Senior Software Engineer, Vector Index Research

Job overview

The Senior Software Engineer, Vector Index Research role is onsite in Redwood City, CA. Compensation is $175,000–$250,000 per year. Zilliz develops vector database technology for AI applications; this role is on the Vector Index team, which builds retrieval capabilities for Milvus, Zilliz Cloud, and Vector Lakebase. The role combines research and engineering to develop vector indexing and retrieval systems. It evaluates algorithms, builds prototypes, and turns promising approaches into production capabilities while improving performance, accuracy, and cost efficiency at scale.

What you'll do

• Research, evaluate, and implement vector indexing and retrieval algorithms
• follow developments in ANN algorithms, index structures, quantization, compression, reranking, and GPU acceleration
• build indexing components
• optimize latency, throughput, recall, memory use, build time, and cost
• design benchmarks and evaluation frameworks
• debug performance issues
• convert prototypes into maintainable production systems.

What we're looking for

Skills & competencies

senior software engineer

vector index research

vector search

ann algorithms

c++

rust

redwood city ca

zilliz

milvus

ai applications

performance optimization

$175k–$250k/year

production systems

open source

Work arrangement

• Weekend coverage required

Benefits & perks

• Cash and equity compensation
• bonus and equity refresh opportunities
• medical, dental, and vision insurance
• paid time off
• 401(k) and regional retirement plans.

Why this role

The team describes its approach as research-driven, production-focused, AI-first, and open source by default.

About the employer

Zilliz is hiring for this role. Industry: Software Publishers. Sector: 51.