Hardware Systems Engineer, Hardware Tools / Firmware

Cloudflare, Inc.; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

401(k) Plan

Employee Stock Participation

Job summary

Cloudflare, Inc. is seeking a Systems Engineer with a firmware focus in the U.S. to advance the Hardware team’s security goals and projects for 2027 and beyond.

You will maintain OpenBMC firmware, design features aligned with industry standards, and collaborate with vendors and internal teams to deliver robust hardware solutions while contributing to security and reliability across global infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Experience developing firmware and/or embedded software.
• Knowledgeable about servers, enterprise systems and hardware interfaces.
• A good understanding of hardware security for servers.
• Familiarity with Redfish standards.
• Curious and very eager to learn.
• Great communication, collaboration and detail oriented.
• Can build firmwares from open source codes, build demos & POCs, setup systems & run synthetic tests, and debug complex firmware problems as needed.
• Can create python/bash scripts and edit firmware/driver source code.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and improve OpenBMC firmware.
• Design and implement features based on standards such as OCP and DMTF.
• Collaborate with vendors to align requirements.
• Develop observability and configuration solutions for server subsystems.
• Partner with internal teams to address hardware security needs and roadmap.
• Contribute to HW provisioning in the lab and BIOS/firmware tooling.

Skills

Firmware/embedded SW

Servers/hardware knowledge

Hardware security

Redfish standards

Curious learner

Communication & collaboration

Scripting (Python/Bash)

Tools

Yocto/Buildroot

UEFI

Job description

About Us

At the company, 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. the company protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by the company 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. the company was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.

At the company, 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

Austin, Texas | Lisbon, Portugal

About The Department

the company’s Infrastructure group is responsible for building our global network. Our Hardware Engineering team helps research, develop, test, and deploy new equipment enabling 20% of the world’s internet traffic to be served smoothly. Deployd across 330 cities in 120+ countries, the hardware we select helps improve the security, reliability, and performance of the Internet.

About the Role

the company’s Hardware Team is hiring a Systems Engineer, with a firmware focus, in the U.S. to help deliver the Hardware team’s security goals and projects in 2027 & beyond.

What You’ll Do

• Maintain and improve OpenBMC firmware Design and develop features based on various industry standards such as OCP and DMTF Standards
• Be able to engage with vendors & guide them through our requirements
• Design solutions for observability and configurations appropriate for various server subsystems e.g. DIMMs, NICs etc.
• Be able to partner with teams internally to understand HW security reqs and build a set of features / roadmap for the company
• Able to contribute in building/improving the HW provisioning in HW Lab, especially the steps related to BIOS, FW, settings, and HW tools.
• Developing and reviewing requirements/code/tests/design documents
• Own some of their team’s Future FW or HW security tasks / goals and are responsible for delivering these goals on time with a high standard of quality
• Build simple, well-defined plans that are easily adapted without accruing additional complexity over time
• Expected to engage internally as domain experts in server hardware; collaborate with other teams on defining new server requirements, explain new technologies thru Wiki’s and spec sheets, and be the liaison between vendor & internal customers

Examples Of Desirable Skills, Knowledge And Experience

• Experience developing firmware and/or embedded SW
• Knowledgeable about servers, enterprise systems and hardware interfaces
• A good understanding of hardware security for servers
• Familiarity with Redfish standards
• Curious and very eager to learn
• Great communication, collaboration and detail oriented
• Can build firmwares from open source codes, build demos & POCs, setup systems & run synthetic tests, and debug complex firmware problems as needed
• Can create python/bash scripts and edit firmware/driver source code

Bonus Points

• Experience with Yocto or Buildroot is desirable
• Experience with UEFI development desirable

Compensation

Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location.

• For Lisbon based hires: Estimated annual salary of €54,000 - 68,000

Equity

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

Benefits

the company 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 the company 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 the company’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 the company 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 ensu