Distributed Systems Engineer - Data Platform - Analytics and Alerts

Cloudflare; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 136,000 - 231,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

Employee Stock Participation Plan

Flexible paid time off

Job summary

Cloudflare is seeking experienced engineers to join our DATA Org to build and operate scalable data platforms. You will work on distributed systems handling real-time logs, analytics, and high-scale APIs, enabling customers to gain visibility and control over their data.

You will contribute to a suite of high-performance systems, tackle complex challenges, and collaborate across teams to deliver reliable data experiences. This role offers opportunity to impact millions of endpoints globally.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in software development with distributed systems and scalable APIs.
• Strong programming skills (Go is preferable).
• Hands‑on experience with Prometheus, Grafana, and high-cardinality metrics at scale.
• Strong knowledge of SQL, including complex query optimisation.
• CS foundation: algorithms, data structures, distributed systems, concurrency.
• Strong analytical/problem-solving skills and ability to debug high-scale issues.
• Able to collaborate with teams across Cloudflare.
• Experience developing/scaling APIs, GraphQL a plus.
• Experience with data streaming technologies (Kafka, Flink) a plus.
• Experience with IaC tools like Salt or Terraform.
• Experience with Linux containers (Docker, Kubernetes) a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance customer-facing APIs focusing on performance, reliability, and UX.
• Design, build, and maintain near real-time alerting platform from data processing to notifications.
• Optimise performance of complex analytical queries powering APIs/dashboards.
• Create tools for customers to explore data and configure alerts.
• Scale API and alerting infrastructure for growing use cases.
• Collaborate with frontend engineers and product managers on API contracts.
• Maintain health via monitoring and on-call rotation.

Skills

Distributed systems

Go programming

Observability stack

SQL & query optimization

GraphQL APIs

Data streaming (Kafka, Flink)

Infrastructure as code (Salt,Terraform

Docker & Kubernetes

Collaboration

Tools

Prometheus

Grafana

Docker

Kubernetes

Kafka

Flink

Terraform

Salt

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.

Locations Available

Atlanta, US, Austin, US, Denver, US, Seattle, US, Washington DC, US, Lisbon, Portugal

About Role

We are looking for experienced and highly motivated engineers to join our DATA Org and help build the future of data at Cloudflare. Our organisation is responsible for the entire data lifecycle - from ingestion and processing to storage and retrieval - powering the critical logs and analytics that provide our customers with real-time visibility into the health and performance of their online properties.

Our mission is to empower customers to leverage their data to drive better outcomes for their business. We build and maintain a suite of high-performance, scalable systems that handle more than a billion events in a second. As an engineer in our organisation, you will have the opportunity to work on complex distributed systems challenges across different parts of our data stack.

Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance our customer-facing APIs focusing on performance, reliability, and an intuitive user experience.
• Design, build, and maintain our near real-time alerting platform, from data processing and anomaly detection to reliable notification delivery.
• Optimise the performance of complex analytical queries that power our APIs and dashboards, working closely with the database platform team.
• Create intuitive and powerful tools that allow customers to explore their data and configure meaningful alerts based on logs and metrics.
• Scale our API and alerting infrastructure to support a growing number of internal and external use cases.
• Collaborate with front-end engineers and product managers to define API contracts and deliver a seamless data experience for our users.
• Ensure the operational health of our APIs and alerting systems by developing comprehensive monitoring, and participating in an on-call rotation (with the flexibility to be on-call outside of standard working hours as needed).

Key Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience working in software development covering distributed systems and scalable APIs.
• Strong programming skills (Go is preferable), with a deep understanding of software development best practices for building performant, customer-facing services.
• Hands‑on experience with modern observability stacks, including Prometheus, Grafana, and a strong understanding of handling high-cardinality metrics at scale.
• Strong knowledge of SQL, including extensive experience with complex query optimisation.
• A solid foundation in computer science, including algorithms, data structures, distributed systems, and concurrency.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a willingness to debug, troubleshoot, and learn about complex problems at high scale.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and communicate effectively with other teams across Cloudflare.
• Experience developing and scaling APIs, particularly GraphQL, is a strong plus.
• Experience with data streaming technologies (e.g., Kafka, Flink) for real-time processing is a plus.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code tools like SALT or Terraform is a plus.
• Experience with Linux container technologies, such as Docker and Kubernetes, is a plus.

If you're passionate about building scalable and performant data platforms using cutting‑edge technologies and want to work with a world‑class team of engineers, then we want to hear from you! Join us in our mission to help build a better internet for everyone!

Compensation

• For Denver based hires: Estimated annual salary of $136,000 - $231,000.
• For Washington, D.C. and Seattle based hires: Estimated annual salary of $150,000 - $154,000.
• For Portugal based hires: Estimated annual salary is between €54,000 - €91,000.
• The final offer will be inclusive of time exemption, in alignment with the applicable law and collective bargaining agreements.

Equity

This role is eligible to participate in Cloudflare’s equity plan.

Benefits

Cloudflare offers a complete package of benefits and programs to support you and your family. Our benefits programs can help you pay health care expenses, support caregiving, build capital for the future and make life a little easier and fun! The below is a description of our benefits for employees in the United States, and benefits may vary for employees based outside the U.S.

Health & Welfare Benefits

• Medical/Rx Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Commuter Spending Accounts
• Fertility & Family Forming Benefits
• On-demand mental health support and Employee Assistance Program
• Global Travel Medical Insurance

Financial Benefits

• Short and Long Term Disability Insurance
• Life & Accident Insurance
• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan
• Employee Stock Participation Plan

Time Off

• Flexible paid time off covering vacation and sick leave
• Leave programs, including parental, pregnancy health, medical, and bereavement leave

What Makes Cloudflare Special?

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 specialised equipment. If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please contact us via e-mail at [e-mail] or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.