Senior Systems Engineer, Cloudflare Data Platform

Cloudflare; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 185,000 - 254,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

Stock participation

Job summary

Cloudflare is seeking a Senior Engineer focused on storage and database products. You will help shape industry-leading services, leveraging Cloudflare’s global network to deliver low-latency data access.

Expect ownership from design through release across multiple tech stacks, with interaction across languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, and C++. The role emphasizes building scalable data platforms, performance tuning, and driving innovative data-centric APIs in a fast-paced

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience working with distributed systems.
• Experience building and managing high-volume software applications.
• Strong CS fundamentals including data structures and algorithms.
• Knowledge of Rust, TypeScript, and Go.
• Experience debugging and optimizing large-scale distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Own your code from inception to release across the software stack.
• Architect a globally distributed data consistency model.
• Optimize storage engine performance.
• Design a novel API for a data-centric product.

Skills

Distributed systems

High-volume apps

CS fundamentals

Rust/TypeScript/Go

Debugging distributed systems

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

Austin, TX or Seattle, WA

About The Department

Emerging Technologies & Incubation (ETI) is where new and bold products are built and released within Cloudflare. Rather than being constrained by the structures which make Cloudflare a massively successful business, we are able to leverage them to deliver entirely new tools and products to our customers. Cloudflare’s edge and network make it possible to solve problems at massive scale and efficiency which would be impossible for almost any other organization.

About The Project

Cloudflare Data Platform has been announced during Birthday Week 2025. We are looking to extend engineering teams working on R2 Data Catalog and R2 SQL:

• R2 Data Catalog manages the Iceberg metadata and now performs ongoing maintenance, including compaction, to improve query performance
• R2 SQL is our in-house distributed SQL engine, designed to perform petabyte‑scale queries over your data in R2

What You’ll Do

As a Senior Engineer focused on Cloudflare’s storage and database products, you will shape the future of industry‑leading services that redefine what is possible for developers. We don’t just copy what other cloud providers do; we work backward from developer needs, reimagining solutions by leveraging our unique global network. This network brings data closer to users for unparalleled performance, allows for granular control to meet data residency requirements, and provides a platform for truly innovative data products.

You will own your code from inception to release, delivering solutions at all layers of the software stack to empower Cloudflare customers. On any given day, you might be architecting a new globally distributed data consistency model, optimizing storage engine performance, or designing a novel API for a new data‑centric product. You can expect to interact with a variety of languages and technologies including, but not limited to, JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, and C++.

Examples Of Desirable Skills, Knowledge And Experience

• Minimum 6 years of experience working with distributed systems.
• Experience building and managing high‑volume software applications.
• Solid understanding of computer science fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, and object‑oriented or functional design.
• Knowledge of at least one modern strongly‑typed programming language: we primarily use Rust, TypeScript, and Go.
• Experience debugging, optimizing and identifying failure modes in a large‑scale distributed system.

Bonus Points

• Experience building and managing a large‑scale data storage platform.
• Experience working in low‑latency real‑time environments such as game streaming, game engine architecture, high‑frequency trading, and payment systems.
• Experience working in a non‑garbage collected language such as Rust or C++.
• Experience writing JavaScript and TypeScript, and deep Linux / UNIX systems knowledge.

Compensation

Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location.

For New York City, New Jersey, Washington, Washington DC, and California (excluding Bay Area) based hires: Estimated annual salary of $185,000 - $254,000.

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

What Makes Cloudflare Special?

We’re not just a highly ambitious, large‑scale technology company. 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.

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.

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.

Equal Opportunity Employment

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 race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, disability, 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. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact us via e‑mail at [e-mail] or by mail at 101 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA 94107.