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Search Engineer Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

asrcfh

Senior Elastic Architect/Engineer

Quantico, VA · Hybrid

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in data architecture, search technologies, and ... The Elastic Architect/Engineer is a critical role responsible for the design, implementation ...

asrcfh

Senior Elastic Architect/Engineer

Quantico, VA · Hybrid

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in data architecture, search technologies, and ... The Elastic Architect/Engineer is a critical role responsible for the design, implementation ...

Ardent Principles, Inc

Software Engineer

Chantilly, VA · On-site

Building or integrating LLM-based solutions including RAG, semantic search or AI-assisted retrieval ... Handson experience working with DevOps tools such as Git, Jenkins, or Nexus. * Handson experience ...

Ardent Principles, Inc.

Software Engineer

Chantilly, VA

$130K - $260K/yr

Building or integrating LLM-based solutions including RAG, semantic search or AI-assisted retrieval ... Hands‑on experience working with DevOps tools such as Git, Jenkins, or Nexus. * Hands‑on ...

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$56

$70

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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 Virginia is $70.38, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $60.77 and $81.01 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 are popular job titles related to Search Engineer jobs in Virginia? For Search Engineer jobs in Virginia, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What job categories do people searching Search Engineer jobs in Virginia look for? The top searched job categories for Search Engineer jobs in Virginia are:
What are popular job titles related to Search Engineer jobs in VA? For Search Engineer jobs in VA, the most frequently searched job titles are:
Search Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Search Engineer job openings in Virginia as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Locum Tenens, 92% Full Time, 4% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 89% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 7% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $146,400 per year, or $70.4 per hour.

Senior Software Engineer (Analytics Services)

Parsons Corporation

Reston, VA • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Re-posted 18 days ago

Parsons rating

7.7

Company rating: 7.7 out of 10

Based on 46 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

258th of 439 rated engineering

Job description

In a world of possibilities, pursue one with endless opportunities. Imagine Next!
At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what's possible.
Job Description:
Parsons is looking for an amazingly talented Senior Software Engineer to join our team focused on Analytic Services!
In this role you will own the design, delivery, performance, and operational evolution of the analytics services domain for a large-scale, globally distributed mission platform.
You will be responsible for a portfolio of Java-based microservices and supporting analytics/search infrastructure built around Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, Grafana, and Vue.js 3 based user interfaces.
This role requires someone who can combine search and aggregation architecture, query performance engineering, telemetry analytics, user-facing analytics design, and operational ownership.
What You'll Be Doing:
  • Own the analytics services portfolio for a globally distributed software platform, including:
    • user-facing analytics services
    • search and aggregate query services
    • event roll-up and nested aggregation services
    • telemetry analytics and APM-related services
    • analytics-facing administrative and visualization interfaces
  • Lead the design and delivery of Java-based microservices supporting analytics, search, aggregation, and reporting workflows
  • Own analytics architecture across three primary query/analysis patterns:
    • regular queries on cached/indexed data
    • composite aggregations across multiple fields returning aggregated results
    • nested aggregations used for event rollups, hierarchy-based summaries, and other advanced analytical needs
  • Ensure that analytics services support both:
    • business/mission-facing analytics and reporting
    • operational telemetry analysis across services, infrastructure, and networking
  • Tune and optimize analytic queries and service interactions to meet strict performance and latency requirements, especially where analytics are embedded in real-time transaction workflows
  • Lead the design and operation of analytics services built on:
    • Elasticsearch
    • Logstash
    • Kibana
    • Grafana
    • Vue.js 3 based user interfaces
  • Define indexing, sharding, retention, and query strategy for both operational and user-facing analytics workloads
  • Establish data models and service contracts that support analytics consistency across distributed deployments
  • Work closely with data, platform, and software engineering teams to ensure high-quality ingestion pipelines and well-structured searchable data
  • Own the service-level health, scalability, and observability of analytics microservices
  • Guide implementation of dashboards, visualizations, role-specific analytics views, and reporting capabilities for different user groups
  • Partner with operations and engineering teams to use telemetry and APM data to improve system reliability, identify bottlenecks, and support root cause analysis
  • Lead major incident analysis where analytics or observability performance impacts mission or platform operations

