps you human
  • Learning & Development - Expense up to $1,000/year toward anything that helps you grow professionally
  • Team offsites - A change of scenery, minus the trust falls
  • Sabbatical - 3 paid months off after 4 years, do something fun and new

Available to US-based full-time employees
  • Full coverage, no red tape - Medical, dental, and vision (100% for employees, 50% for spouse/kids) - no weird loopholes, just care that works
  • Life & Disability insurance - Employer-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance - coverage for life's curveballs
  • Supplemental options - Optional accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and voluntary life insurance for extra peace of mind
  • Doctegrity telehealth - Talk to a doctor from your couch
  • 401(k) plan - Retirement might be a ways off, but future-you will thank you
  • Pre-tax benefits - Access to FSAs and commuter benefits (US-only) to help your wallet out a bit
  • Pet insurance - Because fur babies are family too

Available to SF-based employees
  • SF HQ perks - Snacks, drinks, team lunches, intense ping pong, and peak startup energy
  • E-Bike transportation - A loaner electric bike to get you around the city, on us

Interview Process
Application Review - Send us your work and a quick note on why this excites you. Show us what you've built - search systems, indexing pipelines, ranking improvements. We care about what you've shipped, not where you went to school.
Intro Chat (~25 min) - A quick conversation to get to know each other before we go deep. We'll talk about what you've been working on, what drew you to Firecrawl, and what you're looking for in your next role. Time for your questions too.
Technical Chat (~45 min) - We'll dig into a real problem from our world - crawling at scale, ranking quality, or driving down cost per query - and talk through how you'd approach it. Come ready to think out loud; we care how you reason, not whether you memorized the answer.
Founder Chat (~25 min) - Culture, pace, ownership, and how you like to work. Time for your questions too.
Paid Work Trial (1-2 weeks) - Work with the search team on a real, scoped piece of the product - paid at a contractor rate. It's the truest signal for both sides: you see what building at Firecrawl actually feels like, and we see how you ship. Remote-friendly, and we'll flex around your current commitments.
Decision - We move fast after the trial.
If you want to build search infrastructure that serves the whole web at a cost that shouldn't be possible, you should join us.
Apply now.

Apply