Staff Backend Engineer, Search
ClickUp · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $275,000 / year
- United States
Job highlights
- Design, optimize, and scale search infrastructure.
- Enhance search relevance, accuracy, and speed.
- Build next-generation vector search capabilities.
- Collaborate with AI and product teams.
- Mentor junior engineers and drive best practices.
About the role
About ClickUp
At ClickUp, we're building the future of work: the first truly converged AI workspace unifying tasks, docs, chat, calendar, and enterprise search, all supercharged by context-driven AI. We are an AI-native company. Every team member is expected to leverage AI daily, and we evaluate AI fluency as part of our hiring process. Join us and help redefine what's possible. 🚀
Job Overview
ClickUp is seeking a talented Staff Search Engineer to join our team and help revolutionize our search capabilities. As a key member of our engineering team, you'll be responsible for optimizing and enhancing our search functionality, which is a critical feature of our platform and underpins our AI efforts.
Your Impact at ClickUp
As a Staff Engineer on the search squad, you'll be responsible for designing, optimizing, and scaling our search infrastructure. You'll work with OpenSearch / ElasticSearch technologies to ensure users can instantly find exactly what they need across their workspace. Your expertise will directly contribute to making ClickUp the most intuitive and responsive productivity platform available.
Core Responsibilities
- Design and implement robust search solutions that scale with our rapidly growing user base
- Improve search relevance, accuracy, and speed to deliver the most relevant results to users at blazing fast speeds
- Improve our real-time indexing pipelines to ensure search results remain up-to-date
- Create measurement frameworks to evaluate and improve search quality
- Build and enhance vector search capabilities to power next-generation search experiences
- Collaborate with AI, backend, and product teams to integrate search into new features
- Troubleshoot complex search-related issues at scale
- Mentor junior engineers and contribute to engineering best practices
Technical Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field
- 7+ years of experience as a search engineer or in a directly related role
- Strong expertise in search technologies, particularly OpenSearch / ElasticSearch
- Experience measuring and optimizing search quality
- Experience with high-volume, distributed data processing systems
- Proven ability to optimize query parsing, indexing, and relevance tuning for search systems
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively across teams
Preferred Qualifications
- Hands-on experience with vector embeddings and semantic search implementations
- Experience with TypeScript in backend systems
- Track record of architecting search solutions that maintain performance under heavy load
- Experience applying machine learning and NLP to enhance search relevance
- Knowledge of information retrieval concepts and search evaluation metrics
Join Our Mission
At ClickUp, we're committed to building the future of productivity software. As our Search Engineer, you'll play a crucial role in shaping the core functionality of our platform and driving our AI initiatives forward. Join us in our mission to make the world more productive!
Unsure if you meet all the qualifications of this job description but are deeply excited about the role? We hire based on ambition, grit, and a passion for improving the way people work. If you think ClickUp is the company for you, we encourage you to apply!
At ClickUp, we assess every candidate based on the potential impact they can have. We hire the best people for the job and support each person’s journey to build their boldest career.
Equal Opportunity Employer
ClickUp is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.
Privacy Notice
ClickUp collects and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws. You can find further details by viewing our Global Candidate Privacy Notice.
If you are a Philippine Job Applicant, please also see our Philippine Data Privacy Notice for further details.
Visa Sponsorship
Please note we are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa for roles outside of engineering and product at this time. Sponsorship for engineering and product roles is not guaranteed, but is instead based on the business needs for that specific role at that time. Please reach out to the recruiter with any questions.
Fraud Alert
ClickUp Talent Acquisition will only initiate contact via an @clickup.com email or through our official careers portal on clickup.com. We will never request fees, payments, or sensitive personal information. Please disregard any offers received outside these channels and report them to support@clickup.com.
AI Processing Notice
ClickUp may use artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to help review and screen candidates' employment applications against role-related criteria. These tools support, but do not replace, human decision‑making. If you have questions or need an accommodation in the recruitment process, please contact us at AskPeople@ClickUp.com.
Key skills/competency
- Staff Backend Engineer
- Search Engineering
- OpenSearch
- ElasticSearch
- Indexing Pipelines
- Vector Search
- AI Integration
- Information Retrieval
- Relevance Tuning
- Distributed Systems
Skills & topics
- Staff Backend Engineer
- Search Engineer
- Backend Engineer
- OpenSearch
- Elasticsearch
- Vector Search
- AI
- Machine Learning
- Information Retrieval
- Distributed Systems
- TypeScript
- NLP
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight your 7+ years of search engineering experience, focusing on OpenSearch/Elasticsearch, indexing, and relevance tuning.
- Showcase AI fluency: Emphasize any experience leveraging AI, ML, or NLP to enhance search or other backend systems.
- Quantify your impact: Use data to demonstrate how your optimizations improved search speed, accuracy, or user satisfaction.
- Prepare for technical interviews: Be ready to discuss complex search challenges, distributed systems, and your approach to scaling solutions.
- Understand ClickUp's mission: Research their AI-native approach and how search is central to their unified workspace.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What specific AI experience is ClickUp looking for in a Staff Backend Engineer Search candidate?
- ClickUp is an AI-native company, so AI fluency is crucial. They expect candidates to leverage AI daily. For this role, experience applying machine learning and NLP to enhance search relevance, building vector search capabilities, and integrating search with AI-driven features is highly valued.
- What are the core search technologies used at ClickUp for this role?
- The primary search technologies emphasized for this Staff Backend Engineer Search role are OpenSearch and Elasticsearch. Experience with these platforms is a key technical requirement for designing, optimizing, and scaling search infrastructure.
- How important is experience with vector embeddings and semantic search for this position?
- Hands-on experience with vector embeddings and semantic search implementations is listed as a preferred qualification. This indicates it's a strong advantage for candidates looking to build next-generation search experiences and power AI initiatives at ClickUp.
- What is the compensation range for the Staff Backend Engineer Search role at ClickUp?
- The compensation range provided for this Staff Backend Engineer Search position at ClickUp is $250,000 to $300,000 annually.
- Does ClickUp offer visa sponsorship for the Staff Backend Engineer Search position?
- ClickUp states that they are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa for roles outside of engineering and product at this time. Sponsorship for engineering roles is not guaranteed and depends on business needs.
- How can I ensure my application stands out for the Staff Backend Engineer Search role at ClickUp?
- To make your application stand out for the Staff Backend Engineer Search role, highlight your 7+ years of relevant experience, quantify your impact with data, showcase your AI fluency, and demonstrate your understanding of ClickUp's mission and AI-native approach.
- What kind of interview process can I expect for the Staff Backend Engineer Search role at ClickUp?
- While specific details aren't provided, expect a process that likely includes technical interviews assessing your search expertise, problem-solving skills, and experience with distributed systems. Behavioral questions to gauge collaboration and mentorship are also probable, alongside discussions about your AI experience and potential impact.
- What are the key responsibilities of a Staff Backend Engineer, Search at ClickUp?
- The key responsibilities include designing, optimizing, and scaling search infrastructure using OpenSearch/Elasticsearch, improving search relevance and speed, enhancing indexing pipelines, building vector search, and collaborating with AI and product teams.