Senior Elastic Engineer

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking an Elasticsearch & Observability Engineer to support a high-visibility federal cybersecurity program within a leading Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) in an on-site environment in Colorado Springs, CO . This role focuses on designing, implementing, and managing Elasticsearch environments while building robust observability and monitoring capabilities across mission-critical systems. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in search technologies, logging pipelines, metrics, tracing, and real-time monitoring within secure, high-performance environments. The position is contingent upon additional funding.




Responsibilities of the Elasticsearch & Observability Engineer include:

• Design, deploy, and manage Elasticsearch clusters across distributed environments
• Optimize search performance , indexing strategies, mappings, and query execution
• Ensure data integrity, availability, and security within Elastic deployments
• Monitor cluster health and performance, proactively identifying and resolving issues
• Develop and maintain observability frameworks using Kibana, Grafana, or similar tools
• Implement logging, metrics, and tracing systems for real-time application monitoring
• Analyze and visualize complex datasets to identify trends, anomalies, and performance gaps
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define search and observability requirements
• Provide technical guidance, documentation, and mentorship to team members
• Stay current with emerging technologies in search, observability, and monitoring
• Document architectures, procedures, and operational processes
• Prepare reports on system performance, incidents, and resolutions

Qualifications for the Elasticsearch & Observability Engineer include:

• Active TS/SCI clearance
• Possession of a U.S. Passport
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to support short, planned domestic or international travel
• At least 3 years of experience demonstrating proficiency in:
  • Elasticsearch engineering and observability tooling
  • SIEM concepts and platforms (Elastic, Splunk, QRadar, LogRhythm)
  • Designing, implementing, and optimizing complex SIEM or logging solutions
  • Linux/Unix systems, networking fundamentals, and cloud services
  • Scripting languages such as Python, PowerShell, or Bash
  • Cybersecurity fundamentals, threat landscapes, and attack methodologies

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with other search technologies (Solr, Lucene)
• Elastic certifications (Elastic Certified Engineer, Elastic Observability Engineer)
• Experience in DevOps or Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) roles
• Background supporting large-scale, distributed, or mission-critical environments

Position Details:

• Location: Colorado Springs, CO
• Schedule: On-site, 4-5 days per week
• Short-duration domestic or international travel as needed
• Collaboration with engineering, security, operations, and MSSP teams

Compensation for the Elasticsearch & Observability Engineer includes:

• Salary Range: $140,000 - $200,000
• Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K, PTO, Sick Leave (as required), Holidays

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