diff --git a/.changeset/add-new-client-method-to-elastic-search-egine.md b/.changeset/add-new-client-method-to-elastic-search-egine.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9e5c363522
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/add-new-client-method-to-elastic-search-egine.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-elasticsearch': patch
+---
+
+Add `newClient()` method to re-use the configuration of the elastic search
+engine with custom clients
diff --git a/docs/features/search/search-engines.md b/docs/features/search/search-engines.md
index 1331c73b72..8342c74096 100644
--- a/docs/features/search/search-engines.md
+++ b/docs/features/search/search-engines.md
@@ -90,6 +90,18 @@ within your instance. The configuration options are documented in the
 The underlying functionality is using official ElasticSearch client version 7.x,
 meaning that ElasticSearch version 7 is the only one confirmed to be supported.
 
+Should you need to create your own bespoke search experiences that require more
+than just a query translator (such as faceted search or Relay pagination), you
+can access the configuration of the search engine in order to create new elastic
+search clients. The version of the client need not be the same as one used
+internally by the elastic search engine plugin. For example:
+
+```typescript
+import { Client } from '@elastic/elastic-search';
+
+const client = searchEngine.newClient(options => new Client(options));
+```
+
 ## Example configurations
 
 ### AWS
diff --git a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/api-report.md b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/api-report.md
index 1e798119c3..6dc0256586 100644
--- a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/api-report.md
+++ b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/api-report.md
@@ -3,18 +3,103 @@
 > Do not edit this file. It is a report generated by [API Extractor](https://api-extractor.com/).
 
 ```ts
-import { Client } from '@elastic/elasticsearch';
+/// <reference types="node" />
+
 import { Config } from '@backstage/config';
+import type { ConnectionOptions } from 'tls';
 import { IndexableDocument } from '@backstage/search-common';
 import { Logger as Logger_2 } from 'winston';
 import { SearchEngine } from '@backstage/search-common';
 import { SearchQuery } from '@backstage/search-common';
 import { SearchResultSet } from '@backstage/search-common';
 
+// Warning: (ae-missing-release-tag) "ElasticSearchClientOptions" is exported by the package, but it is missing a release tag (@alpha, @beta, @public, or @internal)
+// Warning: (ae-unresolved-link) The @link reference could not be resolved: The package "@backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-elasticsearch" does not have an export "ElasticSearchEngine"
+//
+// @public
+export interface ElasticSearchClientOptions {
+  // Warning: (ae-forgotten-export) The symbol "ElasticSearchAgentOptions" needs to be exported by the entry point index.d.ts
+  //
+  // (undocumented)
+  agent?: ElasticSearchAgentOptions | ((opts?: any) => unknown) | false;
+  // Warning: (ae-forgotten-export) The symbol "ElasticSearchAuth" needs to be exported by the entry point index.d.ts
+  //
+  // (undocumented)
+  auth?: ElasticSearchAuth;
+  // (undocumented)
+  cloud?: {
+    id: string;
+    username?: string;
+    password?: string;
+  };
+  // (undocumented)
+  compression?: 'gzip';
+  // Warning: (ae-forgotten-export) The symbol "ElasticSearchConnectionConstructor" needs to be exported by the entry point index.d.ts
+  //
+  // (undocumented)
+  Connection?: ElasticSearchConnectionConstructor;
+  // (undocumented)
+  disablePrototypePoisoningProtection?: boolean | 'proto' | 'constructor';
+  // (undocumented)
+  enableMetaHeader?: boolean;
+  // (undocumented)
+  headers?: Record<string, any>;
+  // (undocumented)
+  maxRetries?: number;
+  // (undocumented)
+  name?: string | symbol;
+  // Warning: (ae-forgotten-export) The symbol "ElasticSearchNodeOptions" needs to be exported by the entry point index.d.ts
