Staff Software Engineer - Integrated Network Strategy

Cloudflare; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Cloudflare is seeking a Staff Engineer to lead the design, evolution, and operational excellence of our global network infrastructure. You will own foundational decisions on how the network grows, from capacity planning to architectural standards, guiding multiple teams across the organization.

You will mentor engineers, shape multi-year roadmaps, and partner with product, operations, and procurement to deliver reliable, scalable, and secure Internet infrastructure at internet scale.

Qualifications

• 10+ years designing, operating, or planning large-scale network infrastructure at hyperscale (or equivalent)
• Proven track record building greenfield network architectures and evolving them as business needs change
• Deep, hands-on expertise with modern routing protocols (BGP, ISIS, RSVP-TE, QoS, traffic engineering)
• Strong experience with software-defined networking, overlay networks, and programmable forwarding
• Expert-level understanding of network economics: cost drivers, capacity planning, peering strategy, and trade-offs between performance, redundancy, and capital efficiency
• Track record automating complex network operations and building extensible frameworks that scale across large teams
• Experience designing and implementing DDoS mitigation strategies, firewall policies, and network security at scale
• Ability to design intent-based systems that reduce operational complexity while maintaining flexibility
• Strong systems-level understanding across the full stack: from hardware platforms and protocols through software-defined networking to application-level routing decisions
• Experience leading network design, planning, budgeting, and sourcing decisions for large deployments
• Ability to think 3–5 years ahead while shipping solutions today
• Proven ability to influence without direct authority; comfortable presenting technical recommendations to senior leadership and non-technical stakeholders
• Strong writing and documentation skills; able to articulate complex technical decisions and trade-offs clearly
• Experience mentoring junior engineers or leading teams through major architectural transitions
• Comfortable working in a matrix environment with multiple stakeholders (product, operations, procurement, finance) and driving alignment

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve the architecture of Cloudflare's global network, including core infrastructure patterns, interconnection strategies, and edge deployment models
• Establish and maintain design standards that enable consistency, reliability, and defensibility across heterogeneous deployments
• Lead architectural reviews; anticipate technical debt and recommend major evolution initiatives, working across team
• Own the design and continuous improvement of capacity management processes and systems used across infrastructure teams
• Develop methodologies for forecasting demand, modeling growth scenarios, and optimizing resource utilization
• Build tools, dashboards, and automated systems that make capacity planning visible, transparent, and actionable
• Drive the evolution of network hardware and platform strategies, evaluating new platforms, vendors, and architectures
• Lead technical evaluations of emerging technologies (silicon, switching architectures, routing protocols, optical transport, etc.)
• Work with procurement, supply chain, and engineering teams to transition the network to next-generation platforms
• Conceive and plan multi-year technical roadmaps for network infrastructure, anticipating growth patterns and industry dynamics

Skills

Hyperscale networking

Greenfield architectures

Routing protocols

Software-defined networking

Network economics

Automation

Network security at scale

Intent-based systems

Systems thinking

Mentoring engineers

Stakeholder management

Tools

SDN platforms

Network telemetry

Netflow analysis

Observability at scale

Automation frameworks

Job description

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 Magazine's Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the Worlds Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.

Available Locations: Austin, New York, San Francisco

At Cloudflare, we are not looking for people who wait for a polished roadmap; we are 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.

About The Department

Integrated Network Strategy is where Cloudflare's foundational infrastructure planning, network design, and capacity roadmaps are shaped. We own the systems and processes that enable our global network to scale across 337+ cities in 125+ countries while maintaining industry-leading performance and reliability. We design the architectural standards, capacity methodologies, and hardware evolution strategies that keep Cloudflare's network ahead of exponential growth. Rather than being constrained by the structures which make Cloudflare a massively successful business, we leverage our edge and network to solve infrastructure problems at massive scale and efficiency-something nearly impossible for any other organization.

