Data Center Operations Engineer

Cloudflare, Inc.; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Cloudflare, Inc. is seeking Data Center Engineers to manage on-site operations at Salt Lake City and other locations. You will be the hands-on technical lead at your site, rack, cable, troubleshoot and keep hardware healthy daily.

The role emphasizes end-to-end site builds, break/fix, on-call support, and collaboration with colocation staff, partners, and internal teams. Use AI and automation to improve runbooks, docs and workflows.

Qualifications

• Hands-on data center or server hardware operations experience.
• Experience racking, stacking and cabling servers and network equipment.
• Knowledge of structured cabling standards, fiber and copper.
• Ability to troubleshoot using BMC/IPMI and logs.
• Proficiency with Linux command line and network device CLIs.
• Experience with fiber inspection and testing tools.

Responsibilities

• Site builds: receive hardware, rack and stack, and dress cabling to standard.
• Break/fix: troubleshoot and replace components with minimal disruption.
• On-call: respond to incidents affecting hardware at the data center.
• AI, automation and continuous improvement: use automation to improve runbooks and tooling.
• Documentation and DCIM: maintain real-time records of rack elevations and assets.
• Vendors, partners and compliance: coordinate with colocation staff and ensure safety standards.

Skills

Data center operations

Server hardware

Racking & cabling

BMC/IPMI

Linux CLI

Fiber testing

Job description

About Us

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.

Available Locations

Boston, MA | Dallas, TX | Salt Lake City, UT (This role requires you to be onsite 5 days a week in one of our locations)

About The Department

Infrastructure Operations builds and manages the data center infrastructure behind Cloudflare's global network. The organization brings together engineering, operations, hardware and logistics teams that plan, deploy, operate and maintain our footprint in hundreds of cities worldwide. In this role, you'll help extend that footprint with a new generation of data center sites across the United States.

About The Role

We're looking for Data Center Engineers to be the hands, eyes and judgement on the ground at our new sites. You'll work on-site every day at your home data center, helping bring it online and keeping its hardware healthy once it's in production.

You will rack, cable and replace equipment, troubleshoot servers and network gear well past a simple parts swap, and keep every asset accurately documented from the moment it arrives. You'll work alongside colocation staff, integrators and partner teams, and support other sites remotely when the team needs you. Experienced engineers will have room to act as the technical lead for their site, mentor others, and help set the standards the team uses everywhere.

We're building these sites to run with less manual effort than traditional data centers. When something breaks, we expect you to fix it for good, not just for today, and to use AI and automation to make the fix stick, whether that means a better runbook, a script, or a change to how the team works.

This role is hands‑on at the physical layer: hardware, cabling, and Layer 1/Layer 2 connectivity. You'll use the command line to troubleshoot servers and Layer 2 network issues, but network configuration and server provisioning are owned by partner engineering teams.

What You'll Do

Site Builds

• Support integrated site builds: receive and inspect hardware, rack and stack equipment, and run and dress structured cabling to standard.
• Verify integrator and contractor work against build specifications, drive defects to resolution, and make sure sites are production‑ready before handoff.

Break/Fix and Troubleshooting

• Triage and troubleshoot server hardware using BMC/IPMI, hardware logs, diagnostics and firmware tools. Find the root cause instead of swapping parts until something works.
• Replace components and whole systems, including servers, switches and optics, safely and with minimal disruption.
• Troubleshoot Layer 1 and Layer 2 issues: console into network devices, read interface and link state from the command line, inspect and clean optics, check light levels, and test fiber with a light meter or OTDR.

On‑Call and Incidents

• Take part in an on‑call rotation and respond on site to incidents affecting hardware at your data center.
• Document what happened and what you did, and contribute to root‑cause analysis and follow‑up actions.

AI, Automation and Continuous Improvement

• Solve problems for good. When an issue repeats, find the underlying cause and change the process, runbook or tooling so it doesn't come back.
• Use AI tools as part of your daily work: to speed up troubleshooting, interpret hardware and network logs, draft and improve documentation and runbooks, and summarize incidents.
• Find repetitive manual work and remove it with scripting, automation or AI‑assisted workflows, or turn it into clear requirements for tooling teams.
• Share what works so the rest of the team can adopt it across every site.

Documentation and DCIM

• Keep DCIM records accurate in real time, including rack elevations, cabling, power and asset location, from receipt through decommissioning.
• Follow and improve runbooks and build standards so work is repeatable across sites.

Logistics and Hardware Lifecycle

• Own receiving, shipping and spares inventory at your site, and process RMAs end to end.
• Perform on‑site decommissioning: unracking, serial number verification and chain of custody through handoff for secure destruction.

Vendors, Partners and Compliance

• Escort and supervise colocation remote‑hands staff, contractors and integrators working at your site, and hold them to our quality and safety standards.
• Work directly with partner teams to coordinate access, maintenance and escalations for your site.
• Follow physical security, access control and compliance procedures without exception, and help produce accurate evidence for audits.

Supporting Other Sites

• Support other sites remotely, for example by guiding remote hands or reviewing documentation, and travel occasionally to help with builds or surges.

Who You Are

Careful and precise.

Clean cabling, correct labels and accurate records matter to you. If it isn't documented, it isn't done.

Dependable on your own.

You're often the only Cloudflare person on site. You work independently, communicate clearly with a remote team, and know when to elevate.

Security‑minded.

You understand that access rules and chain of custody exist for a reason, and you follow them every time.

A troubleshooter, not a parts swapper.

You want to know why something failed, and you use logs, diagnostics and the command line to find out.

Someone who makes the team better.

You share what you learn, help newer teammates get up to speed, and take ownership of your site's outcomes.

AI‑fluent and automation‑first.

Your first instinct is to solve a problem for good, not work around it again. You reach for AI tools and automation to troubleshoot faster, document better and improve how the team works, and you check the output before you trust it.

Required Experience

• Hands‑on experience in data center, network or server hardware operations, including working independently on site.
• Experience racking, stacking and cabling servers and network equipment, and replacing whole systems and components.
• Solid working knowledge of structured cabling standards, fiber and copper, and optics.
• Hardware troubleshooting beyond parts swaps, including BMC/IPMI, hardware logs, diagnostics and firmware.
• Comfort with the Linux command line and with network device CLIs to troubleshoot Layer 1 and Layer 2 issues.
• Experience with fiber inspection, cleaning and testing, including light meters or OTDR.
• Regular, hands‑