Staff Software Engineer - Integrated Network Strategy

Job Overview

We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join our Integrated Network Strategy team at Cloudflare. You will lead the design, evolution, and operational excellence of our global network infrastructure.

Responsibilities

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 teams.

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.

Requirements

• 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.

Nice to Have

• 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 We Offer

• The opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology that impacts millions of users worldwide.
• A dynamic and supportive work environment.
• Flexible working arrangements.
• Access to professional development opportunities.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Cloudflare is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates.