Elasticsearch Specialist

DWS are looking for an experienced Senior Engineer with deep expertise in Elasticsearch / OpenSearch to support one of our clients. This role will focus on uplifting the design, configuration, resilience, and performance of an AWS-hosted OpenSearch cluster (Elasticsearch 7.10) that underpins core enterprise applications.

If you enjoy solving complex data / search challenges, optimising large-scale clusters, and guiding teams towards best‑practice patterns, this is the perfect opportunity to make a real impact.

  
Where: Melbourne CBD
Type: ACN Contractor OR Max Term
Start: Immediate
Length: 3+ months
Style: Hybrid; 3+ days onsite
Salary: up to $1000 per day, or annual salary equivalent
  

Essential Skills & Experience

• Expert level hands-on experience with Elasticsearch 7.x and/or OpenSearch 1.x/2.x
• Deep knowledge of index / mapping design, shard strategy, query optimisation, cluster scaling, and performance tuning
• Proven experience managing production search clusters in AWS, preferably using Amazon OpenSearch Service
• Understanding of VPC design, security groups, IAM, KMS, EBS storage performance, and multi‑AZ architectures
• Experience developing and maintaining Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and/or AWS CDK
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams, including developers, SREs, and enterprise security.
• Analytical mindset with a passion for problem‑solving and system optimisation.

Highly Desirable

• Exposure to .NET applications interacting with Elasticsearch/OpenSearch.
• Experience with ILM/ISM, snapshot/restore, cross‑cluster replication/search, and blue/green cluster deployments.
• Background in SRE, DevOps, or platform engineering in cloud environments.

  
What You’ll Be Doing
Platform Assessment & Optimisation

• Review existing Elasticsearch/OpenSearch data models, index structures, and query patterns to identify optimisation opportunities.
• Analyse cluster configuration, node roles, JVM settings, shard design, and storage choices, and implement improvements to uplift performance and reliability.
• Establish and refine monitoring, alerting, and health metrics across CloudWatch and OpenSearch Dashboards.

Resiliency & Best Practice Uplift

• Recommend and implement changes to align the service with enterprise standards for security, resilience, and operational excellence.
• Ensure the platform meets best practices for encryption, IAM integration, network design, backup/restore, and multi‑AZ availability.

Platform Modernisation

• Develop a currency roadmap, including upgrade planning, reindexing strategy, schema evolution, and migration to supported OpenSearch versions.
• Assist with designing a replication or migration approach to move the cluster into a secure enterprise Landing Zone (LZ).

Enablement & Knowledge Transfer

• Produce clear documentation, runbooks, standards, and operational guidance.
• Provide training and support to internal teams, enabling them to maintain and evolve the search platform over time.

  

About Us:
Since 1991, DWS has been helping organisations across Australia reimagine what’s possible through technology, business, and management consulting. With offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Canberra, our 300+ locally based consultants bring deep expertise and fresh thinking to every project. We deliver end-to-end solutions spanning IT consulting, Staff Augmentation, Managed Delivery, Data & Analytics, Cloud, AI and Automation.
Our strength lies in our people; each consultant is carefully selected for their expertise, creativity, and commitment to excellence. Together, we deliver impactful solutions that drive innovation, efficiency, and long-term value. At DWS, we don’t just meet expectations - we redefine them.
  

Applicants must hold Australian Citizenship, Permanent Residency (PR), or other permanent work rights - DWS are unable to sponsor or support visas.
  
  
DWS encourages applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Ready for a new challenge? Click APPLY now!
www.dws.com.au
  
  
No agencies please - our in-house talent acquisition team have this covered.