What you'll do

We are looking for a Staff Engineer to join our team and lead the design, evolution, and operational excellence of our global network infrastructure. You will own the foundational decisions about how our network grows: from capacity planning methodologies and hardware evolution strategies to architectural standards that inform infrastructure teams across the organization. You will work with a team of passionate, talented engineers and architects that are building the systems powering the internet's most critical infrastructure. You will play an active part in shaping the network architecture, strategies, and long-term roadmaps that will keep Cloudflare ahead of unprecedented scale. You will make sure our company hits our ambitious infrastructure and operational goals. You will change what's possible for internet infrastructure.

Examples Of Desirable Skills, Knowledge And Experience

• 10+ years designing, operating, or planning large-scale network infrastructure at hyperscale (or equivalent)


• Proven track record building greenfield network architectures and evolving them as business needs change


• Deep, hands-on expertise with modern routing protocols (BGP, ISIS, RSVP-TE, QoS, traffic engineering)


• Strong experience with software-defined networking, overlay networks, and programmable forwarding


• Expert-level understanding of network economics: cost drivers, capacity planning, peering strategy, and trade-offs between performance, redundancy, and capital efficiency


• Track record automating complex network operations and building extensible frameworks that scale across large teams


• Experience designing and implementing DDoS mitigation strategies, firewall policies, and network security at scale


• Ability to design intent-based systems that reduce operational complexity while maintaining flexibility


• Strong systems-level understanding across the full stack: from hardware platforms and protocols through software-defined networking to application-level routing decisions


• Experience leading network design, planning, budgeting, and sourcing decisions for large deployments


• Ability to think 3–5 years ahead while shipping solutions today


• Proven ability to influence without direct authority; comfortable presenting technical recommendations to senior leadership and non-technical stakeholders


• Strong writing and documentation skills; able to articulate complex technical decisions and trade-offs clearly


• Experience mentoring junior engineers or leading teams through major architectural transitions


• Comfortable working in a matrix environment with multiple stakeholders (product, operations, procurement, finance) and driving alignment

Bonus Points

• Experience at a hyperscaler or large infrastructure platform (Meta, Google, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, etc.)


• Background designing and implementing network automation frameworks


• Experience with network telemetry, Netflow data analysis, and observability at scale


• Track record driving significant cost optimization through network design and peering strategy


• Experience with IPv6 deployment and evolution at scale


• Knowledge of SDN platforms, hardware abstractions, and vendor-agnostic network design


• Familiarity with Cloudflare's products, network, or competitive landscape

What You'll Own

Network Architecture & Design

• Design and evolve the architecture of Cloudflare's global network, including core infrastructure patterns, interconnection strategies, and edge deployment models


• Establish and maintain design standards that enable consistency, reliability, and defensibility across heterogeneous deployments


• Lead architectural reviews; anticipate technical debt and recommend major evolution initiatives, working across team

Capacity Planning & Systems Design

• Own the design and continuous improvement of capacity management processes and systems used across infrastructure teams


• Develop methodologies for forecasting demand, modeling growth scenarios, and optimizing resource utilization


• Build tools, dashboards, and automated systems that make capacity planning visible, transparent, and actionable

Hardware & Network Evolution

• Drive the evolution of network hardware and platform strategies, evaluating new platforms, vendors, and architectures


• Lead technical evaluations of emerging technologies (silicon, switching architectures, routing protocols, optical transport, etc.)


• Work with procurement, supply chain, and engineering teams to transition the network to next-generation platforms

Next-Generation Planning & Research

• Conceive and plan multi-year technical roadmaps for network infrastructure, anticipating growth patterns and industry dynamics


• Conduct research into emerging infrastructure trends and translate insights into strategic recommendations


• Lead architectural exploration and validation projects that de-risk future directions before large-scale commitment

Collaboration & Organizational Impact

• Partner with infrastructure teams to translate architectural visions into operational realities


• Work with finance and operations to understand cost implications and optimize infrastructure spend


• Mentor and elevate the technical decision-making capability of engineering teams across the organization

What Makes Cloudflare Special?

We're not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We're 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 Cloudflare's 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. Here's the deal - we don't 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.

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.