Network Software Engineer

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. 

We realize people do not fit into neat boxes. We are looking for curious and empathetic individuals who are committed to developing themselves and learning new skills, and we are ready to help you do that. We cannot complete our mission without building a diverse and inclusive team. We hire the best people based on an evaluation of their potential and support them throughout their time at Cloudflare. Come join us! 

NETWORK SOFTWARE ENGINEER

About the Team

Cloudflare is redefining the way networks are run at scale. Our Network Services product suite puts the connectivity, scale, and performance of Cloudflare’s global network in front of customers’ network infrastructure and private networks, providing a single pane of glass for network connectivity, visibility, and operating network functions like DoS mitigation, Next-Gen Firewall, IDS/IPS, WAN optimization, Network Interconnects, and more. We are a team of engineers and product managers who obsess over quickly building products that solve real customer problems using innovative technologies and techniques which leverage Cloudflare’s unique architecture and global network footprint.

About the Role

As a software engineer on our team, you will work across a wide range of technologies and systems to deliver new features, improve performance, and increase the scalability of our Network Services products. You’ll build, deploy, and operate your team’s systems on top of one of the largest edge networks in the world. You’ll partner with some of the best engineers and product managers to solve big problems that have a meaningful impact in the lives of our customers and users.

We’re looking for curious, empathetic engineers who are excited to join us in changing the way networking is done!

What you’ll do

• Work on a Linux-based networking dataplane which ingests and forwards traffic from some of the largest networks in the world
• Develop custom software for dedicated hardware switching equipment such as networking ASICs
• Develop networking software that operate under high performance, high bandwidth requirements to connect some of Cloudflare’s largest customers through private links
• Develop a robust and automated control plane to manage a fleet of custom network devices across the globe
• Partner with engineers in the Network Engineering, Network Operations, Datacenter Engineering, and Observability teams to seamlessly integrate with wider Cloudflare systems to push forward the product roadmap and integrate customer’s interconnects
• Work with vendors to obtain, debug, and maintain the most efficient and effective next-generation network hardware for Cloudflare’s workload
• Communicate your results and updates through blog posts, internal talks, and tickets

Examples of desirable skills, knowledge, and experience

• Experience building and shipping large-scale, reliable, highly distributed systems
• Systems-level programming experience, preferably in Rust and/or C++
• Expertise in L2, L3, and/or L4 networking protocols
• Familiarity with network engineering and protocols used in data center switching and routing as well as Internet routing – BGP, BFP, OSPF, MPLS, etc.
• Experience building on top of Linux kernel networking primitives – netfilter, nftables, eBPF, tc, switchdev, network namespaces, etc
• Experience designing and integrating RESTful APIs and backend systems
• Excellent debugging and optimization skills
• Attention to detail and ability to solve complex customer problems
• Own solutions end-to-end and driving the design, development, and deployment process
• Able to work across teams and level common, sustainable solutions
• Creative, open-minded, collaborative problem solver
• Focus on clarity in written and verbal communication

Bonus Points

• Experience with white-box network switches and open source projects such as openswitch.net
• Experience developing, working on, or modifying the Linux kernel, or Linux kernel programming experience more generally.
• Experience working with switching ASICs or similar hardware.

Senior Level (4)

• For Bay Area-based hires: Estimated annual salary of $196,000 – $240,000
• For New York City, Washington, and California (excluding Bay Area) based hires: Estimated annual salary of $187,000 – $229,000.
• For Colorado-based hires: Estimated annual salary of $168,000 – $206,000.

Mid Level (3)

• For Bay Area-based hires: Estimated annual salary of $162,000 – $198,000
• For New York City, Washington, and California (excluding Bay Area) based hires: Estimated annual salary of $154,000 – $188,000
• For Colorado-based hires: Estimated annual salary of $137,000 – $167,000

Available Locations: Remote US

Equity

This role is eligible to participate in Cloudflare’s equity plan.

Benefits

Cloudflare 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 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. 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: We equip politically and artistically important organizations and journalists 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: We created 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 – 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.

Sound like something you’d like to be a part of? We’d love to hear from you!

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 hr@cloudflare.com or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.

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