Interconnection Manager, Network Strategy Americas

Cloudflare; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

401(k)

Equity plan

Flexible PTO

Global Travel Insurance

Commuter Benefits

Family Forming Benefits

Job summary

Cloudflare is seeking an Interconnection Manager for the Americas to own the regional strategy, focusing on the United States and South America. You will shape the backbone, interconnection, and peering with major ISPs, balancing cost, performance, and scalability.

The role emphasizes an AI-first operating model to automate workflows and improve decision-making. You will lead negotiations, collaborate with regional teams, and represent Cloudflare in industry forums, driving strategic initiatives

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in network infrastructure or similar roles.
• Experience with interconnection and backbone management.
• Familiarity with AI tools and analytics in network ops.
• Strong negotiation and vendor management abilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Own and execute interconnection and backbone strategy for the Americas.
• Drive interconnection scale with major U.S. ISPs and eyeball networks.
• Address region-specific build challenges in South America, focusing on Brazil.
• Use AI-driven analytics to inform capacity decisions and cost trade-offs.
• Lead negotiations for high-value interconnection agreements and Tier-1 partnerships.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align network strategy and execution.

Skills

Network infrastructure

BGP & IP networking

Interconnection negotiations

AI tools fluency

Communication skills

Analytical skills

Capacity planning

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.

Available Locations

• San Francisco, CA
• Austin, TX
• New York, NY
• Washington, D.C.

About The Role

The Interconnection Manager for the Americas is the network strategy leader for one of Cloudflare's most important and most contrasted regions—a mature, high-volume United States market alongside a fast-growing, infrastructure-constrained South America. You will own the strategy that scales our connectivity with the largest ISPs and eyeball networks in the U.S. while solving the harder, less-charted problem of building resilient, cost‑effective network reach across South America. This role operates on an AI‑first model. You’ll use AI agents and tooling to analyze traffic, model capacity and cost scenarios, surface peering and transport opportunities, and automate the operational work that historically slowed interconnection teams down.

What You’ll Do / Responsibilities

Regional Network Strategy — Americas

• Own and execute the interconnection and backbone strategy for the Americas, balancing the distinct realities of the U.S. and South American markets.
• United States: Drive interconnection scale and depth with the largest U.S. ISPs and eyeball networks (e.g., Comcast, Charter, AT&T, Verizon, T‑Mobile), expanding private interconnect, peering, and capacity to keep pace with traffic growth.
• South America: Solve the region’s unique build challenges— a sparse and uneven IXP fabric, terrestrial and subsea transport economics, regulatory and market fragmentation, and heavy reliance on local partners—to establish durable, performant reach with particular focus on Brazil, the region's largest market.

AI‑First Operating Model

• Use AI‑driven analytics to interpret regional traffic patterns, peering opportunities, and performance/cost trade‑offs, and to inform interconnection and capacity decisions.
• Leverage and help shape automated, agentic workflows for LOAs, ticketing, contract tracking, and data hygiene—partnering with the support layer to push routine execution to automation.
• Build models and scenario analyses (capacity, cost, resiliency) that let you make faster, better‑evidenced strategic calls and clearly defend them to leadership.

Interconnection & Backbone Management

• Formulate and execute plans to optimize traffic flow across the region, balancing backbone, partner, transit, IX, and peer connections.
• Develop and execute strategies for the expansion, optimization, and maintenance of Cloudflare’s backbone across the Americas, planning capacity for scalability and high performance.
• Lead negotiations for high‑value, complex interconnection agreements and Tier‑1 partnerships.
• Advise budget planning cycles to ensure proper resource allocation for regional growth and scaling.

Partnership with the Regional Network Acquisition Manager

• Set the strategy and priorities the Network Acquisition Manager executes against; review and approve sourcing recommendations for new and existing transport services.
• Lead complex, high‑value negotiations directly, while the Acquisition Manager runs high‑volume requirements, contract lifecycle support, inventory, and first‑level billing response.
• Ensure a clean handoff model so strategic intent translates into reliable, well‑documented execution.

Relationship Management

• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with ISPs, IXPs, carriers, and partners across the Americas.
• Act as the regional expert for interconnection relationships, focused on availability, capacity, effectiveness, and cost efficiency.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with Data Center Strategy, Network Engineering, Capacity Planning, and Infrastructure Operations to align on network strategy and implementation.
• Engage internal stakeholders to plan requirements and deliver cross‑functional projects, communicating clearly throughout.

Industry Engagement

• Represent Cloudflare in regional and global industry forums and conferences, contributing to best practices and standards.

Desirable Skills, Knowledge, and Experience

• 5+ years of experience in network infrastructure, ideally within a Telco, ISP, CDN, or cloud environment.
• Strong understanding of networking protocols and technologies, including BGP, DWDM, and IP networking.
• Proven experience negotiating and managing interconnection agreements.
• Working knowledge of the Americas connectivity landscape— the U.S. wholesale/peering market and the transport, IXP, and partner dynamics of South America (including subsea and terrestrial considerations).
• Fluency with AI tools in daily work, and a genuine appetite to use AI/agentic tooling to scale decision‑making and eliminate manual toil.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving abilities.
• Experience with capacity planning, cost modeling, and operations research.

Bonus Points

• Professional proficiency in Spanish and/or Portuguese, to support relationship‑building and network expansion across South America.
• Hands‑on experience building or scaling network presence in emerging or infrastructure‑constrained markets.
• Experience designing AI‑assisted analytics or automation for network/commercial operations.

Compensation

Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location.

• For Bay Area based hires: Estimated annual salary of $150,000 - $207,000
• For New York based hires: Estimated annual salary of $143,000 - $197,000
• For Washington D.C. based hires: Estimated annual salary of $143,000 - $197,000

Equity

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

Benefits

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

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 [e-mail] or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.