+  //
+  // (undocumented)
+  node?:
+    | string
+    | string[]
+    | ElasticSearchNodeOptions
+    | ElasticSearchNodeOptions[];
+  // (undocumented)
+  nodeFilter?: (connection: any) => boolean;
+  // (undocumented)
+  nodes?:
+    | string
+    | string[]
+    | ElasticSearchNodeOptions
+    | ElasticSearchNodeOptions[];
+  // (undocumented)
+  nodeSelector?: ((connections: any[]) => any) | string;
+  // (undocumented)
+  opaqueIdPrefix?: string;
+  // (undocumented)
+  pingTimeout?: number;
+  // (undocumented)
+  provider?: 'aws' | 'elastic';
+  // (undocumented)
+  proxy?: string | URL;
+  // (undocumented)
+  requestTimeout?: number;
+  // (undocumented)
+  resurrectStrategy?: 'ping' | 'optimistic' | 'none';
+  // (undocumented)
+  sniffEndpoint?: string;
+  // (undocumented)
+  sniffInterval?: number | boolean;
+  // (undocumented)
+  sniffOnConnectionFault?: boolean;
+  // (undocumented)
+  sniffOnStart?: boolean;
+  // (undocumented)
+  ssl?: ConnectionOptions;
+  // (undocumented)
+  suggestCompression?: boolean;
+  // Warning: (ae-forgotten-export) The symbol "ElasticSearchTransportConstructor" needs to be exported by the entry point index.d.ts
+  //
+  // (undocumented)
+  Transport?: ElasticSearchTransportConstructor;
+}
+
 // @public (undocumented)
 export class ElasticSearchSearchEngine implements SearchEngine {
   constructor(
-    elasticSearchClient: Client,
+    elasticSearchClientOptions: ElasticSearchClientOptions,
     aliasPostfix: string,
     indexPrefix: string,
     logger: Logger_2,
@@ -22,11 +107,15 @@ export class ElasticSearchSearchEngine implements SearchEngine {
   // Warning: (ae-forgotten-export) The symbol "ElasticSearchOptions" needs to be exported by the entry point index.d.ts
   //
   // (undocumented)
-  static fromConfig(
-    options: ElasticSearchOptions,
-  ): Promise<ElasticSearchSearchEngine>;
+  static fromConfig({
+    logger,
+    config,
+    aliasPostfix,
+    indexPrefix,
+  }: ElasticSearchOptions): Promise<ElasticSearchSearchEngine>;
   // (undocumented)
   index(type: string, documents: IndexableDocument[]): Promise<void>;
+  newClient<T>(create: (options: ElasticSearchClientOptions) => T): T;
   // (undocumented)
   query(query: SearchQuery): Promise<SearchResultSet>;
   // Warning: (ae-forgotten-export) The symbol "ElasticSearchQueryTranslator" needs to be exported by the entry point index.d.ts
diff --git a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchClientOptions.ts b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchClientOptions.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..73cb149c0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchClientOptions.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2021 The Backstage Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+import type { ConnectionOptions as TLSConnectionOptions } from 'tls';
+
+/**
+ * Options used to configure the `@elastic/elasticsearch` client and
+ * are what will be passed as an argument to the
+ * {@link ElasticSearchEngine.newClient} method
+ *
+ * They are drawn from the `ClientOptions` class of `@elastic/elasticsearch`,
+ * but are maintained separately so that this interface is not coupled to
+ */
+export interface ElasticSearchClientOptions {
+  provider?: 'aws' | 'elastic';
+  node?:
+    | string
+    | string[]
+    | ElasticSearchNodeOptions
+    | ElasticSearchNodeOptions[];
+  nodes?:
+    | string
+    | string[]
+    | ElasticSearchNodeOptions
+    | ElasticSearchNodeOptions[];
+  Transport?: ElasticSearchTransportConstructor;
+  Connection?: ElasticSearchConnectionConstructor;
+  maxRetries?: number;
+  requestTimeout?: number;
+  pingTimeout?: number;
+  sniffInterval?: number | boolean;
+  sniffOnStart?: boolean;
+  sniffEndpoint?: string;
+  sniffOnConnectionFault?: boolean;
+  resurrectStrategy?: 'ping' | 'optimistic' | 'none';
+  suggestCompression?: boolean;
+  compression?: 'gzip';
+  ssl?: TLSConnectionOptions;
