Senior Systems Engineer, Browser Isolation

Cloudflare, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 74,000 - 102,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health & Welfare Benefits

Equity plan

401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

Job summary

Cloudflare, Inc. is seeking an experienced engineer to lead multi‑component initiatives across the browser engine, distributed services, and security‑critical systems. You will work across C++, Rust, Go, and TypeScript to deliver scalable, production‑quality changes and improvements.

The role emphasizes ownership, architectural trade-offs, on‑call responsibilities, and mentorship to raise engineering practices and reliability across the team.

Qualifications

• Strong production C++ proficiency with memory management and debugging in large codebases.
• Proven track record leading complex distributed-service improvements across multiple components.
• Strong Linux/UNIX and networking fundamentals with performance analysis experience.
• Experience designing safe rollout and recovery strategies for production systems.
• Ability to communicate trade-offs clearly and mentor teammates.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex, multi-component initiatives from problem definition and design through implementation and rollout.
• Design and implement changes in the Chromium-based browser and distributed services, spanning Go, Rust, and TypeScript.
• Explain architectural trade-offs across latency, availability, security, and operational complexity.
• Investigate cross-layer failures and performance bottlenecks; diagnose browser, host, network, and control-plane causes.
• Improve resilience, capacity planning, observability, and release safety; define success metrics and results.
• Coordinate work with partner teams, surface dependencies and risks early, guiding delivery in ambiguity.
• Mentor engineers and raise the quality of code reviews, design reviews, testing, and documentation.
• Participate in on-call rotations and drive durable corrective actions when needed.

Skills

C++ proficiency

Distributed systems

Linux/UNIX networking

Communication of trade-offs

Mentoring teammates

Tools

Go

Rust

TypeScript

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, TX (US), Lisbon (Portugal), London (UK)

About the team

the company Browser Isolation runs web content in remote browsers, helping protect users from threats while preserving a responsive browsing experience. Our team builds the Chromium-based browsing engine, remote rendering and streaming technology, and distributed services that manage browser sessions across the company’s global network.

You will work at the intersection of systems programming, distributed systems, and security. Engineers contribute across the product, collaborating on browser changes, service orchestration, observability, and build infrastructure.

Scope and growth

At this level, you will be accountable for outcomes across a problem area that may span several components. You will establish technical direction, make uncertainty and trade-offs explicit, and help other engineers succeed while remaining hands‑on. This is an individual‑contributor role; people‑management experience is not required.

Technologies we use

• Browser engine: Chromium and C++.
• Systems programming: Rust.
• Distributed services and orchestration: Go, TypeScript, the company Workers, Nomad, and Consul.
• Remote rendering and streaming: WebRTC and Skia.
• Browser client: TypeScript, WebAssembly, and WebGL.

What you will do

• Lead complex, multi-component initiatives from problem definition and design through implementation, staged rollout, and measurable production outcomes.
• Design and implement changes in our Chromium-based C++ browser and the distributed services and systems components supporting remote browsing, working across Go, Rust, and TypeScript.
• Make and explain architectural trade-offs across latency, availability, resource efficiency, security boundaries, and operational complexity.
• Investigate difficult cross-layer failures and performance bottlenecks, distinguishing browser, host, network, and control‑plane causes.
• Improve resilience, capacity management, observability, and release safety; define success metrics and validate results.
• Coordinate work with partner teams, surface dependencies and risks early, and guide delivery through ambiguity.
• Mentor engineers and raise the quality of code reviews, design reviews, testing, documentation, and operational practices.
• Participate in the team’s production on‑call rotation after onboarding, lead technical incident investigations as needed, and drive durable corrective actions.

This role may require flexibility to be on‑call outside of standard working hours to address technical issues as needed.

Desirable Skills, Knowledge, and Experience

• Strong production C++ proficiency, including memory and resource ownership, concurrency, and debugging in substantial codebases.
• A track record of independently leading complex systems or distributed-service improvements across multiple components, from an unclear problem to a reliable production outcome.
• Strong Linux/UNIX and networking fundamentals, with experience diagnosing correctness, latency, and resource‑consumption issues using profiling and operational evidence.
• Experience designing and operating distributed systems, with sound judgment about service boundaries, data partitioning, consistency, timeouts and retries, backpressure, capacity limits, and recovery from partial failures.
• Experience designing safe rollout and recovery strategies and maintaining production software over its lifecycle.
• Ability to communicate trade‑offs clearly, align stakeholders, mentor teammates, and improve engineering practices through constructive feedback.
• A willingness to work across C++, Rust, Go, and TypeScript and learn unfamiliar parts of the stack.

Bonus Points

These are preferred qualifications, not prerequisites. Prior Browser Isolation or the company experience is not required.

• Browser engines, Chromium, browser sandboxing, or security‑sensitive systems.
• Low‑latency streaming, graphics, remote computing, or other real‑time systems.
• Container and workload orchestration, including Nomad or Kubernetes, and service discovery.
• Experience using Rust for systems programming or distributed services.
• Go or TypeScript; WebRTC, Skia, WebAssembly, or WebGL.
• Production observability, capacity planning, incident response, or build and release infrastructure.

Compensation

For Portugal based hires: Estimated annual salary is between €66,000 - €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 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 AccountsFertility & 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 Participati