Sr. Network Development Engineer

Bandwidth; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

PTO 4 weeks

PTO embargo policy

Job summary

Bandwidth is seeking a Network Development Engineer to design and build software-driven, globally scalable voice infrastructure and platform services. You will own API contracts, APIs, and automation across distributed systems in a high-impact, R&D environment.

The role blends software engineering with network engineering, requiring autonomy to prototype, iterate, and deploy scalable solutions across cloud and data centers. On-call rotation is part of the responsibilities.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software or platform engineering experience at scale.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate backend services and APIs for Bandwidth’s voice network and internal platform capabilities.

Skills

Backend engineering

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

Linux

API design

CI/CD

SIP/RTP

On-call readiness

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

Ansible

Helm

Job description

At Bandwidth, we shape how the world connects. We're the global communications software company and Tier 1 network operator with global reach. The voice, messaging, and emergency services infrastructure behind the brands and apps you use every day.

Because we own the network we build on, the problems you'll solve here are bigger, more complex, and more impactful. And as communications shifts to AI, we're the infrastructure layer making it possible.

We call ourselves BANDmates because building something this big takes collaboration, different perspectives, and the freedom to bring your authentic self to the table.

We're experts who speak like humans. Ready to build what's next? #JoinTheBand

What We Are Looking For:

The Core Voice Engineering and Technology team at Bandwidth designs, builds, and maintains the software, cloud, and network platforms that support Bandwidth’s global communication services and internal development teams.

We are looking for a Network Development Engineer to join a collaborative, high-impact engineering team building the next generation of Bandwidth’s voice infrastructure and internal platform services. This role sits at the intersection of software engineering, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and telecommunications.

You will design and build platform APIs, backend services, and automation capabilities that abstract and manage globally distributed voice systems. You will work in an R&D-focused environment where engineers are expected to operate autonomously, explore ambiguous technical problems, build prototypes and proofs of concept, and develop scalable solutions that can be deployed across global cloud and data center environments.

While experience with networking and VoIP technologies is valuable, this is primarily a software and platform engineering role focused on building reliable, programmable, and globally scalable services for voice infrastructure.

What You'll Do:

• Design, build, and operate backend services and platform APIs that provide programmable access to Bandwidth’s voice network infrastructure and internal platform capabilities.
• Develop scalable services, orchestration capabilities, and abstraction layers for globally distributed voice systems and network services.
• Own technical initiatives from problem definition through design, proof of concept, implementation, testing, deployment, and production readiness.
• Design services for scalability, resiliency, fault tolerance, and geo-redundant global deployments.
• Build and maintain well-defined service contracts and APIs, ensuring reliability, backward compatibility, observability, and clear ownership.
• Apply modern software engineering practices, including design patterns, code reviews, automated testing, CI/CD, source control, and operational readiness.
• Collaborate with Architects, Network Development Engineers, and Software Engineers to translate infrastructure and telecommunications requirements into software-driven platform capabilities.
• Contribute to architecture and system design decisions, presenting technical trade-offs and recommendations using data, testing, and engineering analysis.
• Participate in the 24x7 on-call rotation supporting critical platform and voice services.

What You Need:

• 6+ years of experience in software engineering, backend engineering, platform engineering, network development, or related infrastructure engineering disciplines, designing and building production services at scale.
• 4+ years of experience developing backend services, APIs, automation, or platform capabilities using languages such as Python, Go, Java, C#, or similar, with the ability to work effectively across multiple programming and scripting languages.
• Demonstrated experience designing, building, and owning public APIs or high-use internal APIs, including service contracts, versioning, reliability, observability, and lifecycle management.
• Strong experience with backend services, databases, distributed systems, and cloud-native application architectures.
• Strong hands‑on experience with Linux-based development and production environments, including building, deploying, troubleshooting, and operating backend services.
• Hands‑on experience with major cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure, including compute, networking, storage, identity, observability, and managed services.
• Experience designing and operating large‑scale distributed systems, including multi‑region or geo‑redundant deployments, high availability, fault tolerance, and horizontal scalability.
• Strong understanding of system design and software architecture, including distributed systems patterns, API design, service decomposition, asynchronous processing, caching, resiliency patterns, and data consistency considerations.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, source control, infrastructure automation, and production software delivery practices.
• Working knowledge of IP networking and telecommunications concepts, with familiarity with protocols such as SIP and RTP/RTCP and voice infrastructure such as Session Border Controllers (SBCs), proxies, or similar real‑time communication systems.
• Ability to independently navigate ambiguous technical problems, develop prototypes and proofs of concept, evaluate trade-offs, and present complete engineering solutions for review and implementation.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to document technical designs and communicate architecture, trade‑offs, and recommendations to engineering and senior technical stakeholders.
• Willingness to participate in a 24x7 on-call rotation supporting critical platform and voice services.

Bonus Points:

• Experience building internal developer platforms, infrastructure APIs, or network control‑plane services used by multiple engineering teams.
• Experience designing globally scalable architectures, distributed orchestration systems, or lifecycle management platforms.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code and orchestration technologies such as Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes, Helm, or similar platforms.
• Background in observability, event‑driven architectures, message queues, streaming platforms, or distributed telemetry systems.

The Whole Person Promise:

At Bandwidth, we’re pretty proud of our corporate culture, which is rooted in our “Whole Person Promise.” We promise all employees that they can have meaningful work AND a full life, and we provide a work environment geared toward enriching your body, mind, and spirit. How do we do that? Well…

• 100% company-paid Medical, Vision, & Dental coverage for you and your family with low deductibles and low out-of-pocket expenses.
• All new hires receive four weeks of PTO.
• PTO Embargo. When you take time off (of any kind!) you’re embargoed from working. Bandmates and managers are not allowed to interrupt your PTO – not even with email.
• Additional PTO can be earned throughout the year through volunteer hours and Bandwidth challenges.
• “Mahalo moments” program grants additional time off for life’s most important moments like graduations, buying a first home, getting married, wedding anniversaries (every five years), and the birth of a grandchild.
• 90-Minute Workout Lunches and unlimited meetings with our very own nutritionist.