Senior Systems Engineer, Workers AI

CloudFlare; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Cloudflare is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer for its AI inference platform. You will design and build core infrastructure powering AI inference across a global network, working with AI/ML engineers, hardware partners, and product teams to solve distributed systems challenges.

Hybrid roles in Austin, TX or London, UK with exposure to edge compute and real-time workloads. The ideal candidate has deep Rust experience, proficiency in network protocols, and a track record of optimizing performance

Qualifications

• Proven experience in systems engineering, with a focus on distributed, high-performance systems.
• Expert proficiency in Rust programming, particularly in an asynchronous environment.
• Deep understanding of networking protocols (TCP, HTTP, WebSocket).
• Solid experience with scaling and performance optimization techniques, including load balancing and caching.

Responsibilities

• Platform Architecture: Develop and maintain core components of the serverless inference platform to ensure high availability and scalability.
• Optimization & Performance: Improve model scheduling to increase efficiency and reduce latency.
• System Reliability: Improve platform reliability and resilience by mitigating systemic risks.
• Observability: Expand the observability stack with metrics, logging, tracing and alerts.

Skills

Rust

Distributed systems

Networking

Performance tuning

Tools

Kubernetes

Nomad

Job description

Austin, TX, United States

Position Title: Senior Systems Engineer, Workers AI

About Us

At Cloudflare, we are on a mission to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the worlds 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 Magazines Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the Worlds Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.

At Cloudflare, were not looking for people who wait for a polished roadmap; were 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 youre 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, youll fit right in.

Available Locations: Austin, TX or London, UK (Hybrid)

About the role

You’ll design and build the core infrastructure that powers AI inference across Cloudflare’s global network real-time voice, frontier open LLMs, and customer-deployed models running on a heterogeneous fleet of GPUs and next-generation accelerators in hundreds of cities worldwide. Working alongside AI/ML engineers, hardware partners, and Cloudflare product teams, you’ll solve hard problems in distributed systems and high-performance computing: sub-second model cold starts, multi-accelerator workload scheduling, efficient KV cache management, and a model deployment platform serving both Cloudflare and customers bringing their own models.

We’re building an AI inference platform embedded in the fabric of the internet something that doesn't exist yet and this role puts you at the center of it. We’re looking for high-agency systems engineers who are energized by foundational infrastructure problems and want to define how AI runs at the edge of the network.

Responsibilities

• Platform Architecture: Develop and maintain core components of the serverless inference platform to ensure high availability and scalability for Cloudflare users.
• Optimization & Performance: Optimize the model scheduling system to significantly increase efficiency and resource utilization across our inference infrastructure, and implement improvements to request routing logic to reduce latency for end-users.
• System Reliability: Drive significant, measurable improvements in the platform’s reliability and resilience by identifying and mitigating systemic risks.
• Observability: Expand and refine the observability stack (metrics, logging, tracing) and fine-tune alerts to proactively identify and resolve production issues.
• Technical Leadership: Lead complex, cross-functional technical projects from initial concept and design through final deployment and operationalization.
• Mentorship: Act as a mentor to junior engineers and actively contribute to cultivating a strong, collaborative engineering culture within the team.

Desirable skills, Knowledge & Experience

• Proven experience in systems engineering, with a primary focus on distributed, high-performance systems.
• Expert proficiency in Rust programming, particularly in an asynchronous environment.
• Deep understanding and hands-on experience with relevant networking and application protocols (e.g., TCP, HTTP, WebSocket).
• Solid experience with scaling and performance optimization techniques, including load balancing and caching in a distributed environment.

Bonus Points

• Demonstrable experience with container orchestration platforms, specifically Kubernetes and/or Nomad.
• Familiarity with the unique architectural challenges involved in large-scale inference serving (e.g., LLMs and diffusion models).

What Makes Cloudflare Special?

Were not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. Were 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 Cloudflares 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. Heres the deal - we dont 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? Wed 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 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.

Equal employment opportunity, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.

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