What Required Skills You'll Bring:
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical field. 4 Additional years of experience can substitute for a degree.
  • 10+ years of software engineering, data platform engineering, search engineering, or analytics platform experience, including 4+ years leading a major technical service area or team.
  • Strong experience building and operating analytics or search services in production
  • Strong hands-on experience with:
    • Elasticsearch
    • Logstash
    • Kibana and/or Grafana
    • Java-based backend services / microservices
  • Demonstrated ownership of a technical analytics domain from architecture through operations
  • Experience leading engineering teams or multi-team delivery for analytics/search platforms
  • Strong troubleshooting skills across ingestion, indexing, query, UI, and platform layers
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain performance, scale, and tradeoff decisions clearly
  • Proven experience with analytics patterns such as:
    • indexed query optimization
    • field aggregations and composite aggregations
    • nested/document-based aggregations
    • rollups and summary generation
    • caching strategies for query performance
  • Experience tuning analytics and search services for strict latency and SLA-driven workflows
  • Experience designing analytics services that serve both:
    • user-facing business/mission use cases
    • internal operational telemetry and APM use cases
  • Strong understanding of data ingestion, indexing, retention, and search relevance/performance tradeoffs
  • Experience designing role-based analytics access patterns and user-facing analytics/reporting services
  • TS/SCI minimum clearance required.
  • Domestic and/or international project travel may be required.

What Desired Skills You'll Bring:
  • Master's degree in Data Engineering, Computer Science, Analytics, or related field
  • Experience with Vue.js 3 or similar frameworks for analytics dashboards and role-based user interfaces
  • Experience building analytics and observability solutions in distributed microservices environments
  • Experience with telemetry pipelines for logs, events, and metrics at large scale
  • Familiarity with APM concepts, distributed tracing, and service health correlation
  • Experience with Grafana + ELK coexisting in the same observability/analytics ecosystem
  • Experience with real-time or near-real-time event analysis in mission or operational systems
  • Familiarity with RabbitMQ, event pipelines, or stream processing supporting analytics workloads
  • Experience with multilingual analytics interfaces or region-specific reporting requirements
  • Experience with capacity planning and cost/performance tuning for analytics clusters
  • Experience optimizing Elasticsearch clusters for mixed workloads (user queries + operational telemetry)
  • Experience supporting globally distributed platforms with variable network conditions and remote operational support models
  • Experience with RBAC and multi-tenant analytics access models
  • Experience building reusable reporting and dashboard frameworks for multiple user communities

Security Clearance Requirement:
An active Top Secret SCI security clearance is required for this position.
This position is part of our Federal Solutions team.
The Federal Solutions segment delivers resources to our US government customers that ensure the success of missions around the globe. Our intelligent employees drive the state of the art as they provide services and solutions in the areas of defense, security, intelligence, infrastructure, and environmental. We promote a culture of excellence and close-knit teams that take pride in delivering, protecting, and sustaining our nation's most critical assets, from Earth to cyberspace. Throughout the company, our people are anticipating what's next to deliver the solutions our customers need now.
Salary Range: $148,300.00 - $266,900.00
We value our employees and want our employees to take care of their overall wellbeing, which is why we offer best-in-class benefits such as medical, dental, vision, paid time off, Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), 401(k), life insurance, flexible work schedules, and holidays to fit your busy lifestyle!
Parsons is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other protected status.
We truly invest and care about our employee's wellbeing and provide endless growth opportunities as the sky is the limit, so aim for the stars! Imagine next and join the Parsons quest-APPLY TODAY!
Parsons is aware of fraudulent recruitment practices. To learn more about recruitment fraud and how to report it, please refer to https://www.parsons.com/fraudulent-recruitment/.

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