At Cloudflare, we are on a mission to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world's largest networks that powers millions of websites and other Internet properties for customers ranging from individual bloggers to SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare all have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine's Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World's Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.
At Cloudflare, we're not looking for people who wait for a polished roadmap; we're looking for the builders who see the cracks in the Internet that everyone else has simply learned to live with. We value candidates who have the instinct to spot a "normalized" problem and the AI-native curiosity to create a solution using the latest tools. Our culture is built on iteration, leveraging AI to ship faster today to make it better tomorrow, while ensuring that every improvement, no matter how small, is shared across the team to lift everyone up. If you're the type of person who values curiosity over bureaucracy, and that AI is a partner in solving tough problems to keep the Internet moving forward, you'll fit right in.
In this role, you will be focused on the build out and expansion of our global network. You'll work closely with Cloudflare's Network Infrastructure planning team, Network Engineering team, Infrastructure automation team, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) team, Project Managers and with various vendors and partners (including hardware vendors, logistics, datacenter and network providers, and ISPs) to plan and aggressively execute the expansion of our network. You will further be responsible for the development and implementation of consistent processes and tools for consistent and effective management of our infrastructure. This is a highly visible position that requires deep technical understanding of datacenter infrastructure, physical and logical network configuration, system administration, server provisioning and troubleshooting, and basic experience with data analysis and project management.
To be successful in this position, you should have excellent technical skills, communication skills, and be able to navigate a range of challenges and constraints (e.g. schedule adherence, time zones, and cultures). You will have the opportunity to (literally) build a faster, safer Internet for our millions of users and the billions of web surfers that visit their sites each month.
Key responsibilities
- Provisioning, monitoring and maintaining hardware, software, and network in new Cloudflare data centers.
- Perform server administration tasks remotely using IPMI/BMC tools, including server provisioning, monitoring, troubleshooting and firmware updates.
- Perform network configuration tasks to network devices in greenfield deployment and brownfield migration activities.
- Managing remote contractors to complete datacenter installations and upgrades (rack and stack), including coordinating with hardware manufacturers, datacenter and network providers, logistics partners and other service providers in support of our 700+ growing datacenter locations.
- Build automation to eliminate repetitive work using Python scripts, and Changie. Our team actively develops agentic AI tools to reduce admin overhead and handling other toil.
- Planning and implementing network and server installations, including in the areas of facility power (AC/DC), cooling, security/access, rack layout and cable management.
- Providing technical leadership and guidance to remote contractors and junior team members during deployment activities—walking them through configurations, troubleshooting steps, and quality checks.
- Creating and maintaining documentation, plans, SOPs, MOPs and runbooks.
- Collaborating with internal teams (Infrastructure Engineering and Planning, Network Engineering and SRE) on day-to-day operations and project planning.
- Coordinating installation of cross-connects globally in support of physical network expansion.
- Assisting with the definition, documentation and implementation of consistent processes and standardization across all regions.
- Limited travel.
Required Experience
- Minimum of 5 years of prior relevant experience in Data Center Operations, Site Reliability Engineering, Linux Systems Administration, Network Engineering, and/or DevOps experience.
- Familiarity with day-to-day tasks and projects common in Data Center Operations.
- Experience with optical transport technologies such as CWDM/DWDM.
- Configuration management tool experience like Saltstack, Chef, Puppet or Ansible.
- Knowledge and exposure to Network Protocols, Topologies and Enterprise architecture.
- Experience writing network configuration and design documentation.
- Experience with network and server installation, configuration, and troubleshooting.
- Experience with remote "lights-out" and out-of-band access to data center resources (IPMI/BMC for remote server administration).
- Experience solving problems through automation, writing Python or Bash scripts for internal tools and workflow improvements.
- Experience running and improving operational processes in a rapidly changing environment.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, problem-solving skills, and attention to detail. Must be proactive in performing due diligence, e.g. checking for blockers before executing work, spotting patterns in failures or process improvements.
- Experience building or working with agentic AI tools for workflow automation
Examples of desirable skills, knowledge and experience
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, MIS, or a related field is a plus.
- Direct experience executing on datacenter / infrastructure projects with many moving parts.
- Experience installing / maintaining datacenter (and other IT) infrastructure and DCIM tools.
- Experience running and improving operational processes in a rapidly changing environment.
- Understanding of BGP and anycast routing.
- Good working knowledge of major networking and optical device OS such as Juniper Junos, Cisco IOS, Cisco NX-OS, Arista EOS, SONiC, Ciena, Nokia (Infinera).
- Proficient in one or more programming languages and willing to learn new ones when required.
- Ability to write scripts for internal tools and automation workflows.
- Ability to learn fast and execute on multiple tasks simultaneously while maintaining quality.
- Ability to manage MS Excel and Google Spreadsheets.
- Comfortable handling basic program management responsibilities (prioritization, planning, scheduling, status reporting) using tools like JIRA.
- Experience managing remote contractors
- Strong team player who collaborates across functions (planning, network engineering, SRE, vendors).
Bonus Points
- Professional level network certification(s) (JNCIP, CCNP, etc) or higher.
- Linux certifications.
- Experience with continuous / rapid deployment.
- Experience working in a 24/7/365 mission-critical service environment (on-call rotation required)
- Knowledge of the OSI-model and experience isolating network, hardware and software issues.
We're not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We're a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company with a soul. Fundamental to our mission to help build a better Internet is protecting the free and open Internet.
Project Galileo: Since 2014, we've equipped more than 2,400 journalism and civil society organizations in 111 countries with powerful tools to defend themselves against attacks that would otherwise censor their work, technology already used by Cloudflare's enterprise customers-at no cost.
Athenian Project: In 2017, we created the Athenian Project to ensure that state and local governments have the highest level of protection and reliability for free, so that their constituents have access to election information and voter registration. Since the project, we've provided services to more than 425 local government election websites in 33 states.
1.1.1.1: We released 1.1.1.1 to help fix the foundation of the Internet by building a faster, more secure and privacy-centric public DNS resolver. This is available publicly for everyone to use - it is the first consumer-focused service Cloudflare has ever released. Here's the deal - we don't store client IP addresses never, ever. We will continue to abide by our privacy commitment and ensure that no user data is sold to advertisers or used to target consumers.
Sound like something you'd like to be a part of? We'd love to hear from you!
Please note that applicants who progress to the offer stage of the interview process may be asked to attend an in-person interview within one of the Cloudflare Offices or Cloudflare Hubs. More details about this will be available at that stage of the interview process.
This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. Please note that any offer of employment may be conditioned on your authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export laws without sponsorship for an export license.
Cloudflare is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. We are an AA/Veterans/Disabled Employer.
Cloudflare provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to, changing the application process, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment. If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please contact us via e-mail at [email protected] or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.