+  agent?: ElasticSearchAgentOptions | ((opts?: any) => unknown) | false;
+  nodeFilter?: (connection: any) => boolean;
+  nodeSelector?: ((connections: any[]) => any) | string;
+  headers?: Record<string, any>;
+  opaqueIdPrefix?: string;
+  name?: string | symbol;
+  auth?: ElasticSearchAuth;
+  proxy?: string | URL;
+  enableMetaHeader?: boolean;
+  cloud?: {
+    id: string;
+    username?: string;
+    password?: string;
+  };
+  disablePrototypePoisoningProtection?: boolean | 'proto' | 'constructor';
+}
+
+export type ElasticSearchAuth =
+  | {
+      username: string;
+      password: string;
+    }
+  | {
+      apiKey:
+        | string
+        | {
+            id: string;
+            api_key: string;
+          };
+    };
+
+export interface ElasticSearchNodeOptions {
+  url: URL;
+  id?: string;
+  agent?: ElasticSearchAgentOptions;
+  ssl?: TLSConnectionOptions;
+  headers?: Record<string, any>;
+  roles?: {
+    master: boolean;
+    data: boolean;
+    ingest: boolean;
+    ml: boolean;
+  };
+}
+
+export interface ElasticSearchAgentOptions {
+  keepAlive?: boolean;
+  keepAliveMsecs?: number;
+  maxSockets?: number;
+  maxFreeSockets?: number;
+}
+
+export interface ElasticSearchConnectionConstructor {
+  new (opts?: any): any;
+  statuses: {
+    ALIVE: string;
+    DEAD: string;
+  };
+  roles: {
+    MASTER: string;
+    DATA: string;
+    INGEST: string;
+    ML: string;
+  };
+}
+
+export interface ElasticSearchTransportConstructor {
+  new (opts?: any): any;
+  sniffReasons: {
+    SNIFF_ON_START: string;
+    SNIFF_INTERVAL: string;
+    SNIFF_ON_CONNECTION_FAULT: string;
+    DEFAULT: string;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchSearchEngine.test.ts b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchSearchEngine.test.ts
index 2877632013..1566a35b57 100644
--- a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchSearchEngine.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchSearchEngine.test.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
  */
 
 import { getVoidLogger } from '@backstage/backend-common';
-import { SearchEngine } from '@backstage/search-common';
 import { Client } from '@elastic/elasticsearch';
 import Mock from '@elastic/elasticsearch-mock';
 import {
@@ -33,28 +32,31 @@ class ElasticSearchSearchEngineForTranslatorTests extends ElasticSearchSearchEng
 }
 
 const mock = new Mock();
-const client = new Client({
+const options = {
   node: 'http://localhost:9200',
   Connection: mock.getConnection(),
-});
+};
 
 describe('ElasticSearchSearchEngine', () => {
-  let testSearchEngine: SearchEngine;
+  let testSearchEngine: ElasticSearchSearchEngine;
   let inspectableSearchEngine: ElasticSearchSearchEngineForTranslatorTests;
+  let client: Client;
 
   beforeEach(() => {
     testSearchEngine = new ElasticSearchSearchEngine(
-      client,
+      options,
       'search',
       '',
       getVoidLogger(),
     );
     inspectableSearchEngine = new ElasticSearchSearchEngineForTranslatorTests(
-      client,
+      options,
       'search',
       '',
       getVoidLogger(),
     );
+    // eslint-disable-next-line dot-notation
+    client = testSearchEngine['elasticSearchClient'];
   });
 
   describe('queryTranslator', () => {
diff --git a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchSearchEngine.ts b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchSearchEngine.ts
index 7912c691b3..48caf0d4f1 100644
--- a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchSearchEngine.ts
+++ b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/ElasticSearchSearchEngine.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ import esb from 'elastic-builder';
 import { isEmpty, isNaN as nan, isNumber } from 'lodash';
 import { Logger } from 'winston';
 
+import type { ElasticSearchClientOptions } from './ElasticSearchClientOptions';
+
+export type { ElasticSearchClientOptions };
+
 export type ConcreteElasticSearchQuery = {
   documentTypes?: string[];
   elasticSearchQuery: Object;
