What's the salary range?

Elastic lists $113,100–$178,900 for this role.

How much experience is required?

At least 8 years of relevant experience for this Lead Data Engineer role.

What's the tech stack?

Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Apache Airflow, Apache Iceberg, Flink, Google Cloud Platform, Kafka, Python.

What seniority level is this role?

Elastic targets lead candidates for this position.

Is this full-time or contract?

Full-time for this Lead Data Engineer role at Elastic.

Lead Data Engineer at Elastic

Joblaze summary

In the role of Lead Data Engineer at Elastic, the individual will focus on designing and maintaining data pipelines and infrastructure, ensuring seamless data flow across the organization. Key skills include proficiency with tools like Apache Airflow, Spark, and Terraform, alongside a solid understanding of data processing and cloud resource management on Google Cloud Platform. This position is ideal for seasoned professionals with over eight years of experience in data engineering who enjoy both technical challenges and collaborative stakeholder engagement. The team emphasizes a balance between technical expertise and effective communication to enhance the overall data platform.

Joblaze insights

Listed today — first seen on Joblaze October 8, 2026. Last confirmed on Elastic's careers page October 8, 2026.
Salary band is below the typical range for Data Engineering roles (median ~$180,656).
Starts at or below all 10 comparable lead data engineering roles in United States we track (median $179,991 across 10 companies).

Quick facts

What's the salary range?: Elastic lists $113,100–$178,900 for this role.
How much experience is required?: At least 8 years of relevant experience for this Lead Data Engineer role.
What's the tech stack?: Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Apache Airflow, Apache Iceberg, Flink, Google Cloud Platform, Kafka, Python.
What seniority level is this role?: Elastic targets lead candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?: Full-time for this Lead Data Engineer role at Elastic.

From the original posting

Elastic, the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real time, using all their data, at scale — unleashing the potential of businesses and people. The Elastic Search AI Platform, used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500, brings together the precision of search and the intelligence of AI to enable everyone to accelerate the results that matter. By taking advantage of all structured and unstructured data — securing and protecting private information more effectively — Elastic’s complete, cloud-based solutions for search, security, and observability help organizations deliver on the promise of AI.

What is The Role

We're looking for a Lead Data Engineer to join our Data Engineering & Architecture team. In this role, you'll help grow a Data Platform that makes it easier for teams across our company to work with data confidently and effectively. Your work will directly support our business goals not just by keeping data flowing, but by turning it into something people can actually use and trust.

This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys both the technical craft of data engineering and the human side of it: collaborating with partners, sharing knowledge, and helping others get more out of the tools and systems you build together.

What You Will Be Doing

You'll design, maintain, and improve the pipelines and infrastructure that power our data platform. Day to day, that means working across the full data lifecycle — from ingestion and streaming to transformation and delivery — using tools like Apache Airflow, Spark, Iceberg, Kafka, Flink, and dbt Labs.

Beyond the technical work, you'll spend meaningful time with stakeholders to understand what they need and help define how data should flow across systems. That includes co-creating data contracts, writing clear documentation, and guiding teammates on how to get the most out of the platform.

A few other things you'll take on:

Monitor and refine pipeline performance and refine processes to keep things running smoothly.
Use Terraform to provision and manage resources on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Help steward the platform by reviewing code and ensuring good practices and standard processes are followed.
Process access requests and support compliance with platform policies.

What You Bring

8+ years of experience in data engineering or related roles
Experience with Apache Airflow for orchestrating data workflows
Experience with Spark, Flink, Kafka, and dbt Labs for data processing and transformation
Understanding of Apache Iceberg for data table formats and data warehouse and lakehouse strategies
Skilled in using Terraform for infrastructure-as-code deployments
Proficient in programming languages, particularly Bash, Python, and SQL
Knowledge of database systems, including OLAP, OLTP, Document, and Vector databases
Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for cloud resource management
Bonus: Proven experience with data security and access controls for SOX Compliant data
Bonus: Experience and knowledge of the Elastic stack

Compensation for this role is in the form of base salary. This role does not have a variable compensation component.

The typical starting salary range for new hires in this role is listed below. In select locations (including Seattle WA, Los Angeles CA, the San Francisco Bay Area CA, and the New York City Metro Area), an alternate range may apply as specified below.

These ranges represent the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the ranges may be modified in the future.

An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Elastic believes that employees should have the opportunity to share in the value that we create together for our shareholders. Therefore, in addition to cash compensation, this role is currently eligible to participate in Elastic's stock program. Our total rewards package also includes a company-matched 401k with dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% of eligible earnings, along with a range of other benefits offered with a holistic emphasis on employee well-being.

$113,100—$178,900 USD

The typical starting salary range for this role in the select locations listed above is:

$135,900—$215,100 USD

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Lead Data Engineer

Additional Information - We Take Care of Our People

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