@@ -68,105 +72,49 @@ function isBlank(str: string) {
  * @public
  */
 export class ElasticSearchSearchEngine implements SearchEngine {
+  private readonly elasticSearchClient: Client;
+
   constructor(
-    private readonly elasticSearchClient: Client,
+    private readonly elasticSearchClientOptions: ElasticSearchClientOptions,
     private readonly aliasPostfix: string,
     private readonly indexPrefix: string,
     private readonly logger: Logger,
-  ) {}
+  ) {
+    this.elasticSearchClient = this.newClient(options => new Client(options));
+  }
 
-  static async fromConfig(options: ElasticSearchOptions) {
-    const {
-      logger,
-      config,
-      aliasPostfix = `search`,
-      indexPrefix = ``,
-    } = options;
+  static async fromConfig({
+    logger,
+    config,
+    aliasPostfix = `search`,
+    indexPrefix = ``,
+  }: ElasticSearchOptions) {
+    const options = await createElasticSearchClientOptions(
+      config.getConfig('search.elasticsearch'),
+    );
+    if (options.provider === 'elastic') {
+      logger.info('Initializing Elastic.co ElasticSearch search engine.');
+    } else if (options.provider === 'aws') {
+      logger.info('Initializing AWS ElasticSearch search engine.');
+    } else {
+      logger.info('Initializing ElasticSearch search engine.');
+    }
 
     return new ElasticSearchSearchEngine(
-      await ElasticSearchSearchEngine.constructElasticSearchClient(
-        logger,
-        config.getConfig('search.elasticsearch'),
-      ),
+      options,
       aliasPostfix,
       indexPrefix,
       logger,
     );
   }
 
-  private static async constructElasticSearchClient(
-    logger: Logger,
-    config?: Config,
-  ) {
-    if (!config) {
-      throw new Error('No elastic search config found');
-    }
-
-    const clientOptionsConfig = config.getOptionalConfig('clientOptions');
-    const sslConfig = clientOptionsConfig?.getOptionalConfig('ssl');
-
-    if (config.getOptionalString('provider') === 'elastic') {
-      logger.info('Initializing Elastic.co ElasticSearch search engine.');
-      const authConfig = config.getConfig('auth');
-      return new Client({
-        cloud: {
-          id: config.getString('cloudId'),
-        },
-        auth: {
-          username: authConfig.getString('username'),
-          password: authConfig.getString('password'),
-        },
-        ...(sslConfig
-          ? {
-              ssl: {
-                rejectUnauthorized:
-                  sslConfig?.getOptionalBoolean('rejectUnauthorized'),
-              },
-            }
-          : {}),
-      });
-    }
-    if (config.getOptionalString('provider') === 'aws') {
-      logger.info('Initializing AWS ElasticSearch search engine.');
-      const awsCredentials = await awsGetCredentials();
-      const AWSConnection = createAWSConnection(awsCredentials);
-      return new Client({
-        node: config.getString('node'),
-        ...AWSConnection,
-        ...(sslConfig
-          ? {
-              ssl: {
-                rejectUnauthorized:
-                  sslConfig?.getOptionalBoolean('rejectUnauthorized'),
-              },
-            }
-          : {}),
-      });
-    }
-    logger.info('Initializing ElasticSearch search engine.');
-    const authConfig = config.getOptionalConfig('auth');
-    const auth =
-      authConfig &&
-      (authConfig.has('apiKey')
-        ? {
-            apiKey: authConfig.getString('apiKey'),
-          }
-        : {
-            username: authConfig.getString('username'),
-            password: authConfig.getString('password'),
-          });
-    return new Client({
-      node: config.getString('node'),
-      auth,
-      ...(sslConfig
-        ? {
-            ssl: {
-              rejectUnauthorized:
-                sslConfig?.getOptionalBoolean('rejectUnauthorized'),
-            },
-          }
-        : {}),
-    });
+  /**
+   * Create a custom search client from the derived elastic search
+   * configuration. This need not be the same client that the engine uses
+   * internally.
+   */
+  newClient<T>(create: (options: ElasticSearchClientOptions) => T): T {
+    return create(this.elasticSearchClientOptions);
   }
 
   protected translator(query: SearchQuery): ConcreteElasticSearchQuery {
@@ -349,3 +297,75 @@ export function decodePageCursor(pageCursor?: string): { page: number } {
 export function encodePageCursor({ page }: { page: number }): string {
   return Buffer.from(`${page}`, 'utf-8').toString('base64');
 }
+
+async function createElasticSearchClientOptions(
+  config?: Config,
+): Promise<ElasticSearchClientOptions> {
+  if (!config) {
+    throw new Error('No elastic search config found');
+  }
+  const clientOptionsConfig = config.getOptionalConfig('clientOptions');
+  const sslConfig = clientOptionsConfig?.getOptionalConfig('ssl');
+
+  if (config.getOptionalString('provider') === 'elastic') {
+    const authConfig = config.getConfig('auth');
+    return {
+      provider: 'elastic',
+      cloud: {
+        id: config.getString('cloudId'),
+      },
+      auth: {
+        username: authConfig.getString('username'),
+        password: authConfig.getString('password'),
+      },
+      ...(sslConfig
+        ? {
+            ssl: {
+              rejectUnauthorized:
+                sslConfig?.getOptionalBoolean('rejectUnauthorized'),
+            },
+          }
+        : {}),
+    };
+  }
+  if (config.getOptionalString('provider') === 'aws') {
+    const awsCredentials = await awsGetCredentials();
+    const AWSConnection = createAWSConnection(awsCredentials);
+    return {
+      provider: 'aws',
+      node: config.getString('node'),
+      ...AWSConnection,
+      ...(sslConfig
+        ? {
+            ssl: {
+              rejectUnauthorized:
+                sslConfig?.getOptionalBoolean('rejectUnauthorized'),
+            },
+          }
+        : {}),
+    };
+  }
+  const authConfig = config.getOptionalConfig('auth');
+  const auth =
+    authConfig &&
+    (authConfig.has('apiKey')
+      ? {
+          apiKey: authConfig.getString('apiKey'),
+        }
+      : {
+          username: authConfig.getString('username'),
+          password: authConfig.getString('password'),
+        });
+  return {
+    node: config.getString('node'),
+    auth,
+    ...(sslConfig
+      ? {
+          ssl: {
+            rejectUnauthorized:
+              sslConfig?.getOptionalBoolean('rejectUnauthorized'),
+          },
+        }
+      : {}),
+  };
+}
diff --git a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/index.ts b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/index.ts
index 2f3641c114..d5eee37803 100644
--- a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/index.ts
+++ b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/engines/index.ts
@@ -15,4 +15,7 @@
  */
 
 export { ElasticSearchSearchEngine } from './ElasticSearchSearchEngine';
-export type { ConcreteElasticSearchQuery } from './ElasticSearchSearchEngine';
+export type {
+  ConcreteElasticSearchQuery,
+  ElasticSearchClientOptions,
+} from './ElasticSearchSearchEngine';
diff --git a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/index.ts b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/index.ts
index b4dab93b76..8cf96de858 100644
--- a/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/index.ts
+++ b/plugins/search-backend-module-elasticsearch/src/index.ts
@@ -21,3 +21,4 @@
  */
 
 export { ElasticSearchSearchEngine } from './engines';
+export type { ElasticSearchClientOptions } from './engines';